Press Release

Press Release

Grading of beach water quality released

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (June 28) released the latest grading of 37 beaches to inform the public about the water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.

"Among the 37 beaches, 23 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition (Grade 1), seven beaches are in 'Fair' condition (Grade 2), three are 'Poor' (Grade 3) and four are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the EPD said.

"Grade 1" beaches are

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

"Grade 2" beaches are

Chung Hom Kok (S) Cafeteria New Beach (S)
Golden (S) Cafeteria Old Beach
Butterfly (S) Silvermine Bay (S)
Big Wave Bay (S)  

"Grade 3" beaches are

Hoi Mei Wan Silverstrand (S)
Tung Wan, Ma Wan (S)  

"Grade 4" beaches are

Casam (S) Lido (S)
Gemini Kadoorie (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, Silverstrand has changed from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 3', and Kadoorie from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 4'," the spokesman said.

"The changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological water quality of these beaches," the spokesman said.

"The very poor water quality of some beaches is due to heavy rain which flushed pollutants from the unsewered beach hinterland into the water," 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 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, 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/Friday, June 28, 2002

 

 
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