Night repairs unavoidable
I REFER to the letter which appeared in these columns on August 29, complaining about a noise disturbance at Heung Sze Wui Road, Tuen Mun, in the early hours of August 16.
The noise was caused by emergency repairs which had to be carried out on a watermain which burst at around 12.45am, at Tuen Shun Street, outside the Dor Shing Restaurant. Our staff quickly reached the scene and isolated the water supply at around 2am.
Having isolated the supply on the damaged main, they assessed the situation and came to the conclusion that immediate remedial action was necessary to repair the damaged watermain, with a view to restoring fresh water supply as soon as possible to a large number of residents on Tuen Shun Street who were affected by the main burst.
Staff also noticed that the water which had gushed out from the burst main, had caused soil erosion underneath Tuen Shun Street, and this affected the integrity and stability of other utilities and foundations in the vicinity. Therefore, this also required urgent remedial work.
After the repair work was completed, the water supply was resumed at around 10.30am, on August 16, in time to cope with the peak hours of water consumption immediately before lunchtime.
Had we decided not to begin repair works until the morning following the main burst, the resumption of fresh water supply would have been greatly delayed and it would have caused a lot more inconvenience to the affected consumers.
As the repair works were carried out at night, during the whole period of the works our contractor was instructed to use the minimum number of plant and machinery, and to use plant and machinery of silenced types in full compliance with the requirements of the Environmental Protection Department, so as to minimise the disturbance to nearby residents.
We are sorry if residents were woken as a consequence of the work.
We trust your correspondent will appreciate that we only carry out watermain repairs at night, after we have fully assessed the situation and come to the conclusion that such works must be carried out immediately.
KONG KWOK-CHING Chief Engineer/Mainland North West (Acting) Water Supplies Department
