Under the Action Plan for Enhancing Drinking Water Safety in Hong Kong (Action Plan), the Government adopts WHO Guidelines as the drinking water standards and enhances the current water quality monitoring programme of WSD to collect water samples from drinking taps of randomly selected consumers of the territory for testing with a view to monitoring the drinking water quality in the territory. The six metals that could be present in the internal plumbing systems will be tested. The collected local water quality data will be used as a basis to review the Hong Kong drinking water standards including the appropriateness to adopt standards beyond WHO Guidelines (“WHO+”) for certain parameters. As the water quality at the consumers’ taps will be affected by the construction (including the materials used) as well as the subsequent operation and maintenance of the internal plumbing systems, the Action Plan also includes strengthening the regulatory control on plumbing materials; reviewing the legislation in order to explore the establishment of a registration regime for defining the participation and duties of the related persons (including plumbing contractors) designated for the design and construction of inside services; tightening the commissioning requirements for new plumbing installations; and promoting the development and implementation of Water Safety Plans for buildings to owners and property management agencies. In addition, we will enhance the publicity and public education on safe use of water as well as review Hong Kong’s water safety regulatory regime.
