7                                  Land Contamination

7.1                            Introduction

Demolition or relocation of a number of existing facilities will be required to accommodate the proposed emissions control facilities.  These existing facilities include:

·       the CPB Fuel Oil Day Tank (FODT) and associated pipe works connecting with fuel oil pump house (FOPH) and oil interceptor;

·       the Dangerous Goods (DG) stores; and

·       the Intermediate Pressure Reduction Station (IPRS), LPG compound and CO2 storage tanks.

The existing facilities indicated above were identified as potential sources of contamination following a walkthrough of the Project Areas on 16 November 2005.  A land contamination assessment was conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Study Brief.  This section describes the land contamination assessment and makes reference to the Contamination Assessment Plan (CAP), Contamination Assessment Report (CAR) and Remediation Action Plan (RAP) that were prepared.

7.2                            Legislative Requirements and Evaluation Criteria

The land contamination assessment was carried out following the methodology and procedures prescribed in the CAP, which made reference to the following documents published by EPD:

·       Practice Note for Professional Persons: Contaminated Land Assessment and Remediation (ProPECC PN 3/94); and

·       Guidance Notes for Investigation and Remediation Contaminated Site of Petrol Filling Stations, Boatyard and Car Repair/Dismantling Workshops.

The CAP was approved by the EPD in April 2006.  A copy of the approved CAP is included in Annex E.

7.3                            Land Contamination Assessment

7.3.1                      Site Investigation Programme

The land contamination assessment included soil and groundwater sampling, laboratory analyses for target parameters, preparation of the CAR and preparation of the RAP.  A copy of the CAR and the RAP is provided in Annex E.

The Site Investigation (SI) for the land contamination assessment was conducted within the Project Areas and comprised the following:

·       manual excavation and soil sampling at four trial pits (TP1 to TP4); and

·       soil boring by rotary drilling and sampling at eight locations (DH1 to DH8).

The SI programme also incorporated a field and laboratory quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) programme.  A total of eight soil samples and eight groundwater samples (exclusive of QA/QC samples) were collected from the Project Areas for laboratory analysis of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs).

7.3.2                      Site Investigation Results

The concentration of TPHs, including light diesel (C10-C14), heavy diesel (C15-C28) and heavy oil (C29-C36) fractions, in the soil sample collected at location TP3 and at 0.9 m below ground level (bgl) exceeded the Dutch “B” value but was below the Dutch “C” value.  No TPH contamination was detected in the soil collected from other sampling locations and therefore the contamination observed at TP3 was considered to be localised.

TPH (light diesel, heavy diesel and heavy oil) contamination at above Dutch “B” and “C” levels has been reported in all the groundwater samples (DH1 to DH8).  The TPH concentrations detected in the groundwater samples from DH1 and DH2 were primarily attributable to the light diesel and heavy diesel fractions.  TPH concentrations at DH3 to DH8 were primarily attributable to the heavy diesel and heavy oil fractions.  These TPH findings are all located on a well-established reclaimed area of CPB, which is far from sensitive use.

7.4                            Remedial Measures

Under the current engineering design, the level of the area in which TPH contamination in soil has been identified will need to be raised by filling to the same level as the surrounding ground and major excavation is not envisaged.  Any excavated contaminated soil should be remediated in accordance with the EPD’s Guidance Notes for Investigation and Remediation of Contaminated Sites of Petrol Filling Stations Boatyards, and Car/Repair/Dismantling Workshops.  Details of the remediation measures and procedures for TPH soil contamination recommended for the Site are provided in the RAP.

As groundwater is not abstracted for either domestic or industrial use at the Site and in the adjacent areas and taking into consideration the absence of free-floating products, human exposure to the contaminated groundwater may only occur during the construction of foundations for the emissions control facilities, eg excavation for the construction of bored piles.  If groundwater is encountered during the construction works and removal of groundwater from the work areas is required, the groundwater should be collected and recharged back to the underlying ground.

7.5                            Summary and Conclusion

With the implementation of the remedial measures in the RAP, the hazards and environmental impacts associated with the potential land and groundwater contamination are considered to be low.