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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Che-cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today (January 27):
Question:
At present, owners of private lands are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the fresh water pipes within the boundaries of their lands. Nevertheless, due to the fragmentation of ownerships of quite a number of private lands in rural areas, the authorities often find it difficult to expeditiously identify the parties to which the maintenance responsibility fall when fresh water pipes on private lands in those areas have burst, resulting in large quantity of fresh water running off the burst pipes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of reports of incidents of fresh water pipe leakage or burst received by the Water Supplies Department (WSD) in the past three years and, among them, the number of those involving fresh water pipes on private lands, together with a breakdown by District Council district;
(2) whether, under the current requirements, developers or builders applying for water supply to the private properties constructed by them are required to install valves at the connection points where the water supply systems enter the private land concerned, so as to enable the WSD to disconnect water supply to the properties concerned when necessary;
(3) whether the WSD has produced publicity materials to educate water users in rural areas on ways of handling incidents of bursting of fresh water pipes on private lands, including the need to know in advance the locations of the valves to enable rapid disconnection of water supply; if the WSD has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) whether the WSD has formulated internal guidelines to require the WSD staff concerned to issue a Repair Notice to the relevant user(s) within a certain time period from the confirmation of the occurrence of an incident of bursting of fresh water pipe on private land; if the WSD has, of the details; and whether the notices will specify a deadline for the users concerned to complete the repair works; if so, of the details;
(5) of the criteria based on which the WSD decides whether or not to disconnect water supply to avoid fresh water running off the burst water pipes; in the past three years, of the number of times for which the WSD disconnected water supply because of incidents of bursting of fresh water pipe on private lands, as well as the average duration of water disconnection each time; and
(6) whether it has considered amending the Waterworks Ordinance (Cap. 102) to introduce a mechanism which enables repair works to be carried out first and the costs to be recovered from the users concerned afterwards, so as to enable the WSD to immediately arrange repair works for fresh water pipes on private lands in case of emergency, thereby reducing the quantity of fresh water running off the burst water pipes; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Sections 7(1)(c)(ii) and 7(2)(c)(ii) of the Waterworks Ordinance (the Ordinance) provide that a consumer or agent is responsible for the custody and maintenance of an inside service or communal service. In case of a fresh water pipe leakage or burst on private land, the Water Supplies Department (WSD) will ascertain the location of the leaking or burst pipe before issuing a notice in accordance with the established procedures, requiring the consumer or agent concerned to carry out repair works within a specified time.
My reply to the Hon Leung Che-cheung's question is as follows:
(1) The WSD has handled a total of 27 075 complaints about fresh water pipe leakage or burst over the past three years. Among them, 2 891 cases involved private fresh water pipes and 24 184 cases were related to public fresh water pipes.
A breakdown of these leakage and burst reports of private fresh water pipes by the geographical constituency of district councils is not available as the WSD has not maintained such statistics. A breakdown of the leakage and burst reports by the four operation regions of the WSD (i.e. Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories East and New Territories West) is set out in Annex 1.
(2) To control water supply, the WSD installs valves at the government land lots near the connection points where public water supply systems enter private land. Under the WSD's current requirements, developers or builders applying for water supply to the private properties should generally install valves near the boundaries of the consumers' lots to facilitate consumers turning off the valves for repair works or inspection when necessary.
(3) Through pamphlets, leaflets, posters and website, the WSD has publicised the consumers' responsibilities and their scope of work in respect of maintenance and repair works for inside services and communal services; disseminated information on ways to handle common problems of water supply systems; and advised the public to conduct regular inspection and undertake maintenance work for private fresh water pipes. By undertaking regular inspection and maintenance work for private fresh water pipes, the consumers or agents should know the locations of these valves and, when necessary, can shut them down to disconnect water supply and arrange repair works. Should there be any problem with their water pipes, the consumers or agents may hire a licensed plumber to conduct detailed inspection and rectify the leaks or other defects. Where necessary, the consumers or agents may call the WSD enquiry hotline for assistance.
(4) The WSD's internal instructions stipulate that, after confirmation of a leakage in a fresh water pipe on a private lot, a Repair Notice (note) should be issued within two working days to the consumers or agents responsible for its maintenance to require them to repair the leakage. The WSD would give due consideration for the severity of the incident and the time needed for arranging and undertaking the works when specifying a reasonable time limit for the repair works.
According to the WSD's internal instructions, the consumer or agent will be given 14 days to complete the repair works in case of a minor leakage that does not cause inconvenience or pose any hazard to the surrounding environment and the general public. In case of a serious leakage that affects the surrounding environment or the general public, the WSD will require the consumer or agent concerned to complete the repair works within three to seven days.
(5) For pipe leakages, the WSD would issue a Disconnection Notice to the consumer or agent concerned if and when they have not completed the repair works to the leaking pipes within the time limit as required in the Repair Notice. The water supply would only be disconnected seven days after the issuance of the Disconnection Notice. In case of urgency, such as a burst pipe in the inside service, the Water Authority may suspend water supply at a time he considers fit and appropriate.
The number and the average duration of disconnection or suspension of a supply by the WSD owing to leaking or burst water pipes on private lands over the past three years are set out in Annex 2.
(6) In case of an urgency, the Water Authority may enter any premises at any time to repair the inside service or communal service within the premises according to the current Ordinance.
Under other general circumstances, the responsibility for repairing defective private water pipes lies with the consumers or agents. As such, we consider it more appropriate for the consumers or agents to carry out repair works to the defective private water pipes themselves. However, the WSD may consider, on a discretionary basis, repairing private water pipes on behalf of the consumers and agents under certain circumstances. For instance, when the consumers or agents have serious difficulty in arranging the repair works, request the WSD to undertake the repair works and have signed an undertaking for bearing the repair costs, the WSD may undertake the repair works having regard to the case-specific circumstances. Another instance is when the consumer or agent concerned has not undertaken the specified works within the time limit as required in the Repair Notice issued by the WSD. Having completed the repair works, the WSD would issue a demand note to the consumer or agent concerned to recover the cost in accordance with section 17(3) and (4) of the Ordinance.
Note: Section 16 of the Ordinance provides that if the Water Authority is satisfied that an inside service is in such a condition that waste or pollution of a supply has occurred, he may by notice require the consumer or agent to carry out the repairs or other works specified in the notice to the inside service or communal service.
Ends/Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Issued at HKT 15:32
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