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Press
Releases - 2000
EPD
commissions study on livestock waste management
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (May 12) commissioned a
study to develop long-term arrangements for the collection,
disposal and management of livestock waste.
The study
will identify the best disposal arrangement for livestock
waste with due account of the need to meet the water quality
objectives and the local farming conditions.
Speaking
after the agreement signing ceremony, the Assistant Director
of Environmental Protection (Waste and Water), Mr Benny Wong,
said the study would enable the Government to work out a long-term
strategy and develop facilities to handle livestock waste
in an environmentally sound manner for the next 20 years.
"Over
the past decade, the Government has achieved significant results
in reducing pollution in rivers and streams through the implementation
of the livestock waste control scheme.
"The
reduction of pollution load is equivalent to domestic sewage
generated by some 1.6 million people," Mr Wong said.
"However,
the remaining pollutants in the effluents discharged from
the livestock farms in the North and Yuen Long Districts,
where most farms are located, can still affect the water quality
of Deep Bay.
"In order
to protect the water quality of Deep Bay, which has very limited
assimilative capacity for additional pollution loading, there
is a need to examine means of further reducing pollution from
the livestock farms that discharge into Deep Bay," he noted.
The study
was awarded to Maunsell Environmental Management Consultants
Limited at a cost of $1.5 million and is expected to take
12 months to complete.
End/Friday,
May 12, 2000
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