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Press
Release
Grading
of beach water quality released
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (June 28) released the latest
grading of 37 beaches 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), seven beaches are in 'Fair' condition (Grade 2), three are 'Poor'
(Grade 3) and four are 'Very Poor' (Grade 4)," a spokesman for the
EPD said.
"Grade 1" beaches
are
| Cheung
Sha Lower Beach |
Clear Water Bay First Beach (S) |
| Cheung
Sha Upper Beach (S) |
Repulse Bay (S) |
| Discovery
Bay* |
Deep
Water Bay (S) |
| Tong
Fuk (S) |
Middle
Bay (S) |
| Hung
Shing Yeh (S) |
South
Bay (S) |
| Lo
So Shing (S) |
St.
Stephen's Beach (S) |
| Clear
Water Bay Second Beach (S) |
Stanley
Main Beach (S) |
| Hap
Mun Bay (S) |
Tung
Wan, Cheung Chau (S) |
| Kiu
Tsui (S) |
Kwun
Yam Wan (S) |
| Pui
O (S) |
Shek O (S) |
| Hairpin
(S) |
Turtle
Cove (S) |
| Trio
(S) |
|
"Grade 2" beaches
are
| Chung Hom
Kok (S) |
Cafeteria
New Beach (S) |
| Golden
(S) |
Cafeteria
Old Beach |
| Butterfly
(S) |
Silvermine
Bay (S) |
| Big Wave
Bay (S) |
|
"Grade 3" beaches
are
| Hoi
Mei Wan |
Silverstrand (S) |
| Tung
Wan, Ma Wan (S) |
|
"Grade 4" beaches
are
| Casam
(S) |
Lido (S) |
| Gemini |
Kadoorie (S) |
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, Silverstrand has changed from 'Grade
2' to 'Grade 3', and Kadoorie from 'Grade 3' to 'Grade 4'," the
spokesman said.
"The changes
are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological
water quality of these beaches," the spokesman said.
"The very poor
water quality of some beaches is due to heavy rain which flushed
pollutants from the unsewered beach hinterland into the water,"
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
counts 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,
June 28, 2002
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