On March 15, the South China Morning Post carried a special supplement marking the 150th anniversary of the Water Supplies Department (WSD). The department is organising a series of events to mark this important occasion. Perhaps this would be a good time to look at much-needed improvements in some of its operating procedures. In May and June of last year, there were two serious disruptions in water supply in Kennedy Road and Macdonnell Road. I and other residents from the area reported these problems to the WSD. We were so unhappy with its response that many of us complained to our district councillor, James Tien. We discovered that unlike other utilities, the WSD did not have a well-manned (that is, manned by qualified engineers) 24-hour emergency-service unit to cope with the variety of situations that can arise. Consumers had to go through a customer-inquiry hotline to report a disruption. The people who manned this hotline appeared simply to be go-betweens or messengers. I have since found that other utilities have a far better 24-hour emergency-service hotline, and their response is far more impressive. For example, whenever there is a blackout, I see carloads of government engineers turning up to deal with the problem. With water-supplies disruptions, the duty engineer relies on inspectors to visit on site and relies on the foreman to brief him on the estimated time required to do the repairs. My experience on two previous occasions is that the estimates are far from accurate. There have been advances made during the 150-year history of the WSD. However, in the field of emergency repairs, a great deal more needs to be done. WILLIAM LAM Mid-Levels