The identified wetlands were found to exist in the form of a marsh, pool and reedbed. Large patches of wetlands (> 10 ha) were observed at South Lantau (Sites 61a and l), Nam Sha Po (Site 43g) and Ting Kok (Sites 51m and n). They were generally remote from urban areas and subject to little or no human disturbance, apart from the patch at Ting Kok (ie Site 51n) which was found to have been disturbed by dumping of solid wastes (eg plastic containers) and urban development (as building of houses near the habitat was noted during the field visit). Aside from the Ting Kok wetland, many other wetlands, generally of much smaller size, were also thought to have been disturbed by pollution as evidenced by the highly turbid, dark brown or black-coloured waters of the habitat. In many areas the odour of hydrogen sulphide was noted indicating poor water quality with low oxygen content.

Impact on wetlands due to urban development was particularly obvious in such survey areas as Kam Tin and Ma On Kong where a number of the sub-sites have been developed or filled for construction purposes (see Table G5 of Annex G for details). A number of the wetland sites were found to be fenced as they are private land and thus inaccessible for detailed habitat surveys. Wetland sites where ecological value was adjusted are presented in Table 7.1f.

There were seven patches of re-classified Freshwater/Brackish Wetland which also had their ecological value downgraded after field assessment (Table 7.1g). The patches were re-identified from Fishpond/Gei Wai located at Kat Hing Wai (Site 120s), Kam Tin (Sites 121g, h, j and p) and Ngau Tam Mei (Sites 122a and g).