‘Embarrassing’: how Hong Kong response to bitumen in water supply shows ‘flaws’
Hong Kong’s leader has announced 10 follow-up measures to resolve a freshwater contamination saga at two public housing estates a week after residents voiced their worries, as the government faced mounting criticism over its slow response.
A veteran political analyst also called the government’s response “embarrassing”, saying it undermined the city’s efforts to show improvements in public welfare before an anticipated visit by a senior Beijing official.
Seven days after the case of bitumen in the water supply came to light, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Friday night listed out the measures for government departments to implement. The moves include setting up an expert team to trace the source of the substance and replacing the water pipes involved.
But the government has yet to fully explain the presence of bitumen – a petroleum-derived substance banned from use for pipes after 2005 – in drinking water at Queens Hill Estate and Shan Lai Court in Fanling. Residents first reported finding “mysterious dark substances” on Friday last week.
“The incident shows two major flaws of the government,” said Sonny Lo Shiu-hing, a veteran political commentator and observer of the politics of Hong Kong and Macau.
“It was slow in response and it failed to name the cause, thus it was unable to provide accountability.”
He said the case was “a little bit embarrassing” for the government, as it had been told by Beijing to improve on livelihood issues “as one of its major governance directions”.
Lo was referring to the optics ahead of a possible trip to the city by Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
The Post has reported that Xia is likely to attend a national security legal forum in Hong Kong scheduled for June 21.
Residents at the two estates have taken to social media to voice anger and post photos of the black particles in their drinking water. An image posted by one resident shows pieces collected on a tissue used as a tap filter, with the particles together forming the size of a HK$10 coin.
The particles were sticky and oily, according to the posts. Some bought bottled water because of safety concerns.
Director of Water Supplies Roger Wong Yan-lok said on Friday he believed the bitumen came from a 400-metre-long (1,312 foot) steel water pipe laid in 1987 in an upstream area, 2.6km (1.6 miles) away from the public estate.
He made his first public appearance over the case on Thursday to confirm the presence of bitumen in the water, nearly a week on from the initial reports and a day after tests commissioned by two media outlets showed the same results.
At the media stand-up with Ricky Yeung Yiu-fai, a deputy director at the Housing Department, Wong said the bitumen could be left over from 2022, when the government received reports of a large amount of sediment flowing into the pipes of Queens Hill Estate.
He emphasised that the substance was not harmful to humans as it was insoluble in water. He told those who had consumed water containing the bitumen not to worry, while noting that filters had been added to pipes to prevent the substance from entering the water supply.
The Housing Department reported that filtration systems had been installed at the water inlet points of all the buildings in the estates.
The black particles also contained resin, a thick substance typically produced by plants, which authorities said could have come off the coating of valves in the plumbing.
But the water supply chief has not given a definite answer on when all the black particles will be cleared, nor did he apologise or promise to drink the affected water, as had been called for by some social media users.
But he noted he had visited residents in the estates.
“It is unacceptable that the government took this long to come forward and explain to the public,” said lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon.
“Even more unacceptable is their failure to provide a clear explanation of the cause or present concrete solutions to resolve the issue.”
“The government has not yet apologised to those affected despite causing so much trouble in their daily lives. What’s wrong with apologising?” she said.
Kong said the authorities should explain the cause clearly and offer solutions to prevent the case from happening again.
Queens Hill Estate, a public housing estate, was home to about 23,500 residents as of March 31, according to official data. Shan Lai Court has about 3,222 subsidised flats.
Lau Siu-kai, a consultant at Beijing’s semi-official think tank, the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said Wong’s handling of the incident showed that some officials had failed to acknowledge it was not only a livelihood problem but also a political issue.
“It would be better if the government department also worked with the district officers and district councillors to talk more to residents, updating them on the progress and learning about what they are most concerned with,” Lau said.
He noted the arrangement would be in line with the government’s commitment to enhancing district governance with the help of the district councils, which are the first to be formed under the “patriots-only” electoral system.
Representatives from the Water Supplies Department and the Housing Department paid visits to two households in the area on Wednesday, after care teams and district councillor Wu King-pang helped distribute bottled water to residents on Sunday.
Former Advisory Committee on the Quality of Water Supplies chairman Ho Kin-chung, who is also chair professor of environmental and polar research at the Education University of Hong Kong, said both departments had responded poorly.
“The government response is as slow as the lead-in-water crisis,” he said, referring to the discovery of lead at levels up to three times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended amount in drinking water at a public housing estate in 2015.
Ho added that the officials had not comprehended the residents’ anger and frustration.
“Their political sense is not sharp enough,” he said.