Pursuant to Section 10 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, the Director of Environmental Protection (the Director) grants this environmental permit to the DRAINAGE SERVICES DEPARTMENT (the "Permit Holder") to construct and operate the designated project(s) described in Part B subject to the conditions described in or attached to Part C. The issue of this environmental permit is based on the documents, approvals or permissions described below :

根 據 環 境 影 響 評 估 條 例 第 10條 的 規 定 ， 環 境 保 護 署 署 長 （ 署 長 ） 將 本 環 境 許 可 證 批 予 渠 務 署 (許 可 證 持 有 人 )以 建 造 及 營 辦 B部 所 說 明 的 指 定 工 程 項 目 ， 但 須 遵 守 C部 所 說 明 或 附 載 的 條 件 。 本 環 境 許 可 證 的 發 出 ， 乃 以 下 表 所 列 的 文 件 、 批 准 或 許 可 作 為 根 據 ： -

Hereunder is the description of the designated project(s) mentioned in Part A of this environmental permit:-

下 列 為 本 環 境 許 可 證 A部 所 提 及 的 指 定 工 程 項 目 的 說 明 :

1. General Conditions

1.1 The Permit Holder shall ensure full compliance with all conditions of this environmental permit. Any non-compliance with this permit may constitute a contravention of the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap. 499) and shall be definite ground for enforcement action or permit cancellation where applicable.

1.2 This permit shall not remove the responsibility of the Permit Holder to comply with any legislation currently in force such as the Noise Control Ordinance (Cap.400), Air Pollution Control Ordinance (Cap.311), Water Pollution control Ordinance (Cap.358), Dumping at Sea Ordinance (Cap.466) Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap.354), and others.

1.3 The Permit Holder shall make copies of this permit available at all times for inspection by the Director at all sites covered by this permit.

1.4 The Permit Holder shall give a copy of this permit to the person(s) in charge of the site.

1.5 The Permit Holder shall display a copy of this permit on all vessels including dredgers and barges associated with the Project works at the Project site, on the construction site at the entrances/exits or at a convenient location for public's information at all times. The Permit Holder shall ensure that the most updated information about the environmental permit, including any amended permit, is displayed at such locations. If the Permit Holder surrenders a part or the whole of the permit, the notice he sends to the Director shall also be displayed at the same locations as the original permit.

1.6 The Permit Holder shall construct and operate the Project in accordance with the project descriptions in Part B of this permit.

1.7 The Permit Holder shall ensure that the Project is designed, constructed and operated in accordance with the information and recommendations contained in the EIA Report or the supplementary information contained in the Application for Environmental Permit (AEP-024/1999).

1.8 All deposited submissions, as required under this Permit, shall be rectified in accordance with the comments, if any made by the Director, within 1 month of the receipt of the Director's comments or otherwise as specified by the Director.

1.9 The Permit Holder shall release all finalized submissions, as required under this permit, to the public, if requested by the Director, by depositing copies in the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance Register Office or any other places or by any other means as specified by the Director for public inspection. For this purpose, the Permit Holder shall provide sufficient copies of the submissions.

1.10 The Permit Holder shall notify the Director 4 weeks prior to the commencement and completion of the Project works.

2. Submissions or Measures before Commencement of Dredging and Construction

2.1 An Environmental Team (ET) shall be established before commencement of construction and dredging works and the ET shall not be in any way an associated body of the Contractor. The ET shall be supervised by an Independent Environmental Checker (IEC) who has at least 7 years of experience in environmental monitoring and auditing (EM&A) or environmental management. The IEC shall be responsible for verifying and certifying the environmental acceptability of permanent and temporary works, relevant design plans and submissions required under Section 2 of this permit.

2.2 The Permit Holder shall, not later than 8 weeks before commencement of works, submit to the Director an Implementation Schedule for the Project. The Implementation Schedule shall be verified as conforming to the information and recommendations contained in the EIA Report before submission to the Director.

2.3 The Permit Holder shall submit to the Director 3 sets of layout drawings of a scale 1 to 1000, showing the Project works boundaries, co-ordinates of the submarine outfall, details of the diffuser port design, associated road and drainage works and any other facilities assessed in the EIA Report, and locations of mitigation measures. The documents submitted shall be verified by the IEC as conforming to the information and recommendations contained in the EIA Report before submission to the Director. The location of the submarine outfall shall be as shown in Figure 1 of this Permit and the diffuser port design parameters shall be as shown in Appendix B13 of the EIA report, unless as verified by the IEC and agreed by the Director.

