Pools treated like spittoons

It seems that spitting in swimming pools is a legal and popularly accepted habit in Hong Kong.

If I have the need while swimming, I would leave the pool and go to a toilet to clear my throat. However, quite often, I have seen people freely spit in Hong Kong's swimming pools. When I said as much to lifeguards at a pool, they told me that the poolside indentation or water channel is technically called the spittoon trough.

Therefore, it is no wonder that sometimes our old and young people seem to be actively engaged in some kind of spitting match, clearing their throats loudly and trying to outdo each other in a pool-side spitting game. Even in the pools of some of the supposedly exclusive clubs, sometimes I can count as many as four or five blobs of spit in just one length of the pool.

Would the Urban Services Department please confirm whether it is in fact legal in Hong Kong to spit in a swimming pool or in the poolside area? If it is illegal, would the department send a circular to the manager of every swimming pool in Hong Kong to remind swimmers that swimming pools are not big spittoons? PIERCE LAM Central