Two expert group meetings of the Energy Working Group (EWG) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) were successfully held in Hong Kong from March 18 to 21.
      
     Delivering a speech at the welcome dinner yesterday (March 20), the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, said that Hong Kong, China would continue to play an active role in the EWG, and would work closely with our APEC partners to address energy issues affecting the region and the world.
      
     The two expert groups were the Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EGEE&C) and the Expert Group on New and Renewable Energy Technologies (EGNRET). The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department has been representing Hong Kong, China, in the EWG and its expert groups since 1991. The Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services, Mr Alfred Sit, said that collaboration with APEC economies is a crucial factor for meeting the energy saving target set by the APEC, and various parties in the APEC family would step further towards the goals of energy saving and adopting renewable energy through closer partnership.
      
     About 90 government officials and experts from the 12 APEC member economies attended the meetings and associated workshops this year to exchange views on energy challenges and opportunities the region is facing. Participants of the meetings will also visit the Zero Carbon Building and award-winning projects of the Energy Saving Championship Scheme, namely the Sha Tin campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the International Commerce Centre, tomorrow (March 22) to learn more about how Hong Kong has implemented energy efficiency and carbon reduction measures.
      
     The EGEE&C was established by the EWG in 1993 to assist the Asia-Pacific region in achieving energy security, advancing economic and social well-being, and realising environmental benefits through energy conservation and the application of energy efficiency practices and technologies. The EGNRET was established by the EWG in 1995 to promote the increased use of new and renewable energy technologies in the region.

  

     The Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), Mr Shun Chi-ming, today (March 21) hosted a press briefing in which he highlighted the HKO's upcoming initiatives, reviewed the weather of Hong Kong in 2018 and elaborated on the weather outlook for this year. Mr Shun and the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, Dr Leung Siu-fai, also officiated at the launch ceremony of a new book entitled "Climate Change and Biodiversity in Hong Kong" during the press briefing.
 
     Mr Shun said during the launch ceremony that the book, with photos showing damage caused by climate change, is the best reminder for the community to give practical support to mitigate climate change and to conserve biodiversity. Mr Shun and Dr Leung also took the opportunity to announce a collaboration plan between the HKO and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department under which the two will work together to provide location-specific weather information at various hiking trails and locations through mobile phones from the fourth quarter of this year to assist hikers in planning routes.
 
     Mr Shun announced in the press briefing that two enhanced weather services will be made available to the public starting from today. One is the release of real-time wind direction and wind speed information from the automatic weather stations at North Point, Central Piers and Lamma Island on the HKO website with the aim of enhancing its regional weather information service. The other one is the launch of a new interactive webpage, "Earth Weather", featuring forecast weather charts from computer models, including wind direction, wind speed and temperature. Tropical cyclone forecast tracks will be added to the new website at a later stage. These two enhanced services will also be available in the "MyObservatory" app when the updated version of the app is in place. Moreover, to promote the theme of this year's World Meteorological Day, "The Sun, the Earth and the Weather", the HKO launched a new version of the "Space Weather" webpage, and added a kids version of the "Space Weather" webpage to the "My Little Observatory" website to enhance the public's knowledge on space weather.
 
     When reviewing the weather in 2018, Mr Shun pointed out that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) marked 2015 to 2018 as the four warmest years on record globally, with 2018 ranked the fourth warmest year on record. Locally, the weather in Hong Kong was warmer than usual in 2018 with an annual mean temperature of 23.9 degrees. The winter between December 2018 and February 2019 was the warmest on record, with the mean temperature reaching 19.1 degrees. There were only three cold days this winter, the fewest on record. Although Hong Kong was severely battered by Super Typhoon Mangkhut last September, there were no fatalities. Mr Shun emphasised that the continuous trend of climate change warrants attention from the public.
 
     On the annual weather outlook for Hong Kong in 2019, the tropical cyclone season may start in or after June this year. It is expected that there will be four to seven tropical cyclones coming within 500 kilometres of Hong Kong, which is normal. Under the effect of global warming and El Niño, the annual mean temperature in 2019 is expected to be above normal, with a high chance of reaching the warmest top 10 on record. The annual rainfall is expected to be normal or above normal, which means Hong Kong would likely be affected by heavy rain. Members of the public are reminded to take precautions in a timely manner.
 
     To provide more accurate lightning information, the HKO established new lightning detection stations at Chek Lap Kok and Dongao Island in Zhuhai in 2018, with the latest model of lightning sensors installed. The sensors at the four existing stations, namely Chung Hom Kok, Tsim Bei Tsui, Sha Tau Kok and Taipa, Macao, were also replaced with the latest model. After trial run and optimisation, the new lightning sensors commenced full operation early this year. The HKO also plans to launch a new "Automatic Sea State Forecast" webpage in the coming typhoon season to provide 96-hour prediction of sea waves and swells in the South China Sea, the western North Pacific Ocean and the North Indian Ocean.
 
     Some progress was made in the provision of aviation weather services by the HKO. "MyFlightWx", the electronic flight bag weather mobile application soft launched by the HKO at the end of 2017, has been put on trial use for several months. Pending official approval from the Civil Aviation Department, "MyFlightWx" can officially be used in flights. Moreover, the HKO also plans to expand the Hong Kong Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay programme through installing new software onto 70 Boeing 777 aircraft progressively to provide meteorological data, including wind speed, wind direction, temperature and the newly enabled turbulence measurements recorded on the aircraft. These data enhance aviation safety and the accuracy of the global numerical weather prediction models. The HKO is also collaborating with the Airport Authority Hong Kong to provide weather information of more than 300 destination airports to travellers through the Hong Kong International Airport's mobile application in mid-2019. The relevant weather information may also be shown on the display screens at the boarding gates afterwards.
 
