Government announces updates to routine drinking water testing programme and Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring Programme

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     The Water Supplies Department (WSD) has been committed to providing high-quality and reliable drinking water to Hong Kong citizens in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). Following the release of the latest Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (GDWQ) by the WHO in 2022, the Government has commissioned an expert consultant to review the routine drinking water testing programme for Hong Kong Drinking Water Standards. The review also covers the latest developments in drinking water standards/guidelines across a number of jurisdictions. Based on the review findings and recommendations of the expert consultant, the Government will update the routine drinking water testing programme, including the addition of three new parameters, namely "manganese", "cylindrospermopsins" and "saxitoxins", as well as the expansion of the coverage of an existing parameter "microcystin-LR". These revisions were proposed in accordance with the latest WHO's GDWQ and have been submitted to the Drinking Water Safety Advisory Committee, which comprises academics, medical experts and relevant industry stakeholders, for deliberation. The Committee's agreement on the proposed revisions has been obtained.

     Regarding two parameters of "tetrachloroethene" and "uranium", covered under the current testing programme, previous routine drinking water quality monitoring data showed that their contents were extremely low or even undetectable, far below the level that would pose a risk to health. These two parameters will be excluded from the routine testing programme, but will still be included in the Surveillance List to facilitate the WSD's surveillance monitoring from time to time. The Committee's agreement on the recommendation has also be obtained.

     Under the routine drinking water testing programme, water samples are taken from catchments, impounding reservoirs, water treatment works, service reservoirs, water distribution systems and water taps accessible to the general public (e.g. shopping centres, community facilities, sports venues, government offices, etc) for testing. The parameters covered by the programme are established in accordance with WHO's GDWQ, with testing frequencies ranging from daily to monthly, while the parameters covered by the Surveillance List are usually tested once every six months.

     In addition, the WSD expands the scope of drinking-water quality monitoring through the Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring Programme (Enhanced Programme) to cover water taps of all residential and non-residential customers. Each year, about 670 premises will be randomly selected from all water accounts in Hong Kong. Samples will be collected from water taps of these premises for testing of six metals (namely antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and nickel), residual chlorine and Escherichia coli. According to the monitoring data over the past years, the levels of antimony in drinking water samples collected from these premises have always been below the reporting limit. Based on the advice of the expert consultant, the WSD will stop testing antimony under the Enhanced Programme, while the testing of other items remain unchanged. This arrangement has been agreed by the Committee.

     The above proposal will be implemented from June 2025. The public may visit the WSD's website for the latest updates.

Routine drinking water testing programme
www.wsd.gov.hk/en/core-businesses/water-quality/my-drinking-water-quality/index.html

Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring Programme
www.wsd.gov.hk/en/core-businesses/water-quality/action-plan-for-enhancing-of-drinking-water-safety/drinking-water-standards-enhanced-water-quality/index.html

Ends/Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:40

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