Press Releases

Press Release

Monitoring of beach water quality stepped up

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said today (July 15) that the department shared the public's concern over the floating refuse problem which has affected popular beaches in the Southern District.

"In the interest of the health of beach-goers, we are stepping up the monitoring of the affected beaches. Water samples will be taken on a weekly basis and we will increase monitoring frequency if any beach is heavily impacted by refuse," he said.

Noting that the grading of some beaches affected by refuse has remained unchanged, with St.Stephen's Beach upgraded from "Poor" to "Fair", the spokesman explained that there might not be any direct correlation between floating refuse and deterioration in the bacteriological water quality of beaches.

"While many types of marine refuse are inert, some floating refuse are still unhygienic. As such, swimmers are advised to be cautious and should refrain from swimming in places where lots of refuse are sighted," the spokesman said.

According to the latest grading of water quality of 33 beaches open to the public released today, 10 beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1), 15 as Fair (Grade 2) and eight as Poor (Grade 3).

The beach with an asterisk is a non-gazetted beach. (S) indicates a beach that is equipped with a shark net.

Grade 1 beaches are:

Grade 2 beaches are:

Grade 3 beaches are:

Beach grades are published weekly before the weekend. The information may also be obtained from the department's website at www.epd.gov.hk or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.

Compared with the grading released last week, Clear Water Bay First Beach has been upgraded from Grade 2 to Grade 1 and St. Stephen's Beach has been upgraded from Grade 3 to Grade 2.

Chung Hom Kok Beach, Deep Water Bay Beach, Lower Cheung Sha Beach and Stanley Main Beach have been changed from Grade 1 to Grade 2, and Cafeteria New Beach, Golden Beach and Shek O Beach have been changed from Grade 2 to Grade 3.

"The changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological water quality of the beaches," an EPD spokesman said.

Under the grading system, beaches are classified into four grades according to the level of E. coli in the water.

E.coli is used worldwide as a reliable indicator of faecal pollution of water. The use of E.coli for beach water quality monitoring was derived from an epidemiological study carried out on Hong Kong beaches. It showed that among all the bacteria tested, E.coli had the best correlation with swimming associated illnesses among the local population and is therefore an appropriate bacterial indicator for monitoring beach water quality.

Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.

Grade 4 is assigned to beaches whose last E. coli reading exceeded a threshold figure, irrespective of the geometric mean. Swimmers are advised to avoid these beaches until the water quality improves.

Seven gazetted beaches -- Anglers' Beach, Approach Beach, Ting Kau Beach, Casam Beach, Gemini Beaches, Hoi Mei Wan Beach and Lido Beach -- are closed to swimmers year round because of poor water quality.

People are advised not to swim at these closed beaches.

Ends/Friday, July 15, 2005