ENG-1974 — Page 260

THE ENVIRONMENT

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for meteorological analyses required in connection with several major engineering projects. These included a study of winds at Tate's Cairn for the Lion Rock cable car project and an analysis of upper-air data for the oil refinery at Lamma Island. Analyses of wind, visibility and height of cloud-base observations at Hong Kong International Airport were also completed for the Civil Aviation Department for planning airport development. A commercial computer was hired to process a large volume of data. Consultative services were rendered from time to time to other government depart- ments and to local and overseas institutes and organisations in relation to various weather-sensitive activities. These ranged from the selection of a suitable date for a sporting event in Hong Kong to the provision of weather outlooks for rescue opera- tions and oil prospecting in the China Seas.

During 1974, a study of the influence of various meteorological parameters on nocturnal cooling was made and the results were used to construct nomograms for the prediction of minimum temperatures in the territory. An evaluation of the per- formance of objective techniques used in Hong Kong for forecasting tropical cyclone movement was carried out and the bias of each method was determined to enable appropriate corrections to be applied under operational conditions. Synoptic situa- tions associated with dry and wet summers in Hong Kong were examined to select suitable predictors for use in the preparation of long-range rainfall forecasts. Experi- ments were undertaken to determine the accuracy of an intensity rainguage recently developed by the Department of Meteorology at the University of Hawaii.

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Pollution Monitoring and Control

The former Advisory Committee on Air Pollution and the Advisory Committee on Environmental Pollution on Land and Water were re-constituted as the Advisory Committee on Environmental Pollution (EPCOM) on January 1, 1974. The terms of reference of the new committee are to keep under constant review the state of the environment and pollution and advise the Secretary for the Environment. EPCOM comprises a chairman and 15 non-government members representing many walks of life, and 12 senior government officers from various departments interested in pollution control. At the first meeting on January 17, 1974 members decided that because of its size the committee would function more efficiently if divided into three sub-committees. These deal separately with water and land pollution, air pollution, and noise pollution. All three sub-committees have met at regular intervals and a number of recommendations have been put forward, via the main committee, for the consideration of the Secretary for the Environment.

During 1974 the Environment Branch of the Colonial Secretariat shouldered its full responsibility as the policy making body for the control of pollution. Activities of the Environment Branch embraced a wide range of pollution problems ranging from hawkers and markets through conservation of the countryside to the more com- plicated problems of potential large scale pollution by sophisticated modern industries such as petrochemicals manufacture, which had expressed an interest in operation in Hong Kong. The existing legislation concerning the control of pollution was frag- mented, limited in scope and generally unsatisfactory for the situation and future