Improvements to

San Tin Interchange (Contract No. HY/2004/09)

Monthly Environmental Monitoring & Audit Report

Report No. 1519

August December 2006

1 Environmental Status. 4

1.1 Works undertaken during the Reporting Period. 4

1.2 Environmental Permit and Licences. 4

1.3 Environmental Document Submissions to EPD.. 4

1.4 Environmental Monitoring Locations. 4

2 Environmental Measures and Implementation Status. 4

3 Monitoring Results. 4

3.1 Noise Monitoring. 4

3.2 Water Quality Monitoring. 4

3.3 Landscape and Visual Resources. 4

3.4 Ad-hoc Air Quality Monitoring. 4

3.5 Waste Management 4

4 Environmental Audits. 4

4.1 Site Inspection and Audit 4

4.2 Environmental Exceedances. 4

4.3 Environmental Non-compliance. 4

4.4 Environmental Complaint and Prosecution. 4

5 Forecast and Schedule. 4

5.1 Key Issues for the Coming Months. 4

5.2 Monitoring Schedules for the Next Month. 4

6 Conclusion. 4

List of Annexes

Annex A Contractor’s Works Programme

Annex B Mitigation Measures Checklist

Annex C Calibration Certificates

Annex D Noise Monitoring Results

Annex E Water Quality Visual Inspection Reports

Annex F Landscape & Visual Resources Inspection Reports

Annex G Weekly Site Inspection Reports

Annex H Notification of Environmental Exceedances and Non-Compliance Forms

Annex I Action and Limit Levels

Annex J Cumulative Statistics on Complaints, Notifications of Summons and Successful Prosecutions

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Summary of Environmental Submissions to EPD in December 2006

Table 1.2 Noise Monitoring Stations

Table 3.1 Summary of Noise Monitoring Results during Normal Working Hours

Table 3.2 Summary of Noise Monitoring Results during Restricted Hours – All days during the evening (1900 to 2300 hours), and general holidays (including Sundays) during the day-time and evening (0700-2300 hours)

Table 3.3 Summary of Waste Disposal for December 2006

Table 5.1 Proposed Noise Monitoring Schedule for January 2007

List of Figures

Figure 1 Site Plan & Locations of Noise and Air Quality Monitoring Stations

Executive Summary

Atkins China Limited (ACL) has been appointed by Chun Wo Construction & Engineering Co., Ltd. to implement the Environmental Monitoring and Audit (EM&A) programme for the construction works under Contract No. HY/2004/09 Improvements to San Tin Interchange (hereinafter, the Project).

The construction of the Project commenced since 21^st June 2005. This report is the fourteenth fifninethteenth monthly EM&A report for the Project which summarises the monitoring results and audit findings during the reporting period from 1^st December 2006 to 331^st 1^st AugustDecember 2006.

Environmental Monitoring and Audit Progress

The monthly EM&A programme was undertaken in accordance with the EM&A Manual. A summary of the monitoring activities in this reporting period is listed below:

· Weekly site inspections were undertaken jointly with the Contractor and Engineer’s Representative (ER) on 3^rd7^th3^rd, 140^th, 21^st 5^th,24^th and 31^th3128^th Decem^st berAugust 2006. The Independent Environmental Checker (IEC) joined the site inspection on 21^st August December 2006.

· Noise monitoring at three designated monitoring stations was undertaken on 6^th1^st, 121^th, 17^th, 2318^{th rd}and 30^th 28^th August December 2006 during normal working hours; and on 3^rd, 17^th, 24^th and 31^st 31^st AugustDecember 2006 during the restricted hour periods on a weekly basis when there were construction activities scheduled during those periods. Also, o One ad-hoc monitoring was undertaken on 12^th August 2006 in response to following an exceedance of lLimit lLevel recorded on 11^th August 2006.

· Visual site surveillance for water quality was undertaken three times a week.

· Site inspections for landscape and visual resources were undertaken on 158^th and 30308^th August December 2006.

