|
Two
New Environmental Studies Commence
The Environmental
Protection Department has started two new environmental investigations
in an effort to reduce beach pollution and to develop a strategy
to exclude stormwater and groundwater from the sewerage systems.
The Beach Pollution Reduction Study, commissioned today (Friday),
will address the pollution problems of 10 priority beaches
in Hong Kong and recommend engineering improvement works.
These
10 beaches include the Golden, the Butterfly and the Old Cafeteria
Beach in Tuen Mun, the Shek O, the St Stephen and the Stanley
Main Beach in Hong Kong Island, the Silvermine and the Cheung
Sha Lower Beach in Lantau, the Lido Beach in Tsuen Wan and
the Silverstrand Beach in Sai Kung.
The study
will also examine the pollution sources for the rest of the
gazetted beaches. This study is awarded to Hyder Consulting
Ltd at a cost of 2.9 million.
The second
study, commissioned recently, is a pilot scale investigation
on the potential problems arising from inflow of stormwater
and infiltration of groundwater into the sewerage systems.
The pilot
study will concentrate on two purposely-selected catchment
areas - namely the North & South Kowloon and East Kowloon
- with a view to developing a comprehensive inflow and infiltration
reduction strategy for the whole territory.
The Assistant
Director of Environmental Protection, Mr Benny Wong, said
these investigations would enable the Government to determine
the works needed to address the problem.
"Extraneous
flows could take up considerable amount of sewerage capacity,
the study will enable us to decide the scale of work needed
to ensure such flows are excluded as far as practicable from
our sewerage systems," he said.
The pilot
study has been awarded to Atkins China Ltd at a cost of $5.18
million and scheduled for completion in 16 months.
End/Friday,
22 October 1999
|
