ENG-2002 — Page 334

THE ENVIRONMENT

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reduce pollution loads to acceptable levels within 15 years. A similar joint study for Mirs Bay was started in mid-2000. The two sides are also working in collaboration to improve the water quality of the Pearl River Delta and the Dongjiang (East River) and to protect Chinese white dolphins and fisheries resources.

Rural Developments

The Government is committed to improving the quality of life in rural areas and to ending or removing land uses that degrade the rural environment. Village sewage disposal has also improved in the rural areas of the New Territories.

Potentially Hazardous Installations

Installations such as explosive depots and chemical stores may pose a risk to nearby residents. Hong Kong has had no major disasters but global experience of large-scale accidents highlights the need for risk management.

The Government has completed risk assessments on all potentially hazardous installations in Hong Kong. It has completed or is implementing all its plans for risk reduction and has substantially reduced the risk to the public. However, the risk management of the potentially hazardous installation (PHI) sites is an ongoing process due to changes in dangerous goods inventories and population development near PHI sites. In addition to PHI sites, risk assessment is required under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance for designated projects which manufacture, store, use or transport dangerous goods.

Legislation and Pollution Control

Hong Kong has seven main laws to control pollution. They are the Waste Disposal Ordinance, the Water Pollution Control Ordinance, the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, the Noise Control Ordinance, the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance, the Dumping at Sea Ordinance and the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance. Most of these laws have subsidiary regulations and other statutory provisions, such as technical memoranda, to give effect to 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 meet environmental goals, such as the protection of public health or the preservation of a natural ecosystem. The system aims to achieve the required environmental benefits in the most cost-effective and economically sustainable manner. Limits imposed on polluting emissions are no more stringent or costly than is necessary to achieve the conservation goal, which also makes the maximum safe use of the environment's natural capacity to absorb and recycle wastes.

EPD inspectors made more than 66 000 inspections to enforce control on air, noise, waste and water pollution in 2002. These included regular checks on environmental compliance and investigations of pollution complaints from the community. The enforcement work resulted in more than 900 prosecutions and $9 million in fines. To streamline enforcement operation from a customer-oriented perspective, the EPD has set up multi-skilled teams to deal with all types of pollution problems at any single site inspection.

Apart from law enforcement, the EPD has organised seminars and formed partnerships with various trades such as the construction industry, the catering