Hong Kong's lead-in-water contamination has sparked some memes online.The lead-in-water scare has spread to another primary school where a sample was found to contain levels of the heavy metal more than 21 times over the safe limit.
St Francis of Assisi's Caritas School on Wai Chi Street, Shek Kip Mei, said water from a water fountain in the playground contained 220 micrograms of lead per litre, more than 21 times the World Health Organisation’s safety level of 10mcg/l.
A fruther two samples taken from a canteen contained 25 and 26mcg/l.
School head Yiu Fan said she was surprised by the test results. She said the water fountain had a filter which was inspected in May.
Two water samples from the general office and a staff room were satisfactory.
The school has reported the findings to the Education Bureau and will adopt emergency measures.
On August 21, one of six samples taken from St Thomas’ Primary School on Pratas Street, Sham Shui Po, contained 43.2 mcg/l of lead, more than four times the WHO’s safety level.
The water had been taken earlier this month from a tap for washing hands in a first-floor classroom at the campus, which was completed in 2011.
Five other samples – in which lead levels were found to be lower than 5mcg/l and within safety limits – were collected from drinking machines in the staff room, the school office’s pantry, the school hall, the sports ground and the covered playground. The machines had distillers to clean the water.