The ex-Provisional Regional
Council (ex-PRC) understood that there was no beach facility at the east region
of the
Lung Mei is an easy
accessible location adjacent to a prominent leisure area, Tai Mei Tuk, with well-established facilities for holiday-makers
and water-based recreation activities, which has attracted many visitors, in
particular during public holidays. It is anticipated that the proposed bathing
beach would complement the facilities already provided in the Tai Mei Tuk area. It is also
noted that Drainage Services Department (DSD) plans to establish a new sewerage
system (under The Tolo Harbour
Sewerage of Unsewered Areas Stage I Phase IIC
(Agreement No. CE 18/94)) allowing the residents in Lung Mei to connect their sewers
to the public sewer. This public sewer
will deliver the sewage to the Tai Po STW for further treatment. It is anticipated that the sewerage system
will be completed prior to the operation of the Proposed
Beach Development. In addition, with the
gazette of the Tolo Harbour Sewerage of Unsewered Areas Stage I Phase IIC
(Agreement No. CE 18/94), as part of the Sewerage Master Plan (SMP) Works,
under Road (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinances as applied by Water
Pollution Control (Sewerage) Regulation, which covers Lung Mei area and is
scheduled to be completed before 2010, it is compulsory for any new development to connect
their sewers to the public sewer and resulting improvement of water
quality in the region. According to the information
provided by DSD, although the connection rate varies from village to village, a
60% connection rate would be more likely to be implemented.
The scope of the Project
as given in the Project Profile and in the Assignment Brief comprises:
a. a 200m long beach with a groyne at each end of the beach;
b.
a beach building with associated beach facilities,
including:
i. public
changing rooms and toilets;
ii. shower rooms;
iii. equipment /
machinery stores for catamarans, motorized boats, beach transporters, beach
cleansing and sand levelling machines, etc;
iv.
dangerous goods stores including paint and thinner for
painting maintenance as well as kerosene and petrol for operation of machinery;
and
v.
ancillary facilities including management office,
lookout/surveillance post, first aid room, staff changing room/toilets, staff
room/pantry, fast food kiosk, open seating out area, store rooms, etc;
c.
retaining structures;
d.
refuse collection point;
e.
outdoor shower facilities;
f.
lookout towers;
g.
shark prevention net;
h. a public car park including 113 fee-paying parking spaces for 100 private cars, 10 motorcycles and 3 coaches, 2 coach loading/unloading bays and 2 passenger car/taxi unloading bays;
i.
landscaped areas;
j.
drainage diversion of an existing box culvert and at Lo Tsz River; and
k. sewerage construction works; and
l. sand replenishment
during the operation phase for maintenance of the beach, when necessary, such
as after extreme storm conditions.
The location and general
layout of the bathing beach development is shown on Figure 1.1.
This Assignment is
classified as a Designated Project according to Items C.2 and C.12 of Part I,
Schedule 2 under the Environmental Impact
Assessment Ordinance (EIAO) and therefore, an Environmental Permit is
required under the EIAO. Port Works
Division (PWD) of Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) is the
project vote controller.
CEDD is also responsible for the overall planning, design and
civil engineering construction of the Project. However, Architectural Services
Department is responsible for design and construction of the beach building,
car park and landscaping works. On 26 May 2006, CEDD appointed Halcrow China
Limited (Halcrow), under Agreement No. CE 59/2005 (EP), to provide professional
services in respect of “Development of a Bathing Beach at Lung Mei, Tai Po –
Environmental, Drainage and Traffic Impact Assessments – Investigation”
(hereafter called “the Assignment”). Halcrow has appointed their
sub-consultant, Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to provide the
environmental services in respect of the Assignment.
Public consultations have been commenced in the early stages
of this Assignment and continuous throughout the Project Study, in order to
understand and address the public concerns of the preliminary designs related
to the Bathing Beach Development. The
consultation parties included green groups, fisherman societies, Tai Po
District Council and the general public through the District Office (Tai
Po). The major concerns comprise of
potential environmental impacts during construction and operation of the
proposed beach, long-term traffic impact arsing from the proposed development
and drainage impact on the existing natural stream “Lo Tsz
River”. The key environmental comments
received and the proposed measures in the studies and designs are summarised Table 1.1 below:
Table 1.1 Summary of Key
Environmental Comments and Proposed Measures
|
Comments |
Proposed Measures in Studies and
Design |
|
Beach Development ·
Concern on the permanent lose in natural habitats
due to the bathing beach development. ·
Concern on increase in the reclamation area of 1.02ha, which
has been approved through the Planning Board in 2006. |
Beach Development ·
Alternative to the Project should be detail assessed in
the studies. If it cannot be avoided,
any alternatives to designs and construction works should be investigated to avoid/minimise
any adverse environmental impacts.
(Please refer to Section 2 for the details) ·
The initial beach requirements and facilities have been
reviewed with LCSD. Moreover, building
and car park layouts are optimized to minimise the reclamation requirement. There is no change of reclamation area
(Please refer to Section 2 for alternative to layout option) |
|
Water Quality ·
Concern on water quality at Lung Mei during beach
operation.
