SPEECH BY THE SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE 1985
Water Pollution Control (Amendment) Bill 1985
sir,
I move that the Water Pollution Control (Amendment)
Bill 1985 be read the second time.
2.
The Bill seeks to clarify certain provisions of the
Water Pollution Control Ordinance. It does so in three ways.
3.
First of all, it will bring within the scope of the
Ordinance any discharge of oil, or a mixture containing oil,
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into waters including inland waters situated inside a
Water Control Zone. At present, section 8 of the Ordinance
which otherwise prohibits unauthorized discharges in a Water
Control Zone does not apply to a discharge of oil or a mixture
containing oil. All discharges containing oil are already
subject to control under the Shipping and Port Control
Ordinance, which applies even to discharges in very low
concentration, whether they originate from sources at sea
or on land. In practical terms, however, the controls
under the Shipping and Port Control Ordinance are only
effective in relation to substantial oil spills, and the
original intention was that discharges containing only
small concentrations of oil should be controlled under
/the.....