[Photo of Mr Kwok Ka-keung, JP Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (Environment) / Director of Environmental Protection]

Since it was first founded in 1986, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has been tasked with the job of monitoring and improving the quality of the water at Hong Kong's beaches. Twenty years have now passed since we first began our beach water monitoring work. It therefore seems appropriate to use this anniversary to take stock of what we have been doing, what kind of differences we have made, and what possibilities lie ahead for the future. In this Annual Report we have taken the opportunity to compare the state of Hong Kong's beaches in the 1980s, the 1990s and today, as a way of highlighting what has so far been accomplished to make Hong Kong's beach environment a better place for everyone.

Hong Kong's Beach Water Monitoring Programme is built on rigorous scientific studies which are well-recognised worldwide. We are proud to see the difference we have made, and are continuing to make, to the quality of Hong Kong's unique natural environment and the health of all our community. Over the years, the EPD has developed an efficient system of monitoring, protection, and action that has helped significantly to reduce the water pollution problems which once so plagued Hong Kong, and which placed many of its beautiful beaches off-limits to the community. In the summer of 2005, over a million visits were made to our beaches each month: a testimonial to the confidence the public now places in the water quality of Hong Kong's beaches, and to the usefulness of the information provided by the EPD.

I hope you enjoy reading of the transformation that Hong Kong's beaches have experienced over the past twenty years, and are fascinated by some of the old photographs we have extracted from the archives. There have been very major changes over the past two decades, it is true, but the job of improving our beach water is not yet finished. For example, there are still a few closed beaches in Tsuen Wan. To ensure these can be reopened in the not too distant future we will need the community's support both for the on-going village sewerage programme for the area and the remaining stages of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme, which is planned to include a disinfection system specifically to improve Tsuen Wan beach water quality. In 2005 the EPD's Beach Water Monitoring Programme is still going strong. I am confident that this mature, proven programme will continue to serve our community well and improve the quality of our beaches even further in the years to come.

Mr Kwok Ka-keung, JP
Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (Environment) / Director of Environmental Protection