Hong Kong lawmakers demand infrastructure checks after burst water pipe chaos
Depth of pipe blamed for repair delays in Tuen Mun, which caused service suspension and nine-hour traffic disruptions
Emergency repairs on a 47-year-old pipe that burst and caused the water supply for part of Tuen Mun to be suspended for 7½ hours took time because workers had to locate the leak deep underground, an official has said, with lawmakers urging greater monitoring of ageing infrastructure.
Director of Water Supplies Roger Wong Yan-lok said on Wednesday that the burst water main on Tuen Mun Road was about three metres below ground. Traffic was also disrupted for around nine hours as authorities raced to fix the leak late on Tuesday night, working into the early hours.
“This water pipe had not burst before. We checked its age, and it’s 47 years old, which isn’t considered very old,” Wong told a radio show.
“However, it’s possible that due to certain reasons, there might have been some localised ‘punctures’.”
He added that authorities had spent “a bit of effort finding the leak because it was quite deep”.
Wong said his department would gradually install sensors to monitor changes in water pressure within pipes to identify “unusual situations that need early attention”.