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Press
Release
Grading
of beach water quality released
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (April 6) released the latest
grading of beaches to inform the public about the water quality
of beaches in Hong Kong.
"Among
the 37 beaches, 22 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition
(Grade 1), 12 are 'Fair' (Grade 2), two are 'Poor' (Grade
3)" and one is 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the
EPD said.
"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) |
| Clear
Water Bay First (S) |
Hung
Shing Yeh (S) |
| Clear
Water Bay Second |
(S)Lo So Shing (S) |
| Tung
Wan, Cheung Chau (S) |
Kwun
Yam Wan (S) |
"Grade
2" beaches are :
| Big
Wave Bay (S) |
Casam (S) |
| Chung
Hom Kok (S) |
Tung Wan (Ma Wan) (S) |
| Shek
O (S) |
Butterfly
(S) |
| Cafeteria
New (S) |
Golden
Beach (S) |
| Cafeteria
Old |
Kadoorie
(S) |
| Silverstrand
(S) |
Discovery
Bay* |
"Grade
3" beaches are :
"Grade
4" beach is
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, Butterfly has changed
from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2', Lido from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade
3' and Gemini from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 4'.
"The
changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation
of the bacteriological water quality of these beaches, except
for Gemini beach which the EPD is carrying out investigation
to look into the reason for deterioration of the water quality,"
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.
"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 suggest 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,
April 6, 2001
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