It is quite unimaginable that Hong Kong continues to struggle with basic necessities such as water. However, that is the case, at least when it comes to the government.
Ten years ago, opposition lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan found excessive levels of lead in drinking water that was later discovered to have affected 11 public housing estates, involving 29,000 households. That led to an independent, judge-led inquiry in 2016. The investigation yielded 17 recommendations, including for the water authority to decide on and uphold a robust licensing regime for those responsible for plumbing installations.
Most damning of all was that the Water Supplies Department was slammed for having an inadequate understanding of the World Health Organization guidelines that it had adopted in 1994. For more than a decade, it did not fully comprehend the standards which it was supposed to monitor and uphold.
The Water Supplies Department clearly did not learn lessons from the 2015 incident. At the core of such incidents is credibility and public trust. Its handling of such crises has been so far off the mark that it raises questions about whether bureaucrats fully understand their jobs and responsibilities.
