In about-face, Hong Kong authorities decide to run tests at public schools as lead-in-water scare continues

Officials on Tuesday made a U-turn and announced they would conduct tests on lead levels in water at kindergartens and new schools as pupils returned for the new academic year.

The decision follows alarm over the discovery of excessive levels of lead in tap water at two schools, amid widespread concern over similar findings at public housing estates.

During a special Legislative Council meeting on Tuesday, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced that 980 kindergartens would be the top priority in the water tests, as children under the age of six were the most vulnerable to lead.

Tap water samples from about 80 government-funded primary and secondary schools completed after 2005 will be taken in the second phase. Lam hoped all the tests could be finished in six months.

The move marked an about-face after last week's decision by authorities to only install water filters at primary and secondary schools and to leave kindergartens, which are privately run, to make their own arrangements.

Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim had said the Education Bureau did not plan to run water tests at schools, explaining that priority should be given to public housing estates.

But Lam admitted on Tuesday: "We agree that installing filters is only one immediate measure to ease parents' concerns. There is still a need for schools to conduct water tests."