Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing pocketed HK$40 million as sole supplier of bottled water at height of city's lead-in-pipes scandal

More bottled water has been handed out to deal with Hong Kong's lead-in-pipes scandal than the entire 7.3 million population drinks in a week.

And guess who might well be feeling flush? None other than the city's richest tycoon, Li Ka-shing, whose A.S. Watson is the sole supplier to the 30,000 affected households.

Yesterday Secretary for Transport and Housing Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung revealed that 6.55 million bottles of water had been distributed to residents in 11 affected public housing estates as of Monday.

Based on market research data from 2011 and a conservative assumption that each bottle contains one litre, more than 6.5 million litres of the non-tap variety has been handed out over the past four months.

Bulk order discounts and goodwill gestures notwithstanding, city taxpayers have forked out around HK$40 million to ensure a clean water supply to the tens of thousands of public housing estate residents affected by the tainted water scandal.