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HK Official: Efforts Taken to Protect Water Resources
The water industry needs to double efforts to protect the world's precious water resources, Hong Kong's Secretary for Works Lee Shing-see said Monday.
"Growing population, urbanization and industrialization are taking a serious toll on water quality and quantity and the search for new water sources and the preservation of existing ones are two of most critical issues facing all water utilities around the world," Lee said while addressing a specialized workshop on water resources.
Spreading water shortages, protection of water sources, rise in operation costs, sustainable management practices were all the more important and urgent issues on the global agenda, he said.
"It needs close partnership at both international and regional levels to reverse the troubling trends," he added.
More than 80 delegates from 19 countries and cities attended the International Water Association (IWA) Specialized Workshop co- hosted by the IWA and the Water Supplies Department (WSD) of Hong Kong.
The IWA, of which the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a governing member, is the world's most renowned international organization on water supply.
The workshop provides an arena for related professionals to share experience and to explore innovative approaches and practices to providing quality services to customers.
The event is also a highlight to mark 150 years of water supply in Hong Kong and the 2001 United Nations World Water Day on March 22.
A wide range of issues will be discussed during the three-day forum, including customer expectations, satisfaction and performance measurement, customer-focused organization and cultural change, application of latest information technology and customer communication, customer relations and water tariff.
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