Breaches of Action and Limit Levels

There were totally seven four records of environmental exceedances during the reporting period, of which six were recorded during restricted hours noise monitoring on 3^rd, 17^th, 24^th and 31^st 31^st AugustDecember 2006. However, , and one was recorded during normal working hours noise monitoring on 11^th August 2006.

For the restricted hours noise monitoring,all the exceedances were proved not to have been caused by the site activities of the Contractor and were attributable to the high ambient traffic noise from San Tin Highway.

Environmental Non-Compliance

No environmental non-compliances were received during this reporting period.

There was one The environmental exceedance recorded during and one non-compliance regarding to the normal working hours noise monitoring was due to the measured Leq (30min) at on Monitoring Station CM1 was found to exceeding the Limit Level of 75dB(A), which was not in compliance with the requirements mentioned in EIA Report and EM&A Manual. During the measurement period, concrete breaking using a breaker was being undertaken at the Slip Road A works area at side of San Tin Highway. The Contractor was advised to stop the concrete breaking works in the concerned area immediately to avoid further exceedances. Following the Event and Action Plan for construction noise, additional noise measurement was conducted on the following day (12^th August 2006) during which no concrete breaking activity was being undertaken. The measured Leq (30min) noise level was found to be 67dB(A). Thus, the Contractor was advised to provide mitigation measures as necessary such as and reminded that movable noise barriers should be provided to avoid exceedances caused by prior to any further site concrete breaking works in the concerned area following the recommendations in Section 3.47 and Figure 3.5 of the Project EIA Report. Further to discussion with the Contractor, no further concrete breaking activities will be required in the concerned area. Following the Event and Action Plan for construction noise, additional noise measurement was conducted on the following day (12^th August 2006) in which no concrete breaking activity was being undertaken. The measured Leq (30min) noise level was found to be 67dB(A).

Complaint Log

No environmental complaints were received during this reporting period.

Notifications of Summons and Prosecutions

There were no notifications of summons or prosecutions received during this reporting period.

Reporting Changes

This report has been developed in compliance with the reporting requirements for the subsequent monthly EM&A reports as required by the Project EM&A Manual.

Future Key Issues

The key issues with respect to the works in the forthcoming 2 months include:

· Laying of drainage pipes;

· Road widening works;

· Trench works;

· Storage and preparation of precast viaduct segments;

· Erection of precast viaduct segments;

· Installation of parapet walls; and

· Installation of noise barrier.

The Contamination Assessment Report (CAR) and Remediation Action Plan (RAP) of Site A & Site E were approved by EPD on 8^th December 2006. Additional verification sampling at Site A was conducted on 16^th December 2006 and would continue in January 2007.

1 Environmental Status

1.1 Works undertaken during the Reporting Period

The major construction activities undertaken during this reporting period are summarised below:

· Bored piling;

· Laying of drainage pipes;

· Road widening works;

· Trench works;

· Storage and preparation of precast viaduct segments;

· Erection of precast viaduct segments and

· Installation of parapet walls..

The site plan of the Project is shown in Figure 1. The Contractor’s works programme is provided in Annex A.

1.2 Environmental Permit and Licences

There were no changes or clarification to the Environmental Permit (EP-190/2004) during the reporting period.

Seven There was no Construction Noise Permit (CNP) issued in August December 2006. One CNP (Permit No. PP-RN0026-06) for carrying out percussive piling works from 15^th August 2006 to 13^th November 2006 was issued on 31^st July 2006 and received by the Contractor in August 2006.

