Hong Kong is a territory with a wonderful array of stunning beaches, many of which are 'gazetted', or maintained and managed by the government for public use. Currently, 41 of Hong Kong's beaches are gazetted in this manner, and these are spread right across the territory. Of these, 32 were open for swimming in 2003. Ten beaches located on Hong Kong Island were open from 1 March to 30 November, while 18 beaches in other locations had a slightly shorter opening season, running from 1 April to 31 October. Four beaches are open the whole year round: they are Deep Water Bay, Clear Water Bay Second, Golden Beach, and Silverstrand. Each year huge numbers of residents and tourists swim and relax at Hong Kong's gazetted beaches. In 2003, for example, nearly 9 million people visited the gazetted beaches during the bathing season alone.
Hong Kong's beaches are welcome escapes from the territory's densely populated urban environment. But being on the edge of Hong Kong's urban environment, they are subject to all the environmental pressures associated with a city of some 7 million people. Inevitably, then, the quality of water in different places throughout Hong Kong varies across the year. In particular, Hong Kong's heavy downpours across the summer months can often cause major, short-term fluctuations in water quality in different parts of the territory, as rainwater flushes accumulated pollutants off the land through storm drains and other runoffs.
As a basic and important public health service, since 1986 the Government has run a comprehensive beach monitoring programme, designed to ensure that the swimming public have the best possible information about water quality at Hong Kong beaches. The programme operates across the entire year, and covers all 41 gazetted beaches as well as a further 9 non-gazetted beaches, monitored because of their popularity or because they have the potential to be gazetted sometime in the future.
Beaches monitored by the EPD
|
Southern
District |
Sai
Kung
District |
Outlying
Islands |
Tuen
Mun
District |
Tsuen
Wan
District |
Tai
Po
District |
|
Gazetted
beach |
Gazetted
beach |
Gazetted
beach |
Gazetted
beach |
Gazetted
beach |
Ga
|
| Big
Wave Bay * Rocky Bay (Closed) Shek O * Turtle Cove * Hairpin * Stanley Main * St. Stephen's * Chung Hom Kok * South Bay * Middle Bay * Repluse Bay * Deep Water Bay * |
Kiu
Tsui * Hap Mun Bay * Trio * Silverstrand * Clear Water Bay First * Clear Water Bay Second * |
Lo
So Shing * Hung Shing Yeh * Kwun Yam * Cheung Chau Tung Wan * Tong Fuk * Upper Cheung Sha * Lower Cheung Sha Pui O * Silver Mine Bay * |
Butterfly
* Castle Peak (Closed) Kadoorie * Cafeteria Old Cafeteria New * Golden Beach * |
Ma
Wan Tung Wan * Anglers' (Closed) Gemini (Closed) Hoi Mei Wan (Closed) Casam (Closed) Lido (Closed) Ting Kau (Closed) Approach (Closed) |
|
|
Non-gazetted
beach |
Non-gazetted
beach |
Non-gazetted
beach |
Non
|
Non-gazetted
beach |
|
| Pak
Sha Chau Campers |
Tai
Kwai Wan Discovery Bay |
Lung
Kwu Sheung Tan Lung Kwu Tan |
Lung
Mei Sha Lan Hoi Ha |
||
| * Shark-prevention net installed | |||||
The EPD monitors Hong Kong's beaches with a very clear mission in mind:
To safeguard the health and welfare of the community and meet conservation goals by working to achieve and maintain the water quality objective for bathing beaches
This mission statement places public health and safety
at the heart of the EPD's endeavours, along with a parallel commitment
to the environment. Practically speaking, the EPD works towards accomplishing
this mission in three main ways, each of which is laid out in more detail
in separate chapters of this report:
possible.
The results of the EPD's work in 2003 are also presented and discussed in this report, and supported by an extensive and detailed set of graphs and charts.