The Water Supplies Department has announced plans to strengthen Hong Kong’s drinking water safety protocols, revising its monitoring regime to align with the latest World Health Organization guidelines.

Starting from June, three new parameters – governing manganese, cylindrospermopsins and saxitoxins – will be added to the government's routine drinking water testing programme, while monitoring for microcystin-LR toxins will be expanded.

In a statement, the department said these changes, approved by the Drinking Water Safety Advisory Committee, are aimed at enhancing public health safeguards and ensuring safe and reliable drinking water for the public.

Meanwhile, tetrachloroethene and uranium will transition from routine testing to a surveillance list for periodic oversight, following years of consistently low detection levels.

Similarly, tests will no longer be made for antimony under the Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring Programme with water samples collected showing traces for the chemical as being below the reporting limit.

Other parameters governing lead and E coli will remain in place to maintain rigorous oversight.

Under the routine drinking water testing programme, testing occurs across reservoirs, treatment plants, distribution systems and public taps accessible to the general public, with frequencies ranging from daily to monthly, while those toxins or chemicals covered under the surveillance list's parameters are usually tested once every six months.