TNAG-1363-FCO40-1809-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 298

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,

-

-

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.....