12                ENVIRONMENTAL mONITORING AND AUDIT

12.1          Introduction

12.1.1      This section further elaborates the requirements of EM&A for the construction and operation of the Project, based on the assessment results of various environmental issues.

12.1.2      The objectives of carrying out EM&A for the Project include the following:

·       to provide a database against which any short or long term environmental impacts of the Project can be determined;

·       to provide an early indication should any of the environmental control measures or practices fail to achieve the acceptable standards;

·       to monitor the performance of the Project and the effectiveness of mitigation measures;

·       to verify the environmental impacts predicted in this EIA;

·       to determine project compliance with regulatory requirements, standards and government policies;

·       to take remedial action if unexpected problems or unacceptable impacts arise; and

·       to provide data to enable an environmental audit.

12.1.3      The following sections summarise the recommended EM&A requirements.  Details of EM&A are provided in a stand-alone EM&A Manual.

12.2          Air Quality Impact

Construction Phase

12.2.1      The construction work will inevitably lead to dust (TSP) emissions, mainly from excavation, truck haulage and material handling.  It is predicted that the dust generated will exceed the hourly and daily criteria of 500 mg m-3 and 260 mg m-3, respectively, at air sensitive receivers (ASRs) from Central to Causeway Bay.

12.2.2      Mitigation measures have been proposed and presented in Section 3.8.  With implementation of the proposed dust suppression measures, good site practices and comprehensive dust monitoring and audit, the TSP levels at all ASRs will comply with the dust criteria.

12.2.3      Dust monitoring requirements will be recommended in the EM&A Manual to ensure the efficacy of the control measures.

Operational Phase

12.2.4      As presented in Section 3.7, there will be no exceedance of AQOs at the sensitive receivers.  No mitigation measures or environmental monitoring are considered necessary during the operation phase of the WDII.

12.3          Noise Impact

Construction Phase

12.3.1      Construction noise impacts from this Project, in addition to the concurrent construction tasks of other projects, including CRIII and CWB & IECL projects, would be expected at the NSRs identified in this EIA.  Appropriate mitigation measures are required in order to alleviate the impacts to meet the EIAO-TM criteria.  Noise monitoring during construction phase will have to be carried out to ensure that such mitigation measures have been implemented properly.

12.3.2      All construction activities will be carried out during the daytime (between 0700 and 1900 hours) and dredging and marine works will be carried out during restricted hours (1900 to 2300).  Noise measurement should be undertaken at all monitoring station for a 30-minute period during the daytime and a 5-minute period during restricted hours when the noisiest activities are being carried out.  Type 1 sound level meters, which comply with the International Electrochemical Commission (Publications 651:1979 and 804:1985), must be used for carrying out the noise measurement.

12.3.3      Ad hoc noise monitoring should also be carried out if necessary.  To establish the prevailing background noise level, one Leq (30 minutes), obtained between 0700 and 1900 hours of a normal weekday, and three consecutive Leq (5 minutes) measurements, obtained from each monitoring period (between 1900 and 2300 hours; and between 2300 and 0700 hours), are required.

12.3.4      Baseline monitoring to establish the background noise environment will be required and should be carried out for at least 14 consecutive days prior to the commencement of the Project.  During the construction phase, impact monitoring will be required in order to assess whether or not operations on site are in compliance with construction noise criteria stipulated in EIAO-TM or requirements in the Environmental Permit.  Detail monitoring requirements are addressed in a stand-alone EM&A Manual.

Operational Phase

12.3.5      According to the assessment results, no adverse impact from the Project is expected on the representative NSRs.  Therefore, EM&A for operational noise impact is not required.

12.4          Water Quality Impact

Construction Phase

12.4.1      A water quality monitoring and audit programme will be conducted during dredging and filling operations to verify whether or not impact predictions are representative, and to ensure that the dredging and filling operations do not result in unacceptable impacts.  When monitoring shows unacceptable water quality impact, appropriate mitigation measures, such as changes in the operation of marine works, will be introduced.

