Hong Kong lead-in-water scare a ‘snowballing social disaster’, concern group warns, as three more housing estates affected
Hong Kong’s lead-in-water contamination scare is a “social disaster” that would “roll bigger and bigger like a snowball”, a concern group for residents warned, after three more public housing estates were dragged into the crisis.
Hong Kong’s lead-in-water contamination scare is a “social disaster” that would “roll bigger and bigger like a snowball”, a concern group for residents warned this morning, after three more public housing estates were dragged into the crisis.
Speaking on RTHK, Democratic Party vice-chairman Andrew Wan Siu-kin, convenor of the Drinking Water Victims Alliance, said the increasing number of public housing estates found to have excessive lead levels in their tap water exposed “a huge loophole” in the construction, supervision, and use of building material in the city’s housing developments.
“This is a social disaster which will only roll bigger and bigger like a snowball,” Wan said. “And it’s especially true for housing built in the past 10 years, as there’s so much material bought from mainland China.”
This is a social disaster which will only roll bigger and bigger like a snowball
Three more public housing estates were found to have excessive lead in their tap water yesterday, bringing the total number of estates involved to seven and affecting more than 15,000 households.
They are the Hung Hom Estate Phase 2, Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 2, Tung Wui Estate, Kai Ching Estate, Kwai Luen Estate Phase 2, Wing Cheong Estate and Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate Phase 1.
Mrs Li, who lives in Kwai Luen Estate Phase 2, received a call from the Hospital Authority yesterday afternoon, telling her that her one-year-old child has excessive lead levels in his blood, with a reading of 7.6 mcg/dl.
The safety cap for vulnerable groups – children under six, breastfeeding mothers, and pregnant women – is 5 mcg/dl. Li’s child is one of 33 residents from the Kwai Luen Estate to have exceeded the cap.