8.1 Reports can be provided in an electronic medium upon agreeing the format with the ER and EPD. This would enable a transition from a paper / historic and reactive approach to an electronic / real time proactive approach. All the monitoring data (baseline and impact) shall also be submitted in electronic format. The formats for air quality data to be submitted are shown in Appendix A.
8.2 Types of reports that the ET Leader shall prepare and submit include baseline monitoring report, monthly EM&A report, quarterly EM&A summary report and final EM&A review report. In accordance with Annex 21 of the EIAO-TM, a copy of the monthly, quarterly summary and final review EM&A reports shall be made available to the Director of Environmental Protection.
Electronic Reporting of EM&A Information
8.3 To facilitate public inspection of the baseline monitoring report and various EM&A reports via the EIAO Internet website and at the EIAO register office, electronic copies of these reports shall be prepared in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) (version 4.0 or later) and in Portable Document Format (PDF version 4.0 or later), unless otherwise agreed by EPD and shall be submitted at the same time as the hardcopies. For the HTML version, a content page capable of providing hyperlink to each section and sub-section of these reports shall be included at the beginning of the document. Hyperlinks to all figures, drawings and tables in these reports shall be provided in the main text from where the respective references are made. All graphics in these reports shall be in interlaced GIF format unless otherwise agreed by EPD. The content of the electronic copies of these reports must be the same as the hard copies. The summary of the monitoring data taken shall be included in the various EM&A Reports to allow for public inspection via the EIAO Internet website.
8.4 The ET Leader shall prepare and submit a Baseline Environmental Monitoring Report within 10 working days of completion of the baseline monitoring. Copies of the Baseline Environmental Monitoring Report shall be submitted to the Contractor, the IC(E), the ER and the EPD. The ET Leader shall liaise with the relevant parties on the exact number of copies they require. The report format and baseline monitoring data format shall be agreed with the EPD prior to submission.
8.5 The baseline monitoring report shall include, but not be limited to the following:
(i)
up to half a page executive summary;
(ii)
brief
project background information;
(iii)
drawings
showing locations of the baseline monitoring stations;
(iv)
an
updated construction programme with milestones of environmental protection
/ mitigation activities annotated;
(v)
monitoring
results (in both hard and soft copies) together with the following information:
·
monitoring
methodology;
·
name
of laboratory and types of equipment used and calibration details;
·
parameters
monitored;
·
monitoring
locations (and depth);
·
monitoring
date, time, frequency and duration; and
·
quality
assurance (QA) / quality control (QC) results and detection limits.
(vi)
details
on influencing factors, including:
·
major
activities, if any, being carried out on the site during the period;
·
weather
conditions during the period; and
·
other
factors which might affect results.
(vii)
determination
of the Action and Limit Levels (AL levels) for each monitoring parameter and
statistical analysis of the baseline data, the analysis shall conclude if there
is any significant difference between control and impact stations for the parameters
monitored;
(viii)
revisions
for inclusion in the EM&A Manual; and
(ix)
comments,
recommendations and conclusions.
8.6 The results and findings of all EM&A work required in the Manual shall be recorded in the monthly EM&A reports prepared by the ET Leader. The EM&A report shall be prepared and submitted within 10 working days at the end of each reporting month, with the first report due the month after construction commences. Each monthly EM&A report shall be submitted to the following parties: the Contractor, the IC(E), the ER and the EPD. Before submission of the first EM&A report, the ET Leader shall liaise with the parties on the required number of copies and format of the monthly reports in both hard copy and electronic medium.
8.7 The ET leader shall review the number and location of monitoring stations and parameters every six months, or on as needed basis, in order to cater for any changes in the surrounding environment and the nature of works in progress.
8.8 The first monthly EM&A report shall include at least but not be limited to the following:
(i)
executive summary (1-2 pages):
·
breaches
of Action and Limit levels;
·
complaint
log;
·
notifications
of any summons and successful prosecutions;
·
reporting
changes; and
·
future
key issues.
(ii)
basic project information:
·
project
organisation including key personnel contact names and telephone numbers;
·
construction
programme with fine tuning of construction activities showing the
inter-relationship with environmental protection/mitigation measures for the
month;
·
management
structure, and
·
works
undertaken during the month.
