Quality of our marine waters
Over the years, our monitoring programmes have provided useful data for checking the state of health of our marine waters, the status of compliance with the WQOs, and assessing the effectiveness of the sewage infrastructure programmes and pollution control measures put into place by the Government.
In 2012, the marine water quality in Hong Kong achieved 78% overall compliance with the WQOs. The overall compliance rate is based on the combined individual compliance rates of all monitoring stations for the four important marine WQOs, namely dissolved oxygen, total inorganic nitrogen, unionized ammonia, and E.coli. For individual water bodies, the water quality in the eastern part of Hong Kong, such as the Mirs Bay, is generally good, with full compliance with our existing WQOs. Other parts of Hong Kong waters are not so good, such as Deep Bay, which only achieved a 53% rate of compliance.
EPD monitors 44 beaches located in different parts of Hong Kong. Through the continuous efforts of the Government to implement pollution abatement measures over the past years, all the gazetted beaches have now achieved the required standard for bathing waters for three consecutive years (2010 to 2012). Beaches with the best quality are mainly located in the southern district on Hong Kong Island, Sai Kung, and Outlying Islands.
The levels of toxic substances in marine water, sediment and biological organisms generally met local and overseas standards for the protection of marine life and human health.
Links for the details of the quality of our marine water:
- Marine water quality
- Beach water quality
- Toxic substances monitoring results
- Water quality monitoring data
Achievements
To achieve Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) that will safeguard the health and welfare of the community and attain various conservation goals, the EPD has implemented extensive programmes such as planning for the provision of sewage infrastructures, water quality impact assessments in the EIA and planning process, and enforcing pollution control at sources. Over the past two decades, our efforts to clean up Hong Kong's waters have achieved good results, as illustrated in the feature stories below.
Victoria Harbour
Tolo Harbour
Bathing Beaches
- Overall improvement in beach water quality
- Beaches in Southern District
- Repulse Bay Beach
- Castle Peak Beach
- Silver Mine Bay Beach
Rivers