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Press
Release
Grading
of Beach Water Quality Released
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (March 30) released the
grading of beaches for the first time this bathing season
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)," a spokesman for the EPD said.
"The water
quality of 12 beaches are in 'Fair' condition (Grade 2) and
two are 'Poor' (Grade 3)."
"Grade
1" beaches are :
|
Deep Water Bay (S) |
Hap
Mun Bay (S) |
|
Hairpin (S) |
Kiu
Tsui (S) |
|
Middle Bay (S) |
Trio
(S) |
|
Repulse Bay (S) |
Cheung
Sha Lower |
|
South Bay (S) |
Cheung
Sha Upper (S) |
|
Stanley Main (S) |
Pui
O (S) |
|
St. Stephen's (S) |
Silvermine
Bay (S) |
|
Turtle Cove (S) |
Tong
Fuk (S) |
|
Butterfly (S) |
Hung
Shing Yeh (S) |
|
Clear Water Bay First (S) |
Lo
So Shing (S) |
|
Clear Water Bay Second (S) |
Kwun
Yam Wan (S) |
|
Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S) |
|
"Grade
2" beaches are :
|
Big Wave Bay (S) |
Casam
(S) |
|
Chung Hom Kok (S) |
Lido
(S) |
|
Shek O (S) |
Tung
Wan on Ma Wan (S) |
|
Cafeteria New (S) |
Golden
Beach (S) |
|
Cafeteria Old |
Kadoorie
(S) |
|
Silverstrand (S) |
Discovery
Bay* |
"Grade
3" beaches are :
The beach
with an asterisk is a non-gazetted beach while those with
(S) have shark prevention nets installed.
"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.
"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 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 has improved.
End/Friday,
March 30, 2001
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