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Press
Releases - 2000
Grading
of beach water quality released
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (June 16) released the latest
grading of beaches to inform the public about the water quality
of beaches in Hong Kong.
"Among
the 37 beaches, 21 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition
(Grade 1)," a spokesman for the EPD said.
"The
water quality of 12 beaches are in 'Fair' condition (Grade
2) and four are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)."
"Grade
1" beaches are:
Chung
Hom Kok (S)
Deep Water Bay (S)
Middle Bay (S)
Shek O (S)
South Bay (S)
Stanley Main (S)
St Stephen's (S)
Turtle Cove (S)
Clear Water Bay First (S)
Hap Mun Bay (S)
Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S) |
Cheung Sha Lower
Cheung Sha Upper (S)
Hung Shing Yeh (S)
Lo So Shing (S)
Pui O (S)
Tong Fuk (S)
Discovery Bay*
Kiu Tsui (S)
Trio (S)
Silverstrand (S) |
"Grade
2" beaches are:
Big
Wave Bay (S)
Hairpin (S)
Repulse Bay (S)
Clear Water Bay Second (S)
Kwun Yam Wan (S)
Tung Wan on Ma Wan (S) |
Butterfly (S)
Cafeteria New (S)
Cafeteria Old
Golden Beach (S)
Kadoorie (S)
Silvermine Bay (S) |
"Grade
4" beaches are:
Lido
(S)
Hoi Mei Wan |
Casam
(S)
Gemini Gemini |
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, Turtle Cove, Silverstrand
and Tung Wan on Cheung Chau have moved up from 'Grade 2' to
'Grade 1'.
"Repulse
Bay has changed from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2'; Lido, Casam,
Hoi Mei Wan and Gemini have changed from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade
4'.
"The
deterioration of water quality of the beaches is mainly due
to the heavy rain which flushed the pollutants from the un-sewered
beach hinterland into the water.
"However,
the changes of the beach gradings are still 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 count in the five most recent sampling occasions.
As introduced
from the last bathing season, "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
as far as possible until the water quality has improved.
End/Friday,
June 16, 2000
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