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Press Release

Grading of beach water quality released

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (July 27) released the latest grading of beaches to inform the public about the water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.

"Among the 37 beaches, nine beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition (Grade 1), 16 are 'Fair' (Grade 2), 11 are 'Poor' (Grade 3) and one is 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the EPD said.

"Grade 1" beaches are:

Middle Bay (S) Tong Fuk (S)
South Bay (S) Lo So Shing (S)
St. Stephen's Beach (S) Kwun Yam Wan (S)
Hap Mun Bay (S) Cheung Sha Upper(S)
Kiu Tsui (S)

"Grade 2" beaches are:

Big Wave Bay (S) Cheung Sha Lower
Chung Hom Kok (S) Pui O (S)
Deep Water Bay (S) Hung Shing Yeh (S)
Hairpin (S) Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)
Repulse Bay (S) Discovery Bay*
Shek O (S) Clear Water Bay First Beach (S)
Stanley Main Beach (S) Clear Water Bay Second Beach (S)
Turtle Cove (S) Trio (S)

"Grade 3" beaches are:

Silverstrand (S) Butterfly (S)
Gemini Cafeteria New (S)
Hoi Mei Wan Cafeteria Old
Lido (S) Golden Beach (S)
Tung Wan (Ma Wan) (S) Kadoorie (S)
Silvermine Bay (S)

The "Grade 4" beach is Casam (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, Cheung Sha Upper has upgraded from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 1'; Stanley Main Beach and Tung Wan on Cheung Chau have changed from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2', Butterfly and Tung Wan (Ma Wan) from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 3' and Casam from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 4'.

"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 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, July 27, 2001

 

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