(iii)
environmental status:
·
works
undertaken during the month with illustrations (such as location of works,
daily dredging/filling rates, percentage of fines in the fill materials used,
etc); and
·
drawings
showing the project area, any environmental sensitive receivers and the
locations of the monitoring and control stations (with co-ordinates of the
monitoring locations).
·
Advice
on the status of statutory environmental compliance, the status of compliance
with environmental permit (EP) conditions under the EIA Ordinance, submission
status under the EP and implementation status of mitigation measures.
(iv)
a brief summary of EM&A requirements
including:
·
all
monitoring parameters;
·
environmental
quality performance limits (Action and Limit levels);
·
Event-Action
Plans;
·
environmental
mitigation measures, as recommended in the Final EIA report; and
·
environmental
requirements in contract documents.
(v)
implementation status:
·
advice
on the implementation status of environmental protection and pollution control
/ mitigation measures, as recommended in the Final EIA report, summarised in
the updated implementation schedule.
(vi)
monitoring results (in both hard and diskette
copies) together with the following information:
·
monitoring
methodology;
·
name
of laboratory and types of equipment used and calibration details;
·
parameters
monitored;
·
monitoring
locations (and depth);
·
monitoring
date, time, frequency, and duration;
·
weather
conditions during the period;
·
graphical
plots of the monitored parameters in the month annotated against:
-
the
major activities being carried out on site during the period;
-
weather
conditions that may affect the results; and
-
any
other factors which might affect the monitoring results;
·
any
other factors which might affect the monitoring results; and
·
quality
assurance (QA) / quality control (QC) results and detection limits.
(vii)
report on non-compliance, complaints,
notifications of summons and successful prosecutions:
·
record
of all non-compliance (exceedances) of the environmental quality performance
limits (Action and Limit levels);
·
record
of all complaints received (written or verbal) for each media, including
locations and nature of complaints investigation, liaison and consultation
undertaken, actions and follow-up procedures taken, results and summary;
·
record
of all notification of summons and successful prosecutions for breaches of
current environmental protection / pollution control legislations, including
locations and nature of the breaches, investigation, follow-up actions taken,
results and summary;
·
review
of the reasons for and the implications of non-compliance, complaints, summons
and prosecutions including review of pollution sources and working procedures;
and
·
description
of the actions taken in the event of non-compliance and deficiency reporting
and any follow-up procedures related to earlier non-compliance.
(viii)
others:
·
compare
and contrast the EM&A data in the month with the EIA predictions and
annotate with explanation for any discrepancies;
·
an
account of the future key issues as reviewed from the works programme and work
method statements;
·
advice
on the solid and liquid waste management status during the month including
waste generation and disposal records; and
·
comments
including effectiveness of the environmental management systems, practices,
procedures, mitigation measures, recommendations (for example, any improvement
in the EM&A programme) and conclusions.
8.9 Subsequent monthly EM&A reports shall include the following:
(i)
executive summary (1 - 2 pages):
·
breaches
of Action and Limit levels;
·
complaints
log;
·
notifications
of any summons and successful prosecutions;
·
reporting
changes; and
·
future
key issues.
(ii)
environmental status:
·
construction
programme with fine tuning of construction activities showing the
inter-relationship with environmental protection / mitigation measures for the
month;
·
works
undertaken during the month with illustrations including key personnel contact
names and telephone numbers; and
·
drawing
showing the project area, any environmental sensitive receivers and the
locations of the monitoring and control stations.
·
Advice
on the status of statutory environmental compliance, the status of compliance
with environmental permit (EP) conditions under the EIA Ordinance, submission
status under the EP and implementation status of mitigation measures.
(iii)
implementation status:
·
advice
on the implementation status of environmental protection and pollution control
/ mitigation measures, as recommended in the Final EIA report, summarised in
the updated implementation schedule.
(iv)
monitoring results (in both hard and diskette
copies) together with the following information:
·
monitoring
methodology;
·
name
of laboratory and types of equipment used and calibration details;
·
parameters
monitored;
·
monitoring
locations (and depth);
·
monitoring
date, time, frequency, and duration;
·
weather
conditions during the period;
·
graphical
plots of the monitored parameters in the month annotated against;
-
the
major activities being carried out on site during the period;
-
weather
conditions that may affect the results; and
-
any
other factors which might affect the monitoring results.
