WOMAN IN CHINA DRINKS ‘WASTE WATER’ FOR 5 YEARS AS BOTCHED PLUMBING JOB CAUSES LIVER DAMAGE
Victim of water purifier installation mistake seeks proper compensation after she suffers from irregular periods following pipes mistake
A woman in Shanghai who told of her health concerns after drinking "waste water" for five years because a worker wrongly installed her water purifier has trended on social media.
The problem was caused by an installer from the mainland's leading consumer product manufacturer, Xiaomi, who did work at the woman's home in September 2020.
The consumer, surname Liu, said she did not find any abnormalities until weeks ago when she bought a "water quality pen" device which showed the water coming out of her purifier had even worse quality than that from the tap.
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According to the device, which measures the density of TDS (total dissolved solids), a key index for the pureness of water, the figure for the water from the purifier stood at 600, more than double that of the tap water.
At the suggestion of internet users, Liu checked the purifier and found that the pipes at the back of the machine had been installed the wrong way round.
As a result, the purified water was released into the sewer, but the "concentrated water", a kind of waste water from the purifying process, was transformed to a water tap, from which Liu had anticipated she could receive clean water.
The botched installation means that Liu had been drinking waste water for the past five years.
The woman said she had an irregular period for the past six months while a month ago, doctors also found she had suffered slight liver damage.
"I am afraid the waste water, which contains plenty of chemical materials, might have a bad effect on my health," Liu was quoted as saying.
"But I do not have evidence to prove the connection between the waste water and my health issues," she said.
A Xiaomi worker who came to Liu's home to check the purifier confirmed the plumbing error.
The worker, surnamed Zhang, said the company agreed to change a filter element in the machine and is still discussing how to deal with the matter.
The worker who installed the purifier five years ago had quit the company and could not be reached, said Zhang.
Liu said she did not accept the company's current offer of only changing the filter element.
"This equipment has not been used in a normal way for a single day," she said, adding.
"I have been drinking the waste water for five years. How do you compensate me for my health problems?"
Liu is not the only customer in China to have experienced botched plumbing.
The same blunder happened at a home in eastern Zhejiang province in 2022 and left an infant boy drinking milk mixed with the waste water for months.
The purifier company's name was not revealed in the media reports, nor is it clear whether the company compensated the baby's family.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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2025-03-25T10:12:35Z