12.4.2      Details of the EM&A programme will be presented in the EM&A Manual, which will be released as a separate document.   Water quality monitoring will be carried out at selected potentially affected sensitive receivers.  The Manual includes site-specific monitoring and auditing protocols for baseline and all stages of the dredging operations.  Such protocols include but are not limited to the locations of monitoring stations, parameters and frequencies for monitoring, monitoring equipment, data management procedures, and reporting of monitoring results.

12.4.3      Environmental audit specifications will be developed for all phases of the works, including procedures to ensure compliance with mitigation measures, environmental quality performance limits, and procedures for reviewing results and auditing compliance with specified performance limits.

Operational Phase

12.4.4      As adverse water quality impact will not be generated from the operation of the WDII Project (Section 5.7), operational water quality monitoring and audit is not considered necessary.

12.5          Waste Management

12.5.1      Waste management will be the contractor’s responsibility to ensure that all wastes produced during the construction of the Project are handled, stored and disposed of in accordance with good waste management practices and EPD’s regulations and requirements.  The mitigation measures recommended in Section 6.7 should form the basis of the site Waste Management Plan to be developed by the Contractor at the detailed design stage.

12.5.2      It is recommended that the waste arisings generated during the construction activities should be audited periodically 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, transport and disposal.  An appropriate audit programme would be to undertake a first audit near the commencement of the construction works, and then to audit quarterly thereafter.

12.6          Land Contamination

12.6.1      The requirements for EM&A with respect to land contamination, if necessary, should be determined upon completion of all relevant site investigation works. 

12.7          Terrestrial Ecology

12.7.1      As no specific mitigation measures will be required for the potential terrestrial ecological impacts to preserve ecological resources in the study area, terrestrial ecological monitoring and auditing will not be required.

12.8          Marine Ecology

12.8.1      As no specific mitigation measures will be required for the potential marine ecological impacts to preserve ecological resources in the study area, marine ecological monitoring and auditing will not be required.

12.1          Landscape and Visual

Construction Phase

12.1.1      The construction of three Schedule 2 Designated Projects (reclamation works, WDII major roads and Kellett Island Marina) and the Schedule 3 project would give rise to landscape and visual impacts varying from slight to substantial significance. 

12.1.2      The landscape and visual mitigation measures for the construction phase for each of the three Schedule 2 Designated Projects and the Schedule 3 project are described in Section 10.  The measures are on-site management measures to be undertaken by the contractor.  Monitoring of the Contractor to ensure that the measures are carried out properly should be undertaken by TDD’s resident site staff.

Operational Phase

12.1.3      The operation of each of the three Schedule 2 Designated Projects and the Schedule 3 WDII Project would give rise to landscape and visual impacts varying from moderate negative to moderate beneficial.

12.1.4      The proposed landscape and visual mitigation measures for each of the three Schedule 2 Designated Projects and the Schedule 3 project are described in Section 10.  The measures are design measures to be incorporated in the detailed planning and design of the reclamation, infrastructure and open space works.  Landscape mitigation measures would be subsequently managed and maintained according to WBTC 18/94, subject to possible amendment if a Harbour Waterfront Authority is created.

12.1.5      Independent checking of the design should be undertaken to ensure that the mitigation measures are satisfactorily incorporated into the design.  The resident site staff teams on individual contracts should include landscape and / or horticultural specialists to ensure that the hard and soft landscape measures are properly implemented during construction.

12.2          Biogas

12.2.1      An assessment has been made of the potential biogas risk associated with the reclamation at the western and eastern corners of the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter where mud will be left in place.  As sensitive ‘at risk’ rooms may be present at the proposed developments at the western and eastern corners of the typhoon shelter, both at ground level and below ground, a precautionary principle should be applied.  It is therefore recommended that monitoring of gas emission rates should be undertaken at the proposed development areas in the immediate post-reclamation period to determine actual rates of methane gas emissions.  The results of the gas monitoring should be reviewed to determine the extent of gas protection measures to be incorporated in the detailed design of the proposed developments.  Details of the recommendations for methane gas monitoring are given in the EM&A Manual.