THE ENVIRONMENT
Urban Environmental Quality
The government has committed a great deal of money and effort to meeting the challenges of Hong Kong's older urban areas. These offer a dense mix of housing, community facilities, and commerce and industry with an infrastructure that falls short of modern standards. Poor urban landscaping, incompatible neighbouring uses, air and water pollution, noise, and waste disposal problems are common.
Hong Kong's objectives for air quality are comparable to internationally recognised air quality standards for the protection of public health. The actual air quality does not always meet the objectives. Total suspended particulates, respirable suspended particulates and nitrogen dioxide are often high. In 1994, the highest annual averages recorded were 153 micrograms per cubic metre of total suspended particulates and 67 micrograms per cubic metre of respirable suspended particulates, both at levels above the objectives. Nitrogen dioxide levels were a significant proportion of the objective value of 80 micrograms per cubic metre. Emissions from motor vehicles are the main source of these pollutants, and preparatory work for the introduction of cleaner automotive fuel and tighter standards for heavy duty diesel vehicles was undertaken. A scheme to largely replace the use of light duty diesel with unleaded petrol is being examined.
The ever-increasing demand for transport has also led to serious noise problems in areas close to major roads and rail transport corridors. The continued re-paving of roads with quieter surfaces and noise insulating of schools brought further relief to more Hong Kong residents. The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation has embarked on a massive 10-year programme to abate the noise along its entire railway line through the use of noise barriers and enclosures. The Mass Transit Railway Corporation is also implementing a noise mitigation programme for its rolling stock, railway tracks and maintenance depots.
In 1994, regulations and controls were proposed to further restrict construction activities during the night and holidays; to phase out the noisy and air-polluting diesel hammer pile- drivers from construction works; and to impose stringent noise emission limits on newly- registered vehicles and motorcycles.
The water pollution problem has grown in conjunction with urban development. The Environmental Protection Department has estimated that, due to the many expedient connections between foul sewerage and storm drains, only half the city's sewage — a million tonnes a day gets any treatment before it flows into the sea. The resulting load of water pollution has a severe impact on confined areas such as typhoon shelters. In the worst of these, such as the Kowloon Bay typhoon shelter alongside Hong Kong International Airport, foul-smelling and toxic gases emerge from the polluted water. The first stage of the East Kowloon sewerage improvement scheme, which will reduce the organic pollution load entering the typhoon shelter by 30 tonnes per day, was substantially completed in 1994.
In the harbour, water quality has remained poor over the past decade. Dissolved oxygen, a good indicator of water quality, is about 50 per cent saturation only, reflecting the large quantity of organic material brought in by sewage outfalls and other conduits in the harbour. Phase I of the Strategic Sewage Disposal Scheme, for which detailed design and construction work are in progress, will significantly reduce sewage pollution in the main part of the harbour upon its completion in 1997. Meanwhile, enforcement of the Water Pollution Control Ordinance in the Western Buffer and Eastern Buffer Water Control Zones is taking effect. Since November 1, control has been extended to cover Phase I of the
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