Residents from housing estate report ‘gasoline-like smell’ from tap water

Residents from at least two housing estates in Kwai Tsing have reported that tap water in their buildings has a gasoline-like smell.

District councillor Ivan Wong Yun Tat from the Kwai Tsing District Council posted on his Facebook page that residents from the Kwai Chung Estate have lodged complaints to the Water Supplies department, and that a water tank will arrive in the area to provide clean water for residents.

According to Ming Pao, two water tankers arrived in the area yesterday, and staff from the WSD have taken samples from the water in the estate.

The news comes more than two years after another scare over contaminated water. In 2015, it was discovered that the water supply in some of Hong Kong’s public housing estates contained high levels of lead. A commission led by a High Court judge concluded in May 2016 that leaded solder in the pipes had directly caused the contamination, and in June of that year, two former directors from a plumbing subcontractor that oversaw the plumbing work at three of the affected housing estates were arrested.

The scandal led the government to introduce a two-tier sampling system in September to see if metals found in water exceed acceptable levels.