Video | Hong Kong village where residents drink stream water has plea for mains supply turned down
HK$1 million cost per head is too much, says government, leaving residents of 300-year-old village to continue to rely on water from stream
A 300-year-old village on Lantau Island where residents still drink water from a stream has had its plea for a piped-in supply turned down, partly due to the cost, which works out at an estimated HK$1 million per head.
Tai Long, a village in southwest Lantau that is inaccessible by public transport, is among 19 villages which still have no access to treated water, affecting about 600 residents in all. Instead, people draw water from streams or wells or collect rainwater which they then boil before drinking.
Development Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced last month that the city's water network would be extended to four of those villages on Hong Kong Island: Tung Ah, Tung Ah Pui, Ngan Hang and Lan Nai Wan.
The remaining 15 villages are all in the New Territories and have populations ranging from three to 150. Another five uninhabited villages were also denied a water supply.
Lantau's Tai Long has 28 residents. Kenny Cheung Shu-kan, who represents the indigenous population in the village, said he received a letter from the Water Supplies Department rejecting pleas for a treated water supply. It stated that between the village and the existing water supply network lay two kilometres of mountainous terrain.
"Preliminary financial assessments showed that it would need a very high cost of nearly HK$1 million per head to construct the facilities," the department wrote. The total estimated cost was about HK$28 million.
The letter added: "Moreover, a low level of water consumption would make stagnant water stay in the pipes, resulting in deterioration of water quality."