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Press Release

Grading of beach water quality released

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (April 4) released the latest grading of 37 beaches to inform the public about the water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.

"Among the 37 beaches, 24 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition (Grade 1)," a spokesman for the EPD said.

"The water quality of eight beaches are in 'Fair' condition (Grade 2), one is 'Poor' (Grade 3) and four are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)."

"Grade 1" beaches are

Cheung Sha Lower Beach
Cheung Sha Upper Beach (S)
Discovery Bay*
Pui O (S)
Tong Fuk (S)
Hung Shing Yeh (S)
Lo So Shing (S)
Kwun Yam Wan (S)
Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)
Clear Water Bay Second Beach (S)
Hap Mun Bay (S)
Kiu Tsui (S)

Big Wave Bay (S)
Chung Hom Kok (S)
Deep Water Bay (S)
Hairpin (S)
Middle Bay (S)
Repulse Bay (S)
Shek O (S)
South Bay (S)
St. Stephen's Beach (S)
Stanley Main Beach (S)
Turtle Cove (S)
Trio (S)

"Grade 2" beaches are

Silvermine Bay (S)
Clear Water Bay First Beach (S)
Tung Wan, Ma Wan (S)
Butterfly (S)
Cafeteria Old Beach
Golden (S)
Cafeteria New Beach (S)
Kadoorie (S)

"Grade 3" beach is Silverstrand (S)

"Grade 4" beaches are

Lido (S)
Gemini
Casam (S)
Hoi Mei Wan

The beach with an asterisk is a non-gazetted beach while those with (S) have shark prevention nets installed.

"The very poor water quality of the beaches in Tsuen Wan is partly due to the heavy rain which flushed the pollutants from the unsewered beach hinterland into the water, as well as the relatively poor marine water quality in the background," the spokesman said.

"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 count 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, three gazetted beaches, namely Anglers', Approach and Ting Kau are closed to swimmers all year round because of their poor water quality.

"The public are advised not to swim at these 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 as far as possible until the water quality there has improved.

End/Thursday, April 4, 2002

 

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