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Water plays an important role in all organisms and activities. It can be used for flushing, cleaning, irrigation, recreational purposes such as swimming and fishing. It also provides habitats for aquatic life, transports cargoes and people. The most important function of water is for drinking. Water is essential for all living organisms.

Water pollution is the presence of undesirable matters in water which deteriorate the quality of water and make it unsuitable for organism uses. In Hong Kong, both freshwater and seawater are heavily polluted. Pollution comes from two sources: point sources and non-point source. Point sources discharge pollutants at specific locations through pipes, ditches, or sewers into bodies of water. As point sources are at specific places, they are relatively easy to identify, monitor and regulate, although even point sources are largely unregulated in LDCs. Provided there is the political will, remarkable progress can be made in 'cleaning up' waterways affected by point-source pollution. Non-point sources are big land areas that discharge pollutants into surface and underground waters over a large area plus parts of the atmosphere under which pollutants are deposited to the surface of water.

Examples of water pollutants include: (a) pathogens, (b) organic wastes, (c) inorganic wastes, (d) heavy metals, (e) thermal pollution, and (f) oil and detergents. These pollutants cause serious problems and induce dramatic economic and ecological loss in Hong Kong.

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is responsible for monitoring the water quality through different monitoring programmes. The Water Pollution Control Ordinance was enacted in 1980 to control effluent discharges with the aim of achieving water quality objectives. Under the regulations, all sewage should be properly treated in sewage treatment plants before discharge. The Sewerage Master Plans provide an outline of the sewerage infrastructure and the Harbour Area Sewage Treatment provides plans for collecting, treating and disposing sewage from around Victoria Harbour. With all these efforts, the water quality has been continuously improved.