Page 187 of 233
334
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Let me repeat: Our leaders must not go to the Central Government hat in hand asking for a little more money here and there, they must go to the Citizens and LEGCO direct and ask for the funds we need and we are entitled to in the sure knowledge that the extra money is justified and will be spent wisely.
In other words, they must lead and not follow.
Mr. Chairman, although the motion in front of this Council does not go far enough, especially as far as our cleansing services are concerned, for want of anything better, I will support it.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 187 of 233
335
are not being built because Government feels that our Harbour is an excellent sewer. Ten years ago EPCOM accepted a Consultant's recommendation for Harbour water quality which read as follows:
A minimum dissolved oxygen level of 50% saturation should be maintained.
1.
The water should be aesthetically acceptable.
2.
3.
4.
Appendix I
Speech by MR. W. M. SULKE, O.B.E., J.P. to the ROTARY CLUB OF VICTORIA on Monday, 19 November 1984.
Hong Kong's Environmental Pollution: A Study in Neglect and some possible solutions.
There is a general belief, something of a myth, assiduously propagated by the Hong Kong Government that pollution in Hong Kong is really not all that bad and all that has to be done is to keep it at its present level. The operative word here is 'present' because exactly that is what was said to those of us who were in at the beginnings of the Environmental Pollution Advisory Committee some 15 years ago. It was repeated in 1974 when consultants were first engaged to report to Government on the problem. It was again repeated in 1980 when the EPA was formed. And it is still being said now!! Can I appeal to your eyes, noses and ears and ask you whether you have noticed any difference in pollution in this Territory between 1969, 1975, 1979 and 1984? I am sure your answer is going to be a resounding Yes and you would be so right. Now that I am no longer a member of EPCOM I can speak more freely and I can say out loud what I have been saying inside EPCOM for years, namely, that the biggest polluter in Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Government, not only via its handling of wastes (incinerators, dumping at sea etc.), but especially because of its inaction over the last 15 years. Whatever has been done in Hong Kong to control pollution has been achieved by unofficials pushing a bureaucracy who not only didn't understand the problem but didn't want to know.
Item: In various Government reorganizations EPCOM was moved from Secretary to Secretary three times in less than one year, which showed how little importance Government attached to EPCOM's activities. A recommendation made several times by unofficials to Government to have EPCOM report direct to the Chief Secretary has always been ignored.
Item: The Urban areas of Hong Kong are the only developed city of this size without sewage plants. Planning for sewage plants first started under pressure some twenty years ago, was more or less finalized ten years ago and if they had been built then they would have been a quarter of the price they are now. They
There should be an absence of floating matter and rough solids above 10 mm in size.
At water abstraction points for industrial use and salt water flushing coliform counts should be below 10 000 per 10 ml and minimum dilution of sewage should be 1 in 500.
Recently at a Kwun Tong District Board meeting Government representatives informed us that in their view Harbour water complies with these standards and that sewage plants are not necessary now or in the future since based on their calculations the extra sewage flowing into the Harbour because of increases in the population between 1975 and 1984 and those expected up to 1990 do not warrant any treatment plants! I wonder whether any of you would care to take a look outside the window and let me know whether the water is aesthetically acceptable and whether there is an absence of floating matter and rough solids above 10 mm in size. The other items mentioned of course we cannot measure here, but I am willing to bet the price of today's lunch that the Harbour water does not comply and that the waters in our typhoon shelters are dangerous to health.
Item: The Kai Tak nullah: It smelled when I first got here in 1947. No squatters then, but up on the hills behind Kai Tak there was some farming. By 1975 it had become the catchment area for well over 50 000 squatters, as well as legal and illegal factories. But in spite of considerable pressure from inside and outside EPCOM nothing was done until 1983 and then only palliative measures were contemplated. Moreover, the only reason that Government finally moved was that the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Airforce reported corrosion in their helicopters caused by the hydrogen-sulphide emanating from the nullah close by their hangars. Before this happened, that 50 000 people living near that nullah were breathing the same stuff, didn't move the Civil Servants.
Item: The drainage at Kennedy Town abattoir spewed blood and animal fat into the Harbour for a couple of years and even though the EPA was aware that this was happening nothing was done until I started pushing for something to be done by the Urban Council, and then it took another year and a half before this serious Harbour pollution was stopped.
Item: Even 10 years ago the appearance of a red tide in Hong Kong waters was a rarity. Now it is common in many parts of Hong Kong waters and twice recently has included the most toxic of all sea organisms which had not been recorded here previously.
Page 187 of 233