Construction Noise Permit for general construction work	GW-RN0427-06	22^nd August 2006	3^rd March 2007
Construction Noise Permit for general construction work	GW-RN0428-06	23^rd August 2006	10^th March 2007
Construction Noise Permit for general construction work	GW-RN0431-06	24^th August 2006	7^th September 2006
Construction Noise Permit for general construction work	GW-RN0435-06	29^th August 2006	30^th September 2006
Construction Noise Permit for general construction work	GW-RN0436-06	29^th August 2006	11^th October 2006

1.3 Environmental Document Submissions to EPD

A summary of the status of the submissions to EPD as provided during the month of August December 2006 is presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Summary of Environmental Submissions to EPD in August December 2006

Item No.	Document Title	Date of Submission
1	Monthly EM&A Report No. 18 for November 2006	13^th December 2006
12	Quarterly EM&A Report No. 6 (September 2006 – November 2006) for July 2006	14^th 28^th August December 2006

1.4 Environmental Monitoring Locations

Noise monitoring was undertaken at three monitoring stations CM1, CM2 and CM3. The locations are shown on Figure 1. Description of these monitoring stations is provided in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Noise Monitoring Stations

Monitoring Station ID	Description	Easting	Northing
CM1	Village house near San Tin Highway	826133	839839
CM2	Village house near San Tin Highway	826291	839918
CM3	Village house near Kwu Tung Road	826605	840076

2 Environmental Measures and Implementation Status

The mitigation measures listed in the Project EIA Report, EM&A Manual and Environmental Permit and the implementation status are provided in Annex B.

The Contamination Assessment Report (CAR) and Remediation Action Plan (RAP) of Site A & Site E were approved by EPD on 8^th December 2006. Additional verification sampling at Site A as recommended in the approved report was conducted on 16^th December 2006 and would continue in January 2007.

Based on the site inspection findings, the Contractor has implemented the required mitigation measures during construction works to date in general.

3 Monitoring Results

3.1 Noise Monitoring

3.1.1 Noise Monitoring Equipment

Details of the noise monitoring equipment are listed below and the calibration certificates are presented in Annex C:

· Sound level meter ONO-SOKKI LA-5110, Rion NA-27

· Acoustical calibrator ONO-SOKKI SC-2110, Rion NC-73

· Hand-held anemometer

3.1.2 Noise Monitoring Methodology

The sound level meter was calibrated with an acoustical calibrator prior to each measurement. It was set on a tripod at 1.2 m above local ground level at the monitoring station. Measurement of the A-weighted L_{eq(30 minutes)} noise level for normal daytime hours was undertaken. Three consecutive A-weighted L_{eq(5 minutes)} noise levels were measured for restricted hours monitoring. Wind speed was checked during the monitoring period using the hand-held anemometer to ensure steady wind speed did not exceed 5 m/s, or gusts did not exceed 10 m/s. After the noise measurement the sound level meter was re-calibrated using the acoustical calibrator.

3.1.3 Noise Monitoring Results

Noise monitoring was undertaken on a weekly basis when noise generating activities were underway. The noise monitoring results obtained in August December 2006, during the normal working hours; restricted hours from 0700 to 1900 hours on general holidays and restricted hours from 2300 to 0700 hours of next day are summarised in Table 3.1 and, Table 3.2 Table 3.23, respectively. There was were no environmental exceedances of the Actione and Limit Levels for environmental exceedance of the Action and Limit Levels for noise monitoring recorded during the normal daytime hours within the reporting period and but six four notifications of exceedances were reported during the rrestricted hours.

Details of the monitoring time period and weather condition during the monitoring period and the graphical presentation of the noise monitoring results are provided in Annex D.

Table 3.1 Summary of Noise Monitoring Results during Normal Working Hours

Date of Monitoring	Normal Hours. Noise Monitoring Results Leq(30 minutes) dB(A)
	CM1	CM2	CM3
6^th December 2006	67	72	68
12^th December 2006	66	71	63
18^th December 2006	67	72	65
28^th December 2006	68	72	64

Remarks:

(1) CM2 is a non-façade measurement location. A positive correction of 3dB(A) has been applied to the measured noise levels at CM2 according to EPD’s guideline.