2.4 The Permit Holder shall, not later than 2 weeks before commencement of dredging at the Project site, submit details on silt curtains to be used, including dimensions, exact locations and method of installation and removal, to the Director for approval.

2.5 The Permit Holder shall submit details on monitoring locations for air, noise and water quality to the Director for agreement at least 6 weeks before commencement of dredging.

2.6 The documents submitted as required in this part of the permit shall be rectified in accordance with the comments made by the Director within one month of receipt of the Director's comments, or otherwise as specified by the Director.

3. Specific Conditions

3.1 The Permit Holder shall construct and operate the proposed submarine outfall with details as specified in the documents submitted under condition 2.3 of this Permit.

3.2 The Permit Holder shall install the silt curtains in accordance with the specifications agreed by the Director and ensure the silt curtains installed at the designated locations function effectively during dredging and marine construction works.

3.3 Only one grab dredger with closed mechanical grab shall be used at any one time during the course of dredging. The dredging rate shall not exceed 365 m³ per hour.

3.4 Barges and hoppers shall be operated in a manner that shall not cause leakage or splashing of dredged materials into the surrounding water during loading or transportation.

3.5 A site boundary hoarding at the works site on land shall be erected to fully screen noise sensitive receivers from the line of sight of the main construction works.

3.6 When hand held breakers are operated concurrently with other Powered Mechanical Equipment (PME) a mobile acoustic barrier shall be used to screen noise sources from line of sight of sensitive receivers.

3.7 Waste shall be stored on-site in drums or tanks. Waste storage areas shall be regularly maintained and cleaned.

4. Environmental Monitoring and Audit (EM&A)

4.1 The EM&A programme shall be implemented as set out in the EM&A Manual. Any changes to the programme shall be justified by the IEC as conforming to the requirements set out in the EM&A Manual before submission to the Director for approval.

4.2 Samples and measurements shall be taken in accordance with the requirements of the EM&A Manual by:

1. conducting baseline environmental monitoring at specified frequencies and locations as indicated in the document submitted under condition 2.5 of this permit and agreed by the Director;
2. conducting impact environmental monitoring at the specified frequencies and locations as indicated in the document submitted under condition 2.5 of this permit and agreed by the Director;
3. in cases where specified criteria in the EM&A Manual are exceeded, carrying out remedial actions in accordance with the Event/Action Plan, as set out in the EM&A Manual; and
4. logging and keeping records of the details of (a) to (c) above, within 3 working days of the collection of data or completion of remedial action, for the purpose of preparing and submitting the EM&A Reports and to make available the information for inspection on site.

4.3 Upon completion of all marine activities and commencement of operation of the Cheung Chau replacement submarine outfall, a post project monitoring exercise on water quality shall be conducted for 4 weeks in the same manner as the impact monitoring of the Project works specified in the EM&A Manual. Monitoring parameters shall include DO, Turbidity, Suspended Solids and E.coli. The level of E.coli at all designated monitoring stations for the Project shall comply with the Water Quality Objectives.

4.4 Six copies of the monthly EM&A Reports and quarterly EM&A Summary Reports verified by the IEC shall be submitted to the Director within 10 working days from the end of the reporting period or by other means as specified by the Director. Additional copies of the monthly and quarterly reports shall be provided if required by the Director.

4.5 The submitted report as required in this part of the permit shall be rectified in accordance with the comments made by the Director within one month of receipt of the Director's comments, or otherwise as specified by the Director.

4.6 The actions described in the Event/Action Plans of the EM&A Manual shall be carried out, in accordance with the time frame set out in the Event/Action Plans, or as agreed by the Director.

Notes:

1. This environmental permit consists of three parts, namely, PART A (Main Permit), PART B (Description of Designated Projects) and PART C (Permit Conditions).

2. The Permit Holder may apply under Section 13 of the Ordinance to the Director for a variation of the conditions of this environmental permit. The Permit Holder shall replace the original permit displayed on the dredging and construction sites, by the amended permit.

3. A person who assumes the responsibility for the whole or a part of the designated project may, before he assumes responsibility for the designated project, apply under Section 12 of the Ordinance to the Director for a further environmental permit.

4. Under Section 14 of the Ordinance, the Director with the consent of the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, may suspend, vary or cancel this environmental permit. The permit shall be removed from the display on the construction site.

5. If this permit is cancelled or surrendered during construction or operation, an environmental permit must be obtained under the Ordinance before construction or operation of the project could continue. It is an offence under Section 26(1) of the Ordinance to construct or operate a designated project without an environmental permit.

6. All submissions required in this permit shall be deposited at the EIAO Office on the 27/F of Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Environmental Permit No. EP-024/1999