ENG-2003 — Page 344

THE ENVIRONMENT

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scientific basis for the two Governments to formulate water quality management plans for the Pearl River Delta region. The two sides are also working in collaboration to improve the water quality of the Dongjiang (East River) and to protect Chinese white dolphins and fishery 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

The Government has completed risk assessments of all potentially hazardous installations (PHI), such as liquefied petroleum gas and oil terminals and chlorine stores at water treatment works. 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 these sites is an ongoing process due to changes in dangerous goods inventories and population development near the sites. In addition to coverage of PHI sites, risk assessment is required under the EIAO for designated projects which manufacture, store, use or transport dangerous goods.

Legislation and Pollution Control

Hong Kong has seven main laws to control pollution. These 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.

In 2003, EPD inspectors made more than 68 720 inspections to enforce control on air, noise, waste and water pollution. These included regular checks on environmental compliance and investigations of pollution complaints from the community. The enforcement work resulted in more than 577 prosecutions and $5.03 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 in any single site inspection.

Apart from law enforcement, the department has organised seminars and formed partnerships with various trades such as the construction industry, the catering industry, the vehicle repair trade and the property management sector to promote good environmental practices and compliance with pollution control regulations.