12. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND AUDIT
REQUIREMENTS
An Environmental Monitoring and Audit (EM&A)
Manual detailing the
monitoring schedules and requirements is included in a separate document. This will be the basis
for carrying out relevant monitoring and auditing procedures during the
construction period.
Hong Kong environmental
regulations together with the HKPSG have served as environmental standards and
guidelines in the preparation of the EM&A Manual. In addition, the EM&A
Manual will be prepared in accordance with the requirements stipulated in Annex 21 of the Technical
Memorandum on the EIA Process.
The EM&A Manual will include, but not be limited to, the following:
a)
responsibilities
of the Contractor, the Engineer or Engineer's Representative (ER), the Environmental Team (ET) Leader and the Independent Checker
(Environmental) (IC(E))
with respect to the
environmental monitoring and audit requirements during the course of the
project;
b)
information
on project organisation and management structure and programming of construction
activities for the project;
c)
the
hypotheses of potential impacts, the basis for and description of the broad
approach underlying the environmental monitoring and audit programme;
d)
requirements
with respect to the construction schedule and the necessary environmental
monitoring and audit programme to track the varying environmental impacts;
e)
full
details of the methodologies to be adopted, including all field, laboratory and
analytical procedures, and details on quality assurance and quality control
programme;
f)
the
rationale on which the environmental monitoring data will be evaluated and
interpreted and the details of the
statistical procedures that will be used to interpret the data;
g)
definition
of Action and Limit levels (AL Levels) for each of recommended monitoring parameters;
h)
establishment
of Event and Action Plans for impact and compliance monitoring;
i)
requirements
for reviewing pollution sources and working procedures required in the event of
non-compliance of the environmental criteria and complaints;
j)
requirements
for presentation of environmental monitoring and audit data and appropriate
reporting procedures
and frequency; and
k)
requirements
for review of EIA predictions and effectiveness of the environmental monitoring
and audit programme.
12.1 Air Quality
Full compliance with the AQOs
during construction will likely achieved at all air sensitive receivers with the implementation of mitigation
measures such as regular watering twice a day the requirements of mitigation measures.
Therefore, routine dust monitoring during construction is not required but
regular site audits are recommended to be conducted to ensure the
implementation of good site practice and appropriate mitigation measures.
12.2 Noise
Laying underground cables is a typical installation and CLP has established good trade practices for this work such that they minimise the construction noise and dust impacts. With the implementation of noise mitigation measures and scheduling the construction activities in front of the school, full compliance with the environmental criteria is expected to be achieved. Therefore, routine environmental monitoring for construction noise is not required during the construction phase. Regular site audits are however recommended to be conducted to ensure the effectiveness of these good site practices and appropriate mitigation measures.
12.3 Water Quality
Marine Water
To
confirm compliance with the WQO’s it is proposed that an environmental
monitoring and audit programme is established. This will focus on confirmatory
monitoring for the direct burying option, and compliance monitoring in the
event dredging is proposed.
Water quality monitoring should include locations at Cheung Sha Wan Fish Culture Zone, Cheung Chau Typhoon Shelter, Tai Kwai Wan, Tai Long Wan, South of Hei Ling Chau Typhoon Shelter and Pui O Beach and Adamasta Channel. The locations and number of the monitoring points shall be agreed with EPD before undertaking any works. Details of the water quality monitoring and their monitoring locations are presented in the section 4 of Environmental Monitoring and Audit Manual.
Ground Water
In order to ensure no ground water loss during the
cable tunnelling work, monitoring of ground water table as specified in section
4 of the EM&A Manual and the monitoring requirements as defined below will
be specified in the Contract Document. The monitoring requirements during
construction period include:-
·
The
contractor is required to submit a layout plan showing the proposed locations
groundwater monitoring points to the satisfaction of EPD;
·
The
contractor is required to submit method statements for the proposed mitigation
measures to prevent further ground water inflow into the proposed cable tunnel
to the satisfaction of EPD, the mitigation measures are:-
(i)
pre-injection
system using approved cement grout and any equivalent approved methods and/or
proprietary products which could achieve the same performance and purpose; and
(ii)
lining and
waterproof membrane for the cable tunnel.