·
Connection percentage of the DSD’s
“Tolo Harbour Sewerage of
Unsewered
Areas Stage I Phase IIC” would affect the long-term water quality of the
proposed bathing beach. ·
Potential impacts on the nearby fisheries and marine
ecology during dredging and sandfilling operations |
Water Quality ·
A DSD’s “Tolo
Harbour Sewerage of Unsewered Areas Stage I Phase
IIC” project has been tentatively scheduled for completion by 2010 to cover
the village areas in proximity of the proposed beach development at Lung
Mei. The purpose of the DSD project is
to connect the existing improper sewerage discharge and improve the water
quality in the ·
The connection percentage assumption in water quality
impact assessment would be established based on the DSD past project
experiences. Moreover, a sensitive
analysis would be carried out to simulate different scenarios of the
connection percentages. ·
As advised by the fisherman societies, the dredging works
has been scheduled to be conducted in the period of December to January. Moreover, the proposed water quality monitoring
stations have been agreed with the fisherman societies. Close
coordination/liaisons with the stakeholders would be also maintained during
construction. The potential water quality impacts arising from
the proposed construction works would be assessed and any mitigation
measures, such as installation of silt curtain, would be recommended as
necessary. (Please refer to Section
6 for the details) |
|
Drainage Diversion Scheme for Downstream of Existing Lo Tsz River ·
Disagree to combined the drainage diversion works for Lo
Tsz River and the existing box culvert due to the potential poor water
quality of runoff n the box culvert; ·
Suggest to leave the existing estuary of Lo Tsz River in
place and no works to be proposed there; ·
Concern on the effect on the many mangroves in the area. |
Drainage Diversion Scheme for Downstream of Existing Lo Tsz River
·
The combined drainage diversion option has been cancelled
in the early investigation stage and separate drainage diversion works for Lo
Tsz River and the existing box culvert have been adopted; · No works are proposed to the estuary of Lo Tsz River; ·
The ecological survey showed that the Project Site located
away from the mangrove habitats (approximately 500 m) but there were some
mangrove seedlings found in the concerned area and any potential impacts
would be assessed in this EIA study. (Please refer to Section 8 for details). |
|
Landscape Issue ·
Suggest the preservation of existing native trees but there
is no need for the exotic trees, as they will be difficult to maintain; ·
Suggest the inclusion of some tree species with fruits in
the landscape proposal to provide food for birds; ·
Recommend monitoring of Mikania
micrantha (薇金菊) to avoid any overgrowth and as
such, protect other species in the western open channel areas. |
Landscape Issue ·
Suggestion has been taken into account in the landscape
proposal; ·
Tree species with fruits would be included in the
proposal. ·
Recommendations for monitoring of Mikania
micrantha would be included in the
EIA report. |
|
Beach Stability ·
Concerns about the beach stability due to typhoon
influences. |
Beach Stability ·
The beach site is preferred to be well sheltered with low
tidal current. Moreover, the shoreline
stability would be confirmed by modelling in this Assignment. |
In the light of the Public concerns, alternatives to the
Project, designs and construction methods have been assessed, taking into
account practicality, reliability, cost-effectiveness and environmental and
social acceptability of the study options.
Details will be further discussed in Section
2.
1.3 Purpose and
Objective of this EIA Report
The purpose of this EIA Study is to provide information on
the nature and extent of environmental impacts arising from the construction
and operation of the development of a bathing beach at Lung Mei, Tai Po and all
related activities taking place concurrently.
The specific objectives for the EIA Study are set out in the
EIA Study Brief (No. ESB-138/2006),
as listed below:
a. To describe the Project and associated works together with
the requirements for carrying out the Project;
b. To
identify and describe elements of community and environment likely to be
affected by the Project and/or likely to cause adverse impacts to the Project,
including natural and man-made environment and the associated environmental
constraints;
c. To
provide information on the consideration of alternatives to avoid and minimize
potential environmental impacts to environmentally sensitive areas and other
sensitive uses; to compare the environmental benefits and dis-benefits
of each of different options; to provide reasons for selecting the preferred
option(s) and to describe the part environmental factors played in the
selection of preferred option(s);
d. To
identify and quantify emission sources and determine the significance of
impacts on sensitive receivers and potential affected uses;
e. To
identify and quantify any potential landscape and visual impacts and to propose
measures to mitigate these impacts;
f. To
propose provision of mitigation measures so as to minimize pollution,
environmental disturbance & nuisance during construction & operation of
Project;
g. To
investigate the feasibility, practicability, effectiveness and implications of
the proposed mitigation measures;
h. To
identify, predict and evaluate the residual environmental impacts (i.e. after
practicable mitigation) and the cumulative effects expected to arise during the
construction and operation phases of the Project in relation to the sensitive
receivers and potential affected uses;
i. To identify, assess and specify methods, measures and
standards, to be included in the detailed design, construction and operation of
the Project which are necessary to mitigate these environmental impacts and
cumulative effects and reduce them to acceptable levels;
j. To
investigate the extent of the secondary environmental impacts that may arise
from the proposed mitigation measures and to identify constraints associated
with the mitigation measures recommended in the EIA study, as well as the
provision of any necessary modification; and
k. To
design and specify environmental monitoring and audit requirements to ensure
the effective implementation of the recommended environmental protection and
pollution control measures.
1.4
Structure of this EIA
Report
Structure of this report is divided in the following
sections:
·
Section 2 discusses on the consideration of alternatives
·
Section 3 describes the Project Description
·
Section 4 presents
the Air Quality Impact Assessment
·
Section 5 presents the Noise Impact Assessment
·
Section 6 discusses on the Waste Management Implications
·
Section 7 presents the Water Quality Impact Assessment
·
Section 8 presents
the Ecological Impact Assessment
·
Section 9 presents the Fisheries Impact Assessment
·
Section 10 presents the Landscape and Visual Impact
Assessment
·
Section 11 discusses the Summary of Environmental Outcomes
·
Section 12 contains the Environmental Monitoring and Audit
Requirements
