At present, six gazetted beaches could not comply with the WQO for bathing water. All these beaches are located in the Tsuen Wan District. Among them, three are still closed to the public in 2000. The major pollution sources of these beaches are the sewage arising from village and squatter houses in the unsewered hinterland. Besides the Tsuen Wan beaches, some of the Sai Kung beaches also have such potential pollution sources in their unsewered hinterland. To tackle these problems, the government has plans to provide proper sewerage systems in the hinterland of these beaches.

7.1 Tsuen Wan District

To improve the water quality of Tsuen Wan beaches, the government has planned to provide sewerage along the coastal strip between Tsing Lung Tau and Ting Kau (Figure 7.1). The sewerage network, when completed, will collect sewage from the unsewered hinterland of all Tsuen Wan beaches for treatment and disinfection at a new sewage treatment plant to be built on reclaimed land in Sham Tseng. The treated effluent will be discharged to the sea via a submarine outfall. The construction work for the whole sewerage and sewage treatment system has commenced and is scheduled for completion in 2005.

Figure 7.1	Proposed sewerage works for Tsing Lung Tau, Sham Tseng and Ting Kau

Prior to completion of the permanent improvement works, interim improvement facilities to alleviate the pollution problem of the Tsuen Wan beaches are also being constructed. These interim facilities which will be fully operational in 2001 include:

• installation of an additional sewage treatment plant in the Sham Tseng Lower Resite Village to improve the effluent from the communal septic tanks serving the village;
• provision of storage tanks to collect the wastewater from the refuse collection point, public toilet and temporary market at Sham Tseng for tankering away.

After completion of all the improvement works, it is anticipated that the water quality of the Tsuen Wan beaches will improve gradually. However, as the Tsuen Wan beaches are also affected by the polluted background contribution, great improvement of water quality at the Tsuen Wan beaches will be achieved only after the full implementation of the Strategic Sewage Disposal Scheme.

7.2 Sai Kung District

Though most of the rural areas in the Sai Kung District are unsewered, the water quality of the Sai Kung beaches could comply with the WQO in the past. This is due to the continuous enforcement efforts of the EPD to control the polluted discharges in the beach hinterland. However, the sewage arising from the village houses in the unsewered hinterland are potential pollution sources of the Sai Kung beaches, particularly the Silverstrand Beach which has a lot of residences in the unsewered hinterland.

To remove these potential pollution sources, the Port Shelter SMP (Figure 7.2) has been implemented by the DSD to provide proper sewerage in the Sai Kung District and the relevant works had commenced in 1993. The Port Shelter SMP consists of four stages of works. The construction of sewerage system for the Silverstrand area was included under the Stage I work which would be completed in early 2001. It is expected that better sewerage infrastructure and the subsequent house connections will help to maintain good water quality of the Silverstrand Beach.

The Stage II and Stage III works, including sewerage provision to areas such as Sha Kok Mei, Ho Chung, Tai Po Tsai and Tseng Lan Shue, will be completed by 2006 according to the current programme. When these SMP works are completed, the good water quality of the Port Shelter and Sai Kung beaches will be safeguarded. The implementation programme for the Stage IV works will be developed in the Port Shelter SMP Review to be conducted by the EPD in late 2001 tentatively.

Figure 7.2	Proposed sewerage works for Sai Kung District