THE ENVIRONMENT
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specific effort on the review of several thousand short-term land uses with a view to discontinuing those considered to be environmentally unacceptable.
Significant progress towards the formulation of a joint long-term strategy to protect the Deep Bay environment has been made by the Hong Kong-Guangdong Environmental Protection Liaison Group.
Legislation and Pollution Control
Water Pollution
The government has adopted an environmental quality management approach in tackling water pollution problems. In this approach, various beneficial uses of different areas of water are identified, such as commercial fishing, community and industrial water supply, or simply enjoyment or recreation. The quality of water which is appropriate for the respective uses is assessed and water quality objectives are defined for each area of water. To achieve and maintain these objectives, discharges are controlled through a licensing system under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance (WPCO).
The WPCO applies within defined areas called Water Control Zones (WCZs). Tolo Harbour and Channel was declared in 1982 as the first WCZ. This was followed by the Southern WCZ in 1988, Junk Bay (Tseung Kwan O) and Port Shelter in 1989, and Deep Bay and Mirs Bay in 1990. North Western WCZ is expected to be declared in 1992, bringing the number of declared WCZS to seven as compared with a total of 10 planned for the whole territory. Thus 90 per cent of the waters of Hong Kong will be brought within the ambit of the WPCO, and the control will cover 67 500 domestic discharges, 4 400 industrial and commercial discharges, and 170 private sewage treatment plants. During 1991, 44 polluting dischargers were successfully convicted under the ordinance with fines ranging from $1,000 to $140,000 per case.
In January 1991, a Technical Memorandum was issued under the WPCO which sets out the acceptable quality for effluents discharged to sewers, drains, inland waters and coastal waters. The memorandum provides industrialists with a basis to plan for proper effluent treatment. However, stricter standards may be applied in order to protect the sewerage and sewage treatment facilities.
All marine dumping activities are subject to licensing control under the Dumping at Sea Act 1974 (Overseas Territories) Order 1975. Anyone who intends to dump dredged marine spoil or excavated material unsuitable for reclamation purposes, must first obtain a licence from the Director of Environmental Protection before the spoil can be disposed of at designated spoil grounds. The licensing control was extended in March 1991 to cover the trial dumping of treated sewage and waterworks sludges from Sha Tin.
Malpractices of illegal dumping and short dumping of spoil in the harbour have been a major cause of the floating refuse problem, and led to a serious ecological impact upon marine life. In order to strengthen enforcement, a Marine Dumping Action Plan was launched on May 1, 1991. Enforcement action was tightened up through more regular marine patrols and restrictive licensing conditions. Prosecution action is taken against all parties responsible for the illegal act. Licence revocation and refusal of new licence application are also exercised in respect of repeat offenders.
Hong Kong protected the marine environment from the discharge of oil, noxious liquids and other harmful materials from ships, through United Kingdom legislation under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and its Protocol