·
any
other factors which might affect the monitoring results; and
·
quality
assurance (QA) / quality control (QC) results and detection limits.
(v)
report on non-compliance, complaints, and
notifications of summons and successful prosecutions:
·
record
of all non-compliance (exceedances) of the environmental quality performance
limits (Action and Limit levels);
·
record
of all complaints received (written or verbal) for each media, including
locations and nature of complaints investigation, liaison and consultation
undertaken, actions and follow-up procedures taken, results and summary;
·
record
of all notification of summons and successful prosecutions for breaches of
current environmental protection / pollution control legislations, including
locations and nature of the breaches, investigation, follow-up actions taken,
results and summary;
·
review
of the reasons for and the implications of non-compliance, complaints, summons
and prosecutions including review of pollution sources and working procedures;
and
·
description
of the actions taken in the event of non-compliance and deficiency reporting
and any follow-up procedures related to earlier non-compliance.
(vi)
others:
·
compare
and contrast the EM&A data in the month with the EIA predictions and
annotate with explanation for any discrepancies;
·
an
account of the future key issues as reviewed from the works programme and work
method statements;
·
advice
on the solid and liquid waste management status during the month including
waste generation and disposal records; and
·
comments
including effectiveness of the environmental management systems, practices,
procedures, mitigation measures, recommendations (for example, any improvement
in the EM&A programme) and conclusions.
(vii)
appendix
·
Action
and Limit levels;
·
graphical
plots of trends of monitored parameters at key stations over the past four
reporting periods for representative monitoring stations annotated against the
following:
-
major
activities being carried out on site during the period;
-
weather
conditions during the period; and
-
any
other factors that might affect the monitoring results.
·
monitoring
schedule for the present and next reporting period;
·
cumulative
statistics on complaints, notifications of summons and successful prosecutions;
·
outstanding
issues and deficiencies
Quarterly EM&A Summary Reports
8.10 A quarterly EM&A summary report of around five pages shall be produced and shall contain at least the following information. Apart from these, the first quarterly summary report should also confirm that the monitoring work is proving effective and that it is generating data with the necessary statistical power to categorically identify or confirm the absence of impact attributable to the works.
(i)
executive summary (1 - 2 pages);
(ii)
basic project information including a synopsis
of the project organisation, programme, contacts of key management, and a
synopsis of works undertaken during the quarter;
(iii)
a brief summary of EM&A requirements
including:
·
monitoring
parameters;
·
environmental
quality performance limits (Action and Limit levels); and
·
environmental
mitigation measures, as recommended in the Final EIA report.
(iv)
advice on the implementation status of
environmental protection and pollution control / mitigation measures, as
recommended in the Final EIA report, summarised in the updated implementation
schedule;
(v)
drawings showing the project area, any
environmental sensitive receivers and the locations of the monitoring and
control stations;
(vi)
graphical plots of the trends of monitored
parameters over the past four months (the last month of the previous quarter
and the present quarter) for representative monitoring stations annotated
against:
·
the
major activities being carried out on site during the period;
·
weather
conditions during the period; and
·
any
other factors which might affect the monitoring results.
(vii)
advice on the solid and liquid waste
management status during the quarter including waste generation and disposal
records;
(viii)
compare and contrast the EM&A data in the
month with the EIA predictions and annotate with explanation for any
discrepancies;
(ix)
a summary of non-compliance (exceedances) of
the environmental quality performance limits (Action and Limit levels);
(x)
a brief review of the reasons for and the
implications of non-compliance, including a
review of pollution sources and working procedures;
(xi)
a summary description of the actions taken in
the event of non-compliance and any follow-up procedures related to earlier
non-compliance;
(xii)
a summarised record of all complaints received
(written or verbal) for each media, liaison and consultation undertaken,
actions and follow-up procedures taken;
(xiii)
a summary record of notifications of summons
and successful prosecutions for breaches of the current environmental
protection / pollution control legislations, locations and nature of the
breaches, investigation, follow-up
actions taken and results;
(xiv)
comments (for examples, a review of the effectiveness
and efficiency of the mitigation measures and the performance of the
environmental management system, that is, of the overall EM&A programme);
recommendations (for example, any improvement in the EM&A programme) and
conclusions for the quarter; and
(xv)
proponents' contacts and any hotline telephone
number for the public to make enquiries.
