Media

(Issued on behalf of HKU Faculty of Social Sciences)
Press Conference on the Launch of the First “Water Footprint Calculator” Mobile App in Hong Kong and a 3-City Survey on Public Water Attitudes

24 May 2017

Subsequent to the project launch in December 2016, the “Jockey Club Water Initiative on Sustainability and Engagement (JC-WISE)” project, initiated by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, strives to promote the Water Footprint concept and the multiple values of water in the community in order to raise public awareness of the importance of attaining long-term water sustainability in Hong Kong.

To help the community visualize the connections between our daily consumption habits and their concomitant impacts on freshwater resources, JC-WISE will launch the first-of-its-kind “Water Footprint Calculator” mobile app in Hong Kong.  The Water Footprint Calculator mobile app, an innovative and engaging tool integrated with evidence-based scientific data, will allow the community to easily find out the water footprint of their daily dining habits and facilitate their understanding of the water sustainability impacts ensuing from their choices of popular local dishes.  It could effectively raise public awareness of the importance of heeding water conservation.

In addition, JC-WISE has conducted community-wide surveys on public water attitudes in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou to gauge the general public’s attitudes and preferences towards water usage.  The findings gathered through this three-city study will give us the much needed baseline data to start constructing a longitudinal view on public water attitudes and lend us an empirical basis to benchmark Hong Kong’s results with neigbhouring cities.  The survey has collected data from around 500 respondents each in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou. Key survey results show that there is a weak form of water conservation ethics among Hong Kong people and that many have reservations about committing extra expenditure for the sake of water conservation. Details of the survey results will be released at the press conference.

Media representatives are invited to join the event; details are as follows:

Date:    May 26, 2017 (Friday)
Time:   11:00 am
Venue: Social Sciences Function Room, 11/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of                    Hong Kong
Speakers:  
- Ms. Imelda Chan, Head of Charities (Grant Making – Elderly, Rehabilitation, Medical, Environmental & Family), The Hong Kong Jockey Club
- Dr. Frederick Lee, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU &         Project Co-Investigator
- Dr. C.N. Ng, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU & Project             Co-Investigator

For media enquiries, please contact
Mr. Tommy Fan, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU (Tel: 39171204/97010777; Email: yhfan@hku.hk)