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Press
Release
Grading
of beach water quality released
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (April 27) released the
latest grading of beaches to inform the public about the water
quality of beaches in Hong Kong.
"Among
the 37 beaches, 17 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition
(Grade 1), 13 are 'Fair' (Grade 2), five are 'Poor' (Grade
3) and two 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the EPD
said.
"Grade
1" beaches are:
| Chung
Hom Kok (S) |
Clear
Water Bay First (S) |
| Deep
Water Bay (S) |
Hap
Mun Bay (S) |
| Hairpin
(S) |
Kiu
Tsui (S) |
|
Middle Bay (S) |
Trio
(S) |
|
South Bay (S) |
Cheung
Sha Upper (S) |
|
Stanley Main (S) |
Tong Fuk (S) |
|
St. Stephen's (S) |
Hung Shing Yeh (S) |
| Turtle
Cove (S) |
Kwun
Yam Wan (S) |
"Grade
2" beaches are :
| Repulse
Bay (S) |
Cheung Sha Lower |
| Shek
O (S) |
Pui O (S) |
| Butterfly
(S) |
Silvermine
Bay (S) |
| Cafeteria
New (S) |
Tung
Wan, Cheung Chau (S) |
| Cafeteria
Old |
Discovery
Bay* |
| Golden
Beach (S) |
Clear
Water Bay Second (S) |
| Kadoorie
(S) |
|
"Grade
3" beaches are :
| Casam
(S) |
Hoi
Mei Wan |
| Lido
(S) |
Tung
Wan (Ma Wan) (S) |
| Silverstrand
(S) |
|
"Grade
4" beaches are :
The beach
with an asterisk is a non-gazetted beach while those with
(S) have shark prevention nets installed.
"Comparing
with the grading released last week, Repulse Bay, Cheung Sha
Lower, Clear Water Bay Second and Pui O have changed from
'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2'; Tung Wan (Ma Wan) and Silverstrand
from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 3'; and Big Wave Bay from 'Grade
2' to 'Grade 4'.
"The deterioration
of water quality of the beaches is mainly due to the continuous
rain in the past week which flushed the pollutants from the
un-sewered beach hinterland into the water," the spokesman
said.
"The red
flag has been hoisted at Silverstrand due to red tide there.
The public are advised not to swim there and to check the
notices on the beach before swimming."
"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 latest
beach grading is also available from the EPD homepage at http://www.info.gov.hk/epd/
or the EPD's beach hotline at 2511 6666," he added.
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 counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.
"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 suggested 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
until the water quality has improved.
End/Friday,
April 27, 2001
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