Press Release on :

Thursday, May 17, 2001
Release of Dongjiang water quality data

The Water Supplies Department today (May 17) uploaded Dongjiang water quality data on the Internet for public access at its website www.info.gov.hk/wsd/.

The set of data for the year 2000 was taken at the Guangdong Environmental Protection Bureau's monitoring station near the Taiyuan Pumping Station, where water is abstracted from the Dongjiang mainstream for supply to Hong Kong.

The data, which encompasses 20 parameters, meets the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water GB3838-88 published by China in 1988.

This is the first step the Guangdong side is taking towards openness and transparency on matters concerning Dongjiang water quality.

The bureau also agreed to provide similar information for publication in Hong Kong as an annual exercise. The Water Supplies Department will continue to liaise with them for releasing more information to the public in Hong Kong.

At the second meeting of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Joint Working Group on Sustainable Development and Environment on February 22-24, 2001, the Director of the Guangdong Environmental Protection Bureau, Mr. YUAN Zhang, has pledged to provide water quality of the Dongjiang to enable the public in Hong Kong to have further understanding of the Dongjiang water quality.

Apart from the Dongjiang water data, the WSD has also started releasing on an annual basis data of treated water, as well as Dongjiang water as received in Hong Kong at Muk Wu Pumping Station in August last year.