ENG-2011 — Page 340

296 The Environment

HATS Stage 1 collects sewage from the urban areas of Kowloon, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing, Tseung Kwan O and the north-eastern part of Hong Kong Island and transports it through a network of deep tunnels to Stonecutters Island for treatment.

The Government is implementing the second stage in two phases, HATS Stages 2A and 2B. HATS Stage 2A involves extending the deep tunnel system to take the untreated sewage from the remaining parts of Hong Kong Island to the Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works. The treatment plant will be expanded to provide centralised chemical treatment to sewage from the entire HATS catchment with fast track provision of part of the disinfection facilities which were commissioned in March 2010. The critical construction works for HATS Stage 2A commenced in 2009 and the whole project costing a total of about $17 billion is targeted for completion in 2014. The operation of the Advance Disinfection Facilities (ADF) since its commissioning in March 2010 has resulted in water quality improvements in the Western Harbour and at Tsuen Wan beaches. The ADF together with the completion of a local sewerage network and progressive house connection by local residents in the hinterland of the Tsuen Wan beaches, resulted in the waters at all seven closed beaches improving to the extent that in 2010 they were found to comply with the Water Quality Objective for bathing beaches and are suitable for bathing. Under the second phase (HATS Stage 2B), biological treatment facilities will be provided on an adjacent site. The HATS Stage 2B implementation programme will depend upon the results of a review started in June 2010 of water quality trends and population and sewage flow build-up.

Details of HATS are available on the 'A Clean Harbour for Hong Kong' website, www.cleanharbour.gov.hk.

Apart from HATS, the Government has spent a further $21 billion on other sewerage schemes since 1991 and will spend another $12 billion on schemes over the next five years. These include sewerage for rural villages. Under the Water Pollution Control (Sewerage) Regulation, the EPD is empowered to direct house owners to connect their waste water pipes to new public sewers. Since the regulation came into force at the end of 1995, about 6 300 village houses have already made connections to the public sewers.

Sewage Charges

All water users who discharge their sewage into public sewers have to pay a basic sewage charge in accordance with the Sewage Services Ordinance. Also, 27 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 for a gradual increase in 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 to further enhancement of the water