| Press
Release
Grading
of beach water quality released
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (April 19) released the
latest grading of 37 beaches to inform the public about the
water quality of beaches in Hong Kong.
"Among
the 37 beaches, 24 beaches are found to be in 'Good' condition
(Grade 1), eight are in 'Fair' condition (Grade 2), one is
'Poor' (Grade 3) and four are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)." a spokesman
for the EPD said.
"Grade
1" beaches are
Cheung
Sha Lower Beach
Cheung Sha Upper Beach (S)
Discovery Bay*
Pui O (S)
Tong Fuk (S)
Silvermine Bay (S)
Hung Shing Yeh (S)
Lo So Shing (S)
Kwun Yam Wan (S)
Tung Wan, Cheung Chau (S)
Clear Water Bay Second Beach (S)
Hap Mun Bay (S) |
Chung
Hom Kok (S)
Repulse Bay (S)
Deep Water Bay (S)
Hairpin (S)
Middle Bay (S)
Shek O (S)
South Bay (S)
St. Stephen's Beach (S)
Stanley Main Beach (S)
Turtle Cove (S)
Kiu Tsui (S)
Trio (S) |
"Grade
2" beaches are
Big
Wave Bay (S)
Silverstrand (S)
Clear Water Bay First Beach (S)
Butterfly (S) |
Cafeteria
Old Beach
Golden (S)
Cafeteria New Beach (S)
Kadoorie (S) |
"Grade
3" beach is
Tung
Wan, Ma Wan (S)
"Grade
4" beaches are
Lido
(S)
Gemini |
Casam
(S)
Hoi Mei Wan |
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, Repulse Bay and Silvermine
Bay have upgraded from 'Grade 2' to 'Grade 1', Silverstrand
has upgraded from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 2', and Big Wave Bay
has changed from 'Grade 1' to 'Grade 2'.
"The
changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation
of the bacteriological water quality of these beaches."
"The
very poor water quality of the beaches in Tsuen Wan is partly
due to the heavy rain which flushed the pollutants from the
unsewered beach hinterland into the water, as well as the
relatively poor marine water quality in the background," the
spokesman said. .
"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 on 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, three gazetted beaches, namely Anglers',
Approach and Ting Kau are closed to swimmers all year round
because of their poor water quality.
"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 there has improved.
End/Friday,
April 19, 2002
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