Tsuen Wan Building has a backlog of wrong canal cases for more than two years

District 18 News

Written by: District Licheng

2021-04-25 21:32

Last update date: 2021-04-25 21:36

The Office of The Ombudsman earlier criticized government departments for delays in handling cases of faulty drainage in old buildings. One case was delayed for more than 11 years. The Tsuen Wan District Council held a meeting to discuss related issues. The Environmental Protection Department cited data showing that there were 23 cases of faulty drainage of sewage in the district. Among the drainage cases, 78% of the cases have been backlogged for more than two years. Some cases have been referred to the Buildings Department for follow-up. Some Members worry that government departments have shifted the core of their policies to suppress the bad breath of drainage pipes and outlets in recent years.

The Tsuen Wan District Council recently held a meeting of the Environmental, Hygiene and Climate Change Committee. It was concerned about the problems of misconnection and disrepair of private buildings. District Councillor Li Hongbo mentioned that there are many buildings in Tsuen Wan, as long as the owners mistakenly reject the sewage pipes to the storm drains. Once the pipe cracks and leaks to the building’s patio and back alleys to spread poison in disguised form, passers-by mistakenly enter the sewage and increase the risk of infection. Although the Environmental Protection Department can conduct a piping investigation in accordance with the Water Pollution Control Ordinance, it is unable to do so. The owners of the units involved are forced to correct the problems, and the department is required to cooperate with the Buildings Department, which is responsible for taking enforcement actions against illegal construction projects, to improve the efficiency of law enforcement.

Members are concerned about the efficiency of handling cases of wrongly connected sewers in buildings

The Environmental Protection Department responded that a total of more than 580 inspections were carried out from 2017 to 2020, and 23 cases involving faulty pipe connections in buildings were found. Among them, 18 cases were backlogged for more than two years, 16 cases were repaired, and the remaining 7 cases were transferred to the Buildings Department. Following up, the buildings involved include old tenement buildings such as Erbeifang, Zhong'an Street, Chuanlong Street, Shazui Street, Tak Wah Street, Tsao Gongfang, etc., emphasizing that the Department and the Buildings Department will cooperate with each other in handling cases of faulty canalization. Some cases will be transferred to the Buildings Department, and some cases will be inspected jointly by the two departments in response to complex circumstances. If related issues cause environmental health problems, they will also be referred to the FEHD for follow-up, emphasizing that the Environmental Protection Department will continue to conduct inspections in the district. If sufficient evidence is found that someone has discharged sewage in violation of regulations, appropriate enforcement actions will be taken.

Suppressing odor measures to treat the symptoms but not the root cause

However, the district councillor Yi Chengcong raised a question, saying that he should pay attention to the fact that government departments will solve the core problem of wrong canalization in recent years. It should fix the root cause and find out that the unit involved should amend the pipes and use them to suppress the odor of public canals, such as in the district. The use of four dry season interceptors, that is, to block and divert the contaminated dry flow of rainwater drains to the sewage collection system for treatment; also test the application of "odor control hydrogel" to suppress the odor in the drainage system and other symptomatic methods, This kind of short-term measures with immediate effect failed to eradicate the problem of misalignment of pipes in buildings. Instead, it caused offensive odors in drains and waterfronts for a long time, requiring all government departments to seriously follow up and study solutions.

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