     Following the appointment by the WMO as the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre for Nowcasting last year, the HKO was designated by the WMO as the Testbed for Doppler Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems for aviation application with the aim to promote collaborations in testing and developing standardisation of meteorological instruments among the meteorological service organisations around the world. The designation by the WMO is recognition from the international meteorological community of the HKO's application of LIDAR in the detection of wind shear, building wake and wake turbulence from aircraft.
 
     To tie in with the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the HKO will upgrade the Greater Pearl River Delta Weather website currently operated by the HKO in collaboration with the Guangdong Meteorological Service and the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau in order to provide weather forecast and warning information covering longer periods with greater detail. The upgrade website will be launched in the near term.
 
     On public communication, with its Facebook page and Instagram account launched last year, the HKO will strengthen collaboration with various government departments, organisations and local artists to produce short videos and animations, which will be released through the HKO's Facebook page and Instagram account, to raise public awareness and knowledge on climate change. Last year, the HKO collected photos and videos taken by the public during the passage of Super Typhoon Manghkut through its Facebook page. Selected photos and videos have been put on the "Interactive Map of Storm Damage by Mangkhut" webpage (www.weather.gov.hk/cwsrc/index_mangkhut.html) for research and educational use. The HKO also plans to invite the public to provide information on weather phenomena that occur nearby through the "MyObservatory" mobile application in 2019 to enhance the coverage and content of weather monitoring. The public can also share and browse photos and videos of various weather phenomena through the application. The crowdsourced information promotes the development of weather services and smart city initiatives. The public can also better understand the weather situation around them.
 
     Lastly, Mr Shun announced that the annual Open Day of the HKO will take place on March 23 and 24. In addition to the prize presentation ceremony of the "1-Minute Weather" Time-lapse Video Competition, a series of performances combining elements of weather and art, including the launch of the new song "Climate and Life" on climate change jointly produced by the HKO and a local singer, will be featured at the opening ceremony on March 23. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
 
     Mr Shun's speech at the press briefing is available at www.hko.gov.hk/dhkovoice/speech20190321e.pdf.

    

     Police today (March 21) laid a holding charge against a 46-year-old man with one count of murder.

     The man was arrested yesterday (March 20) in suspected connection with a murder case happened in Tseung Kwan O in which his 34-year-old girlfriend died.

     The case will be mentioned at Kwun Tong Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (March 22).

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, met the Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), Ms Huang Xiaowei, at the Chief Executive's Office this morning (March 21). The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, also attended the meeting.
 
     Mrs Lam welcomed Ms Huang's visit to Hong Kong with a delegation to attend the reception in celebration of International Women's Day held by the Hong Kong Federation of Women at Government House this evening.  She said she was pleased that the delegation would visit a number of groups and organisations that promote the rights of women, youth and children to exchange views and share experiences with them during their stay in Hong Kong.
 
     Mrs Lam said that she, as the first female Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), has an important and huge responsibility in advancing women's development. She said that the HKSAR Government attaches great importance to and plays an active role in promoting various aspects of women's development. Recognising women's contributions to families and society, she said that the Government will, through a series of support measures, encourage more women to join or stay in the labour market to unleash the female labour force, allowing them to give full play to their potential. She thanked the ACWF for its support and care for women's development in the HKSAR all along and expressed the hope that the ACWF will continue to support the HKSAR Government’s work for the benefit of women.

    

     The Environment Bureau announced today (March 21) that the Drainage Services Department (DSD) completed the large-scale maintenance works and replacement of electrical and mechanical facilities at the Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works (SCISTW) on March 17.

     The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, said that the maintenance works had been a very challenging project. In order to minimise the potential impact of the project on the public, the DSD and the Environmental Protection Department had completed detailed assessment and preparatory work at the outset, and also formulated and implemented contingency plans as well as various mitigation measures with a number of departments.

     The SCISTW has been in continuous operation 24 hours a day since it was put into service in December 2001. Notwithstanding timely maintenance of all facilities carried out by the DSD during the period, some of the major electrical and mechanical facilities were approaching the end of their service lives in 2018. Replacement works had to be carried out with the aim of maintaining the proper functioning of the whole system.

     The DSD originally planned that bypasses of part of the preliminarily treated sewage from the upstream preliminary treatment works into Victoria Harbour would be carried out on up to five occasions, each not exceeding two weeks, within two years (from 2018 to 2020) with a view to facilitating the replacement and maintenance work. The third bypass was completed during the period from March 4 to 17 following the successful completion of the first and second bypasses last year. During every bypass, the DSD implemented a series of mitigation and contingency measures as well as comprehensive water quality monitoring, and uploaded relevant information to the Internet on a regular basis. As demonstrated by the relevant water quality monitoring results, the impact on the water quality of Victoria Harbour was slight and transient. The water quality returned to normal in a few days after cessation of the bypasses. The bypasses did not have significant impact on sensitive waters including beaches, fish culture zones or coral sites near Victoria Harbour.

     The large-scale maintenance works and replacement of electrical and mechanical facilities were successfully completed during the third bypass because the progress of the works was not only satisfactory but beyond expectation. As a result, there was no need to carry out the fourth and fifth bypasses in the fourth quarter this year and the first quarter next year respectively as envisaged in the original plan.

     The DSD will continue to carry out timely maintenance and monitoring of the SCISTW with a view to providing members of the public with top-quality and reliable sewage treatment service and safeguarding the water quality of Victoria Harbour.