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A massive clean-up operation was mounted by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at its beaches, swimming pools and water sports centres today (May 30).
A spokesman for the department said the operation was in support of the territory-wide cleansing exercise at the end of each month in Government's sustained efforts to combat atypical pneumonia.
"The department will also conduct special operations each month to step up cleansing of its major leisure and cultural venues every month in addition to daily regular cleansing," he said.
"With the approach of the peak swimming season, special clean-up operations were conducted today at all our aquatic venues, including 41 gazetted beaches and 27 barbecue sites within these beaches, 36 swimming pools and four water-sports centres to assure swimmers and water-sports enthusiasts of the cleanliness of our facilities," he added.
Special attention had been paid to all barbecue areas of the beaches, by deploying extra cleaners at weekends and public holidays and providing more litter bins.
"Frequency of inspections had also been stepped up to ensure that our beaches are clean and all the cleansing work is up to standard," the spokesman said.
"Anti-littering raids have also been enforced in addition to appealing for public co-operation to help keep our venues clean through notices, banners and regular announcements."
The department has issued guidelines to all the cleansing contractors of the aquatic venues to remind them to step up cleansing and disinfection of all the facilities and equipment.
At the swimming pools, the railings, turnstiles and the pool decks were also thoroughly disinfected and all the filtration systems were properly checked and maintained.
During the day, water samples were taken from each pool on an hourly basis to test its free residual chlorine to ensure that the water quality was suitable for swimming and complied with the standards laid down by the Department of Health.
As for water-sports centres, all indoor and outdoor facilities were thoroughly cleansed and disinfected.
All equipment used for water-sports activities, such as crafts, were cleaned after use and life-saving vests disinfected regularly.
Special cleansing operations were also conducted at selected parks and sports centres as well as 14 cultural venues today.
"There will be no relaxation of our efforts as we are committed to maintaining the highest level of cleanliness at our leisure and cultural venues," the spokesman said.
End/Friday, May 30, 2003
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