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Press Release

Grading of beach water quality released

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (May 25) released the latest grading of beaches to inform the public about the water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.

"Among the 37 beaches, 18 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition (Grade 1), 14 are 'Fair' (Grade 2), three are 'Poor' (Grade 3) and two are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the EPD said.

"Grade 1" beaches are:

Deep Water Bay (S) Clear Water Bay First Beach(S)
Middle Bay (S) Hap Mun Bay (S)
Shek O (S) Kiu Tsui (S)
South Bay (S) Trio (S)
Stanley Main Beach(S) Cheung Sha Upper (S)
St. Stephen's (S) Tong Fuk (S)
Turtle Cove (S) Pui O (S)
Kwun Yam Wan (S) Hung Shing Yeh (S)
Cheung Sha Lower Lo So Shing (S)

"Grade 2" beaches are:

Big Wave Bay (S) Silvermine Bay (S)
Chung Hom Kok (S) Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)
Hairpin (S) Hoi Mei Wan
Repulse Bay (S) Tung Wan (Ma Wan) (S)
Butterfly (S) Discovery Bay*
Cafeteria New (S) Golden Beach (S)
Cafeteria Old Kadoorie (S)

"Grade 3" beaches are:

Casam (S) Lido (S)
Gemini

"Grade 4" beaches are :

Clear Water Bay Second Beach (S) Silverstrand (S)

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, Shek O and Cheung Sha Lower have upgraded from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 1'; and Hoi Mei Wan from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 2'.

"Hairpin and Chung Hom Kok have changed from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2'; Clear Water Bay Second Beach from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 4'; and Silverstrand from 'Grade 3' to Grade 4'.

"The deterioration of water quality of the beaches is mainly due to the heavy rain which flushed the pollutants from the unsewered beach hinterland into the water," the spokesman said.

"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, May 25, 2001

 

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