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Press
Releases - 2000
Beach
water quality continues to improve
The water
quality of all gazetted beaches has continued to improve in
1999, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department
(EPD) said today (March 31).
Twenty-two
gazetted beaches were ranked "Good", 13 "Fair" and six "Poor"
last year. No beach was ranked "Very Poor".
The percentage
of beaches complying with the water quality objective has
increased from 78 in 1998 to 86 in 1999.
Among
the 41 gazetted beaches, 10 of them have moved up one rank
and no beach has been downgraded.
Significant
improvement of water quality has been recorded at 19 beaches.
The spokesman
said: "The improvement of the general beach water quality
in 1999 is attributed to the completion of some sewerage improvement
works, the subsequent property connections to the public sewer
and the continuous enforcement efforts of the EPD to control
all the discharges in the beach hinterland."
Details
are carried in the EPD's annual report on "Beach Water Quality
in Hong Kong 1999", which is available for sale at the Government
Publications Centre, Low Block, Ground Floor, Queensway Government
Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong.
The annual
report can also be downloaded from the EPD homepage at http://www.info.gov.hk/epd/.
The EPD
has also released for the first time the grading of beaches
for the current bathing season today.
"Twenty-seven
beaches are found to be in "Good" condition (Grade 1)," the
spokesman said.
"The
water quality of seven beaches are in "Fair" condition (Grade
2) and three "Poor" (Grade 3)."
"Grade
1" beaches are:
Chung Hom Kok (S) Cheung Sha Lower
Deep
Water Bay (S) Cheung Sha Upper (S)
Middle
Bay (S) Pui O (S)
Repulse
Bay (S) Silvermine (S)
South
Bay (S) Tong Fuk (S)
St Stephen's
(S) Hung Shing Yeh (S)
Turtle
Cove (S) Lo So Shing (S)
Clear
Water Bay First (S) Kwun Yam Wan (S)
Clear
Water Bay Second (S) Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)
Hap Mun
Bay (S) Butterfly (S)
Kiu Tsui
(S) New Cafeteria (S)
Trio
(S) Old Cafeteria
Tung
Wan on Ma Wan (S) Golden Beach (S)
Discovery
Bay*
"Grade
2" beaches are:
Hairpin (S) Shek O (S)
Stanley
Main (S) Silverstrand (S)
Kadoorie
(S) Lido (S)
Big Wave
Bay (S)
"Grade
3" beaches are:
Casam (S) Gemini
Hoi Mei
Wan
The beach
with an asterisk is a non-gazetted beach while those with
(S) have shark prevention nets installed.
"During
the bathing season, beach grades will be released every week
before the weekend in order to provide timely information
for the weekend beach-goers.
"The
update beach grading is also available from the EPD homepage
or the EPD's beach hotline at 2511 6666," he said.
Under
the grading system, beaches are classified into four grades
according to the level of E.coli in the water.
The beach
grading is calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of
the E.coli count in the five most recent sampling occasions.
As introduced
from the last bathing season, "Grade 4" would also be given
to a beach when its last E.coli reading exceeds a high figure
irrespective of the geometric mean.
The spokesman
said: "At present, five gazetted beaches, namely Anglers',
Approach, Ting Kau, Castle Peak and Rocky Bay, are closed
to swimmers for the whole bathing season because of their
poor water quality or lack of beach facilities.
"The
public are advised not to swim at those closed beaches."
In general,
many beaches are likely to be more polluted than the beach
grades suggest during and after periods of heavy rain. Bathers
should avoid swimming at beaches for up to three days after
a storm or heavy rainfall.
The public
are also advised to avoid swimming at the "Grade 4" beaches
as far as possible until the grading has improved.
End/Friday,
March 31, 2000
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