Ground Water
In order to ensure no ground
water loss during the cable tunnelling work, monitoring of ground water table
as specified in section 4 of the EM&A Manual and the monitoring
requirements as defined below will be specified in the Contract Document. The
monitoring requirements during construction period include:-
·The contractor is required to
submit a layout plan showing the proposed locations groundwater monitoring
points to the satisfaction of EPD;
·The contractor is required to
submit method statements for the proposed mitigation measures to prevent
further ground water inflow into the proposed cable tunnel to the satisfaction
of EPD, the mitigation measures are:-
(i)pre-injection
system using approved cement grout and any equivalent approved methods and/or
proprietary products which could achieve the same performance and purpose; and
(i)lining and
waterproof membrane for the cable tunnel.
With the implementation of the
water quality mitigation measures, no exceedance of WQO of suspended solids is
anticipated at the monitoring locations. However, a robust environmental
monitoring and audit will be implemented to ensure that the general mitigation
measures are effective and the actual water quality impacts during the
installation of submarine cables and the reclamation works at Pui O Beach
are acceptable.
Details of the water quality
monitoring will be presented in the Environmental
Monitoring and Audit Manual.
12.4 Fisheries
There are no monitoring and audit requirements for fisheries.
12.5 Ecology
Terrestrial Ecology
The implementation of the
terrestrial ecological mitigation measures stated in Section 6.3.5 should be checked regularly (e.g. on a monthly basis) as part
of the environmental monitoring and audit procedures during the construction
period as
presented in the separate Environmental Monitoring and Audit Manual.
Marine Ecology
Mitigation measures to controlConstraints on controlling
impacts
to water quality to within acceptable levels during construction are expected
to also control impacts on marine ecology.
No unacceptable impacts are expected to occur during the operation phase
of the Project. Hence, monitoring and
auditing of marine ecological resources during the construction and operation
of the Project is deemed not necessary.
12.6 Cultural Heritage
If the avoidance of reaching the
`no dig’ zone below existing ground level at both Site A and Site B is not
possible, archaeological monitoring should be undertaken in this section during
construction to preserve the archaeological deposit, if any, by record and take
environmental samples for future study if necessary. The construction contractor should cooperate with a qualified
archaeologist appointed to undertake the monitoring to allow sufficient time
for recording archaeological deposit and take environmental samples if
necessary. The
recommended mitigation measure of avoiding the cultural layer in sites A and B
is expected to prevent damage to the existing archaeological deposits. However, as a precautionary measure arising
from the possibility that the level of the cultural layer may vary from
point-to-point it is recommended that archaeological monitoring is undertaken
in the sections within the Pui O Archaeological Site during construction to
preserve the archaeological deposit, if any, by record and take environmental
samples for future study if necessary.
The construction contractor should cooperate with a qualified
archaeologist appointed to undertake the monitoring to allow sufficient time
for recording archaeological deposit and take environmental samples if
necessary.
12.7 Landscape and Visual
There is no monitoring requirement for the landscape and visual parameters.
12.8 Waste Management
It has been recommended that auditing of each waste stream should be carried out periodically by the contractor to determine if wastes are being managed in accordance with approved procedures and the site waste management plan. The audits should look at all aspects of waste management including waste generation, storage, recycling, treatment, transport, and disposal. An appropriate audit programme would be to undertake a first audit at the commencement of the construction works, and then to audit quarterly thereafter.
12.9
Health
The measurement of similar
design circuits and calculations of EMF for the proposed overhead lines and
underground cables, cable in
tunnel and submarine cables demonstrated that the predicted values would
be well under the stipulated guideline limits issued by ICNIRP. In order to
verify compliance with the ICNIRP guideline levels, filed measurements will be
carried out within six months after commissioning of this circuit.
12.10
Marine Archaeology
There are no monitoring and audit requirements for the marine archaeological parameters.