ENG-1992 — Page 427

THE ENVIRONMENT

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The Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy has moved forward with special efforts to terminate many thousands of polluting short term land uses. Village sewage improve- ment schemes in the rural parts of the New Territories have also made a contribution.

As a result of the revision of the livestock waste control scheme, it is intended that, anyone wishing to farm livestock should require a licence. This will provide a powerful planning tool to ensure that there will be no new livestock farms where they would not be in keeping with other prevailing land uses.

The government's policy with regard to potentially hazandous installations (PHIs) is to control the risks associated with PHIs within an acceptable level by requiring the installations themselves to be constructed and operated to the highest possible standards and by controlling the land uses within their vicinity. Since 1988, the acceptability of risk associated with a PHI has been evaluated against a set of Interim Risk Guidelines (IRGs). With more than four years of experience in applying the IRGs, the government is now reviewing the problems encountered and considering a set of final guidelines for use in Hong Kong.

Chlorine has been used in Hong Kong for water disinfection at water treatment works and swimming pools for several decades. Since chlorine is highly toxic, there is a growing concern about the potential hazard to people living in the vicinity of chlorine stores and transportation routes in case of accidental releases. An evaluation was completed on the potential hazards associated with the storage and use of liquid chlorine at all major water - treatment works. Implementation of the recommended improvement measures will be completed by 1993. The Urban Services Department and Regional Services Department are converting to smaller containers for chlorine than used at present and are considering the use of alternative disinfectants which are safer than chlorine as a long-term measure. Also, measures for mitigating the risks associated with the transportation of chlorine to water treatment works and chlorine stores are being implemented progressively.

Legislation and Pollution Control

Hong Kong has five main laws that control pollution. They are: the Waste Disposal Ordinance; the Water Pollution Control Ordinance; the Air Pollution Control Ordinance; the Noise Control Ordinance; and the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance. Most of these have various subsidiary regulations and other statutory provisions, such as technical memoranda, that give specific effect to the intentions of the principal laws.

The government has adopted a system of environmental quality objectives as a general principle in its pollution control laws. The objectives are set at levels that will protect conservation goals, such as the protection of public health or the preservation of a natural ecosystem. This system usually gives the required environmental benefit at the least cost, because the limits it imposes on pollutant emissions are no more stringent or costly than is necessary to protect the conservation goal. It also makes the maximum safe use of the environment's capacity to neutralise pollution.

The following sections show how the laws apply to the various sources of pollution and environmental harm that can exist in Hong Kong.

Industrial and commercial emissions

Industry and commerce is Hong Kong's way of life. However, commercial and industrial success has been bought at the expense of severe degradation of the environment. The