Table 3.2 Summary of Noise Monitoring Results during Restricted Hours – All days during the evening (1900 to 2300 hours), and general holidays (including Sundays) during the day-time and evening (0700-2300 hours)

Date of Monitoring	Restricted Hours Noise Monitoring Results Leq(15 minutes) dB(A)
	CM1	CM2	CM3
3^rd December 2006	64	69	59
17^th December 2006	62	67	58
24^th December 2006	65	71	60
31^st December 2006	64	71	59

Remarks:

(1) CM2 is a non-façade measurement location. A positive correction of 3dB(A) has been applied to the measured noise levels at CM2 according to EPD’s guideline.

(2) Underlined figure indicates exceedance of the Limit Level of 65dB(A).

Date of Monitoring	Restricted Hours Noise Monitoring Results Leq(15 minutes) dB(A)
	CM1	CM2	CM3
17^th August 2006	65	69	59 (18^th August 2006)
31^st August 2006	65	6970	5955 (1^st September 2006)

Remark:

(1) CM2 is a non-façade measurement location. A positive correction of 3dB(A) has been applied to the measured noise level at CM2 according to EPD’s guideline.

(1) Underlined figure indicates exceedance of the Limit Level of 50dB(A).

(1) Time of measurement at CM3 started after 23:59 hours (midnight) of Tthe “Date of Monitoring” stated in the table. Therefore, the “Date of Monitoring” for CM3 refers to 18^th and 1^st September 2006, respectively refers to the date of which nighttime noise monitoring started.

3.2 Water Quality Monitoring

Visual site surveillances for water quality were undertaken three times a week. Based on the visual inspection results, the Contractor has followed all necessary site practices for the maintenance of the site drainage system, including:

· Regular and prompt Rremoval of stagnant water pools to prevent mosquito breeding;

· Proper diversion of surface runoff to site drainage systemProvision of.

The details of the water quality visual inspection reports are provided in Annex E.

3.3 Landscape and Visual Resources

Two site inspections on the landscape and visual resources were undertaken in August December 2006.

During the first inspection, insufficient sandbags barrier was provided in the transplantation nursery behind the site office in the N1 Division area. The Contractor was reminded to provide sufficient sandbags to prevent soil from being washed down and this was seen to have been implemented during the second inspection. The Contractor was advised to regularly maintain the sandbags barrier at the transplantation nurseries. The Contractor was reminded to clear up the weeds regularly as proper maintenance for the nursery.

Sandbags barrier encircling the transplantation nursery in the N1 Division area was seen to have been damaged. Some construction materials were seen to have accumulated on top of the soil surface inside the nursery. The Contractor was reminded to clear up the construction materials and place them in an appropriate storage area. Damaged sandbags should be replaced by new ones to contain the soil inside the nursery and prevent soil erosion.

Several trees inside the transplantation nursery in the N2 Division aArea were found to have fallen down during the inspection on 15^th September 2006 due to the typhoon event in early August 2006 and mid-September 2006. The Contractor was reminded to replant these trees in the nursery to ensure their survival. The fallen trees were observed to have been replanted during inspection on 27^th September 2006.

The details of the landscape and visual resources inspection reports are provided in Annex F.

3.4 Ad-hoc Air Quality Monitoring

No ad-hoc air quality monitoring was required during the reporting period.

3.5 Waste Management

The Contractor has adopted a trip ticket system for the disposal of construction wastes. According to the records provided by the Contractor, the disposal of construction waste within the reporting period is summarised in Table 3.3Table 3.4Table 3.4Table 3.3.

Table 3.3 Summary of Waste Disposal for December 2006

Waste Type	Destination	No. of Trips	Quantity
C&D Waste	NENT Landfill	19	95 m^3
Building debris	CEDD’s Tuen Mun Area 38 Fill Bank	31	155 m^3
Chemical Waste	Collected by Dunwell Enviro-Tech (Holdings) Ltd.	2	1800 L
Chemical Toilet Waste	Collected by Proenvironmental Services Ltd.	12	-
Sewage Holding Tank Waste	Collected by Waylung Waste Services Ltd.	12	-

4 Environmental Audits

4.1 Site Inspection and Audit

Site inspections were undertaken on 7^th, 14^th3^rd, 21^st 5^th,24^th and 31^th3128^th Decem^st berAugust 2006, and jointly with the IEC on 214^st August December 2006. Specific locations within the site were identified during the inspection for improvements in proper implementation of the environmental mitigation measures. These include:

· Prompt removal of stagnant water pools to prevent mosquito breeding.

