ENG-2015 — Page 302

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The Environment

cent in 1986 to 82 per cent in 2015, and the percentage in the 'bad' and 'very bad' categories fell from 45 per cent in 1986 to 7 per cent, with no river falling into the 'very bad' category in 2015.

Marine water quality objectives under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance apply to the 10 water control zones. The government is considering preliminary proposals to revise these objectives.

Bathing Beaches

To protect the health of swimmers at bathing beaches, the government adopts strict standards for water quality control which indicate the pollution level measured in terms of Escherichia coli, the bacterium that can indicate the presence of sewage. Beaches in the 'good' and 'fair' categories in the following table meet the government's water quality objective for bathing, and all did in 2015.

Beach water quality ranking

Bathing season geometric mean of Ecoli count per 100ml

of beach water

Up to 24

Minor health risk

cases per 1,000

Number of beaches

in 2015

swimmers

Good

Undetectable

25

Fair

25 to 180

10 or less

16

Poor

181 to 610

11 to 15

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. It runs a Compliance Assistance Centre where businesses may obtain updated

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