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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

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