ENG-2008 — Page 344

276 The Environment

regulation came into force at the end of 1995, public sewers have been installed to serve 147 000 people.

Sewage Charges

All water users who discharge their sewage into public sewers have to pay a basic sewage charge in accordance with the polluter-pays principle. Also, 30 trades and industries whose effluent strength exceeds that of domestic sewage, have to pay a trade effluent surcharge reflecting the additional cost of treating their stronger effluent. These charges are used to recover the operation and maintenance costs of sewage collection, treatment, and disposal facilities, while the Government provides funds for construction.

In May 2007, the Government's proposals to gradually increase the sewage charge for handling domestic waste water over a 10-year time frame was approved by the legislature. This reflects the community's continued support of the polluter- pays principle and joint commitment in further enhancing the water environment. The average bill for domestic accounts rose from $11 per month in 2007, to $12 per month in 2008, and gradually to $27 per month in 10 years' time. Even after the projected increase Hong Kong's sewage charge will remain among the lowest of the major cities of developed economies.

Livestock Waste Pollution

The Waste Disposal Ordinance bans the keeping of livestock in new towns and environmentally sensitive areas. Where they are allowed, livestock farms must have proper waste treatment systems. The Government provides a free livestock waste collection service which collected about 22 350 tonnes of waste during the year.

From a public health and environmental protection standpoint, livestock farming in urbanised Hong Kong is not sustainable in the long term. To address the problem, the Government has introduced license-surrender schemes to encourage poultry and pig farmers to cease poultry- and pig-keeping permanently. Livestock farmers are given ex gratia payments and the schemes are entirely voluntary. The poultry and pig schemes were introduced in 2005 and 2006 respectively and farmers had up to one year to decide whether or not to join them. The two schemes have effectively decreased the number of pig and poultry farms and reduced the pollution load on the environment. Through the buyout scheme launched in 2008 for the live poultry trade, it is expected that the number of poultry farms will be further reduced.

Bathing Beaches

The Government has adopted strict standards for water quality control to protect the health of swimmers at bathing beaches. These standards indicate the pollution level measured in terms of E. coli (the bacterium that can indicate the presence of sewage). The following table shows how beaches were classified in 2008. Beaches in the 'good' and 'fair' categories meet the Government's water quality objective for bathing. In 2008, over 80 per cent of the bathing beaches met the water quality objective.