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Press Release

Grading of beach water quality released

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (August 3) released the latest grading of beaches to inform the public about the water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.

"Among the 37 beaches, 10 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition (Grade 1), 18 are 'Fair' (Grade 2), seven are 'Poor' (Grade 3) and two are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the EPD said.

"Grade 1" beaches are:

Hairpin (S) Hap Mun Bay (S)
Middle Bay (S) Kiu Tsui (S)
South Bay (S) Lo So Shing (S)
Stanley Main Beach (S) Kwun Yam Wan (S)
St. Stephen's Beach (S) Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)

"Grade 2" beaches are:

Big Wave Bay (S) Cheung Sha Lower
Chung Hom Kok (S) Cheung Sha Upper (S)
Deep Water Bay (S) Pui O (S)
Repulse Bay (S) Tong Fuk (S)
Shek O (S)

Silvermine Bay (S)

Turtle Cove (S)

Hung Shing Yeh (S)

Discovery Bay* Clear Water Bay First Beach (S)
Tung Wan (Ma Wan) (S) Clear Water Bay Second Beach (S)
Trio (S) Butterfly (S)

"Grade 3" beaches are:

Casam (S) Silverstrand (S)
Gemini Golden Beach (S)
Hoi Mei Wan Kadoorie (S)
Lido (S)

"Grade 4" beaches are:

Cafeteria New (S) Cafeteria Old

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, Tung Wan on Cheung Chau and Stanley Main Beach have upgraded from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 1'; Butterfly, Tung Wan (Ma Wan) and Silvermine Bay from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 2'; and Casam from 'Grade 4' to 'Grade 3'.

"Cheung Sha Upper and Tong Fuk have changed from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2'; Cafeteria New and Cafeteria Old from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 4'.

"The changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological water quality of these beaches," 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, August 3, 2001

 

 

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