ENG-2014 — Page 304

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The Environment

Beach water quality ranking

E coli count per 100ml of beach water

Bathing season geometric mean of

Minor health risk cases per 1,000 swimmers

Number of beaches

in 2014

Good

Up to 24

Undetectable

23

Fair

25 to 180

10 or less

18

Poor

181 to 610

11 to 15

0

Very Poor

More than 610

More than 15

0

Beach water quality gradings to denote the recent water quality of open beaches are available on the EPD's website and hotline as well as through weekly press releases.

Legislation and Environmental Protection

Ten ordinances address environmental protection: 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, the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, the Hazardous Chemicals Control Ordinance, the Product Eco- responsibility Ordinance; and the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance.

The government follows a set of environmental quality objectives for better protection of public health and to preserve a natural ecosystem. The cost of imposing limits on polluting emissions is no higher than that needed to achieve conservation goals, which include making maximum use of the environment's natural capacity to absorb and recycle waste.

The EPD works with the construction, catering, vehicle repair, and property management sectors and other trades to promote good practices and compliance with environmental regulations. The EPD runs a Compliance Assistance Centre where businesses may obtain updated information and advice on environmental compliance, pollution prevention and environmental management.

In 2014, EPD inspectors made over 59,500 visits to different locations around Hong Kong to enforce controls on air, noise, waste and water pollution and to deal with complaints about pollution, resulting in 412 prosecutions and about $3.3 million in fines.

Environmental Monitoring and Auditing

The environmental monitoring and auditing process seeks to validate the assumptions made in the planning stage of development projects and monitors the effectiveness of mitigation measures to ensure every project meets the environmental performance promised in the EIA. In 2014, the EPD handled 117 monitoring and auditing programmes for major projects. As required by environmental permits, these projects must set up dedicated websites to publish the results and data obtained from the environmental monitoring and auditing process.

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