8.11 The EM&A program shall be terminated upon completion of those construction activities that have the potential to result in a significant environmental impact.
8.12 Prior to the proposed termination, it may be advisable to consult relevant local communities (such as village representatives/communities and/or District Boards). The proposed termination should only be implemented after the proposal has been endorsed by the IC(E), the Engineer and the Project proponent followed by final approval from the Director of Environmental Protection.
8.13 The final EM&A report should contain at least the following information:
(i)
executive summary (1 - 2 pages);
(ii)
basic project information including a synopsis
of the project organisation, contacts of key management, and a synopsis of work
undertaken during the course of the project or past twelve months;
(iii)
a brief summary of EM&A requirements
including:
·
monitoring
parameters;
·
environmental
quality performance limits (Action and Limit levels); and
·
environmental
mitigation measures, as recommended in the Final EIA report.
(iv)
advice on the implementation status of
environmental protection and pollution control / mitigation measures, as
recommended in the Final EIA report, summarised in the updated implementation
status proformas;
(v)
drawings showing the project area, any
environmental sensitive receivers and the locations of the monitoring and
control stations;
(vi)
graphical plots of the trends of monitored
parameters over the course of the project, including the post-project
monitoring for all monitoring stations annotated against:
·
the
major activities being carried out on site during the period;
·
weather
conditions during the period; and
·
any
other factors which might affect the monitoring results;
·
the
return of ambient environmental conditions in comparison with baseline data;
(vii)
compare and contrast the EM&A data with
the EIA predictions and annotate with explanation for any discrepancies;
(viii)
provide clear-cut decisions on the
environmental acceptability of the project with reference to the specific
impact hypothesis;
(ix)
advice on the solid and liquid waste
management status including waste generation and disposal records;
(x)
a summary of non-compliance (exceedances) of
the environmental quality performance limits (Action and Limit levels);
(xi)
a brief review of the reasons for and the
implications of non-compliance including review of pollution sources and
working procedures;
(xii)
a summary description of the actions taken in
the event of non-compliance and any follow-up procedures related to earlier
non-compliance;
(xiii)
a summary record of all complaints received
(written or verbal) for each media, liaison and consultation undertaken,
actions and follow-up procedures taken;
(xiv)
review monitoring methodology adopted and with
the benefit of hindsight, comment on its effectiveness (including cost
effectiveness);
(xv)
a summary record of notifications of summons
and successful prosecutions for breaches of the current environmental
protection/pollution control legislations, locations and nature of breaches,
investigation, follow-up actions taken and results;
(xvi)
review the practicality and effectiveness of
the EIA process and EM&A programme (for examples, a review of the
effectiveness and efficiency of the mitigation measures and the performance of
the environmental management system, that is, of the overall EM&A
programme), recommendations (for example, any improvement in the EM&A
programme); and
(xvii)
a conclusion to state the return of ambient
and / or the predicted scenario as per EIA findings.
8.14 No site-based documents (such as monitoring field records, laboratory analysis records, site inspection forms, etc.) are required to be included in the monthly EM&A reports. However, any such document shall be well kept by the ET Leader and be ready for inspection upon request. All relevant information shall be clearly and systematically recorded in the document. Monitoring data shall also be recorded in electronic format, and the software copy must be available upon request. Data format shall be agreed with the EPD. All documents and data shall be kept for at least one year following completion of the construction contract.
Interim Notifications of Environmental Quality Limit Exceedances
8.15 With reference to the Event and Action Plan, when the environmental quality performance limits are exceeded, the ET Leader shall immediately notify the IC(E) and EPD, as appropriate. The notification shall be followed up with advice to IC(E) and EPD on the results of the investigation, proposed actions and success of the actions taken, with any necessary follow-up proposals. A sample template for the interim notifications is presented in Appendix C.