· Regular collection of C&D waste and general refuse to keep good site tidiness.

· Proper diversion of surface runoff to the drainage system / sedimentation tank prior to discharge.

· Proper storage of stockpile and construction materials at designated storage area with cover to prevent soil being washed down into the drainage system.

The record of the weekly site inspection findings is provided in Annex G.

4.2 Environmental Exceedances

During the reporting period, there were totally seven four exceedances of Limit Level. Six of which were noise exceedances of the lLimit lLevel during restricted hours noise monitoring at CM1, CM2 and CM3 on 3^rd, 17^th, 24^th and 31^st 31^st AugustDecember 2006.

Further to investigation and discussion with ER, the project-related works being undertaken during the measurement period were located at a distance away (at least 180m) from the monitoring stations. The exceedances were due to the high ambient background noise caused by road traffic on San Tin Highway. Thus, the noise exceedances recorded were found not to be attributable to the project worksthe Contractor, no further concrete breaking activities will be required in the Slip Road A works area. Nonetheless, the Contractor was advised to implement necessary noise mitigation measures such as and reminded that movable noise barriers (as recommended in the Project EIA Report) of 3 to 5m high with skid footing should be provided to avoid further exceedances that would be caused by potential noisy prior to any further site works in the concerned area following the recommendations in Section 3.47 and Figure 3.5 of the Project EIA Report. Further to discussion with the Contractor, no further concrete breaking activities will be required in the concerned area.

Records of the notification of environmental exceedances and the non-compliance forms are provided in Annex H. The Action and Limit Levels for impact monitoring are provided in Annex I.

4.3 Environmental Non-compliance

During the reporting period, no environmental non-compliance was recorded.

4.4 Environmental Complaint and Prosecution

During the reporting period, no environmental complaints, prosecutions or summons were received. Cumulative statistics on complaints, notifications of summons and successful prosecutions for the Project are provided in Annex J.

5 Forecast and Schedule

5.1 Key Issues for the Coming Months

The key issues with respect to the works in the forthcoming 2 months include:

· Laying of drainage pipes;

· Road widening works;

· Trench works;

· Storage and preparation of precast viaduct segments;

· Erection of precast viaduct segments;

· Installation of parapet walls; and

· Installation of noise barrier.

Additional verification sampling at Site A as recommended in the approved CAR / RAP of Site A & Site E would continue in January 2007.The Contamination Assessment Report (CAR) and Remediation Action Plan (RAP) of Site A and Site E will be finalized including upon receipt of the analysis results of the further sampling to be conducted at Site A.

5.2 Monitoring Schedules for the Next Month

The proposed schedule for noise monitoring in September January 2007 is provided in Table 5.1 below:

Table 5.1 Proposed Noise Monitoring Schedule for September January 2007

Date	Noise Monitoring Station
5^th 5^th SeptemJanuary 2007 (Friday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3
113^th September January 2007 (Thursday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3
17^th January 2007 (Wednesday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3
23^rd January 2007 (Tuesday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3
29^th 29^th January 2007 (Monday) (Friday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3

6 Conclusion

There was no environmental non-compliance attributable to the Project works during reporting period.

There were six four records of exceedances of the noise Limit Level during the reporting period. However, none of these are attributable to project works.

There was one exceedance non-compliance of the Limit Level recorded during the normal hours noise monitoring due to concrete breaking activities in project works area during the reporting period.

No environmental complaints, prosecutions or summons was received during the reporting period.