THE ENVIRONMENT
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identifying industrial effluents that discharge illegally into stormwater drains entering the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung nullahs. In many cases action has been taken against factory owners requiring them to reconnect back to the foul sewerage system to install appropriate pretreatment devices when necessary.
Water quality is further safeguarded by enforcement of the Dumping at Sea Act 1974 (Overseas Territories) Order 1975. Materials such as dredged marine spoils and excavated muds which are unsuitable for engineering reclamation purposes are disposed of in Hong Kong territorial waters at dumping grounds designated by the government. Anyone who wishes to dump such materials at sea must first obtain a licence from the Director of Environmental Protection. In 1988, 50 applications were processed. Careful control is exercised over the sort of material that may be dumped, the locations where dumping may take place, and the dumping operations. As a result of these control and enforcement measures some eight prosecutions were successfully concluded during 1988.
Also relevant to the protection of water quality is the enactment of the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO) in 1980, which contains provisions to control both the collection and disposal of all solid and semi-solid wastes.
The Waste Disposal (Amendment) Ordinance 1987 was enacted on October 14, 1987. The effect was to amend the WDO so as to enable the disposal of livestock waste to be properly controlled. Under this legislation, livestock keeping was prohibited in the Urban Council area and areas within the new town boundaries with effect from June 24, 1988. Control was also to be applied progressively to the storage and disposal of livestock waste in other areas. The first areas to come under control, also with effect from June 24, included:
• Tolo Harbour and Tolo Channel area
• Tiu Yue Wan (Anglers' Beach) and environs
• Mui Wo environs
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River Indus area
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Upper Sham Chun (Shenzhen) River area
Tsuen Wan environs, Liu To Village and environs and Tai Lam Chung area
• Tuen Mun environs
The controls will be extended to the remainder of the territory in a further two phases. The details of the control legislation are contained in Waste Disposal (Livestock Waste) Regulations 1988.
In order to advise farmers on safe and cost-effective techniques for livestock waste disposal, a demonstration facility has been developed. Four methods of handling waste on livestock farms are demonstrated, and farmers are encouraged to visit the facility to learn how to put these pollution-free procedures into practice on their own farms. A consultant was commissioned in 1988 to set up livestock waste treatment systems at nine private farms to demonstrate further the feasibility of the various waste treatment techniques.
Air Pollution
The Air Pollution Control Ordinance (APCO) was enacted in 1983 to control air pollutants from stationary sources. Under the ordinance, Hong Kong will be divided into ten Air Control Zones (ACZ) which will be introduced in phases. The first two ACZS, covering Victoria Harbour and Tsuen Wan-Kwai Chung, were gazetted in December 1986 and their Air Quality Objectives (AQO) declared in January 1987. In 1988 an air quality management plan for these and other ACZs was nearing completion.
During the year, there was significant progress in the control of air pollution in Hong Kong. Implementation of the Air Pollution Control (Specified Processes) Regulations
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