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 thirty-forth monthly EM&A report for the Project which summarises the monitoring results and audit findings during the reporting period from 1^st March 2008 to 31^st March 2008.

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:

· Site inspections were undertaken jointly with the Contractor and Engineer’s Representative (ER) on 12^th and 26^th March 2008. The Independent Environmental Checker (IEC) undertook the site inspection on 26^th March 2008.

· Noise monitoring at the designated monitoring stations was undertaken on 5^th and 18^th March 2008 during normal working hours, and on 4^th–5^th, 13^th and 18^th March 2008 during the restricted hours.

· Visual site surveillance for water quality was undertaken on 5^th, 12^th, 18^th and 26^th March 2008.

· Site inspection for landscape and visual resources was undertaken on 18^th March 2008.

Breaches of Action and Limit Levels

There were three environmental exceedances during the restricted hours noise monitoring on 4^th–5^th, 13^th and 18^th March 2008. However, the exceedances were proved not to have been caused by the site activities of the Contractor and were considered to be attributable to the high ambient traffic noise from San Tin Highway.

Environmental Non-Compliance

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

Complaint Log

No environmental complaints were received during this reporting period.

Notifications of Summons and Prosecutions

No notifications of summons or prosecutions were 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 works in the forthcoming 2 months include landscaping works, road paving and road widening works.

1 Environmental Status

1.1 Works undertaken during the Reporting Period

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

· Road widening works;

· Landscaping works;

· Road paving; and

· Installation of railings.

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.

One Construction Noise Permits (CNP) was issued in March 2008. Details of the CNPs are summarised in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Details of Permits and Licenses issued in March 2008

Permit / License	Reference No.	Issue Date	Expiry Date
CNP for Road construction work	GW-RN0088-08	14^th March 2008	15^th June 2008

1.3 Environmental Document Submissions to EPD

A summary of the status of the submissions to EPD as provided during March 2008 is presented in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Summary of Environmental Submissions to EPD in March 2008

Item No.	Document Title	Date of Submission
1	Monthly EM&A Report No. 33 for February 2008	17^th March 2008

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 1.3 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.

In this reporting period, the trees planting were progressing at the area in South Division (M6 and M2 works area). Landscape works were progressing at the N1 Division (near the site office) and South Division (M6 and M2 works area).

Based on 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

· Acoustical calibrator ONO-SOKKI SC-2110

· 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 biweekly basis when noise generating activities were underway. The noise monitoring results obtained in March 2008, during the normal working hours, and night-time restricted hours (2300 to 0700 hours of next day) are summarised in Table 3.1 and Table 3.2, respectively. There were no construction activities during restricted hours from 1900 to 2300 hours on normal working days and 0700 to 1900 hours on general holidays within this reporting period.

There were no environmental exceedances of the Action and Limit Levels for noise monitoring recorded during the normal daytime hours within the reporting period but three notifications of exceedance during the restricted hours were reported. 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	Measured Noise Level L_{eq(30 minutes)} dB(A)
Date of Monitoring	CM1	CM2	CM3
5^th March 2008	65	72	54
18^th March 2008	65	73	54

Remark:

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

Table 3.2 Summary of Noise Monitoring Results during Restricted Hours – All Days during Night-time (2300-0700 hours)

Date of Monitoring	Measured Noise Level L_{eq(15 minutes)} dB(A)
Date of Monitoring	CM1	CM2	CM3
4^th – 5^th March 2008	*	71	49
13^th March 2008	*	71	49
18^th March 2008	*	71	47

Remark:

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

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

(3) * Noise measurement at CM1 was cancelled due to the unsafe condition at the time (stray dogs constantly barking at the monitoring location, and staff could be attacked).

(4) Noise measurement at CM3 on 4^th March 2008 was started at 23:50 hours and completed at 00:05 hours of the next day, i.e. 5^th March 2008.

3.2 Water Quality Monitoring

Visual site surveillances for water quality were undertaken on 5^th, 12^th, 18^th and 26^th March 2008. Based on the visual inspection results, the Contractor has followed all necessary site practices for the maintenance of the site drainage system, including:

· Clearing up stagnant water pools immediately to prevent mosquito breeding.

· Removal of deposited silts and sediments in sedimentation tanks regularly to maintain appropriate efficiency.

· Replacing broken sandbags to properly divert silty runoff to the site drainage system and prevent it from flowing into EMDC directly.

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

3.3 Landscape and Visual Resources

One site inspection on the landscape and visual resources was undertaken in March 2008.

During the inspections, some transplanted trees at M2 works area in South Division and N1 Division (near the site office) appeared to be very poor condition. The contractor was reminded to closely monitoring to ensure the trees growth properly. Two newly planted trees in M2 were seen to be lacking of support. The contractor was advised to provide support for the tree trunk. Two news trees at the opposite of M6 appeared dead. The contractor was reminded to replace the dead trees with new trees of the same species and size as compensatory measures.

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 3.3.

Table 3.3 Summary of Waste Disposal for March 2008

Waste Type	Destination	No. of Trips	Quantity
C&D Waste	NENT Landfill	10	50 m³
Building debris	CEDD’s Tuen Mun Area 38 Fill Bank	80	400m³
Sewage Holding Tank Waste	Collected by Waylung Waste Services Ltd.	15	-
Chemical Waste	Collected by Dunwell Enviro-Tech (Holdings) Ltd.	1	1,100 litre

4 Environmental Audits

4.1 Site Inspection and Audit

Site inspections were undertaken on 12^th and 26^th March 2008. The Independent Environmental Checker (IEC) undertook the site inspection on 26^th March 2008. Specific locations within the site were identified during the inspection for improvements in proper implementation of the environmental mitigation measures. These include:

· Regular watering of the access roads to prevent dust emissions.

· Removal the deposited silts in the sedimentation tank regularly for maintain high efficiency of the sedimentation tank.

· Proper collecting of the used battery casing and disposal of as chemical waste.

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

· Replacing broken sandbags to prevent silty site runoff flowing into EMDC directly.

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

4.2 Environmental Exceedance

During the reporting period, there was one exceedance of the Limit Level during restricted hours noise monitoring at CM2 on 4^th to 5^th, 13^th and 18^th March 2008.

Further to discussion with the Contractor, the major construction activity during the time of measurement was planting traffic signal at San Tin Highway near Shek Wu Wai and maintenance works for sign gantry at San Sham Road which was far away (both more than 300 m) from CM2. The exceedances may have been caused by the high ambient background noise due to road traffic on San Tin Highway. Thus, the noise exceedances recorded were found not to be attributable to the project works.

Records of the notification of environmental exceedances 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 S chedule

5.1 Key Issues for the Coming Months

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

· Landscaping works; and

· Road paving; and

· Road widening.

5.2 Monitoring Schedules for the Next Month

The proposed schedule for noise monitoring in April 2008 is provided in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Proposed Noise Monitoring Schedule for April 2008

Date	Noise Monitoring Station
1^st April 2008 (Tuesday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3
15^th April 2008 (Tuesday)	CM1, CM2 and CM3

6 Conclusion

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

There were three exceedances of the noise Limit Level during the reporting period. However, they were not attributable to the Project works.

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