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Press Release

Grading of beach water quality released

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (July 6) released the latest grading of beaches to inform the public about the water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.

"Among the 37 beaches, eight beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition (Grade 1), 21 are 'Fair' (Grade 2) and eight are 'Poor' (Grade 3)," a spokesman for the EPD said.

"Grade 1" beaches are:

South Bay (S)

Cheung Sha Upper (S)

Stanley Main Beach (S)

Discovery Bay*

Hap Mun Bay (S)

Tong Fuk (S)

Kiu Tsui (S)

Kwun Yam Wan (S)

"Grade 2" beaches are:

Chung Hom Kok (S)

Cheung Sha Lower

Deep Water Bay (S)

Pui O (S)

Hairpin (S)

Lo So Shing (S)

Middle Bay (S)

Hung Shing Yeh (S)

Repulse Bay (S)

Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)

Shek O (S)

Butterfly (S)

St. Stephen's Beach (S)

Cafeteria New (S)

Turtle Cove (S)

Cafeteria Old

Clear Water Bay Second Beach (S)

Golden Beach (S)

Silverstrand (S)

Tung Wan (Ma Wan) (S)

Trio (S)

"Grade 3" beaches are:

Big Wave Bay (S)

Casam (S)

Silvermine Bay (S)

Gemini

Kadoorie (S)

Hoi Mei Wan

Clear Water Bay First Beach (S)

Lido (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, Hairpin has upgraded from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 2' and Silvermine Bay from 'Grade 4' to 'Grade 3'. Trio, Hung Shing Yeh and Tung Wan on Cheung Chau have changed from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2' and Clear Water Bay First Beach from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 3'.

"The deterioration of water quality of the beaches is mainly due to the heavy rain in the past few weeks which flushed the pollutants from the unsewered beach hinterland and polluted run-off 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 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 until the water quality has improved.

End/Friday, July 6, 2001

 

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