12 ENVIRONMENTAL mONITORING AND AUDIT
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Air Quality Impact
12.3 Noise Impact
12.4 Water Quality Impact
12.5 Waste Management
12.6 Land Contamination
12.7 Marine Ecology
12.8 Landscape and Visual
12.9 Cultural Heritage
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
·
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.
Construction Phase
12.2.1 The
construction work will inevitably lead to dust (TSP) emissions, mainly from
material handling and wind erosion.
No exceedance of hourly and
daily TSP criteria are predicted at air sensitive receivers (ASRs) in the
vicinity of work sites with four times daily watering on active work areas.
12.2.2 With
implementation of the proposed mitigation measures, dust suppression measures
stipulated in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation, good
site practices and comprehensive dust monitoring and audit, the dust impact
would be further diminished.
12.2.3 Dust
monitoring is recommended in the EM&A Manual to ensure the efficacy of the
control measures.
Operational Phase
12.2.4
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 Project
Construction Phase
12.3.1 Construction
noise impacts from this Project, in addition to the concurrent construction
tasks of other Schedule 2 designated projects could 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 need to be carried out to ensure that such mitigation
measures are implemented properly.
Operational Phase
12.3.2 No direct noise mitigation
measures are proposed for this Project, road traffic noise monitoring would not
be considered necessary.
Construction
Phase
12.4.1 The
potential water quality impacts arising from the proposed land-based
construction works for the road works have been assessed. It is predicted that there will not be
any insurmountable adverse impacts on marine water quality. With the implementation of the
recommended mitigation measures, it is anticipated that the identified water
quality impacts would be kept to within acceptable levels. Monitoring of marine water quality
during the construction phase is therefore not considered necessary for this site.
12.4.2 Regular
site audit shall be carried out during construction stage to ensure that no
adverse impact on the marine waters and seawater intakes in the vicinity; and
to scrutinize timely implementation of the recommended mitigating measures.
Operational Phase
12.4.3 No unacceptable water quality
impacts would be expected from the Project. No monitoring programme specific for
operational water quality would be required.
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 the recommended good waste management practices
and EPD’s regulations and requirements.
The mitigation measures recommended in Section 6 should form the basis
of the site Waste Management Plan to be developed by the Contractor at the
construction 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, 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 on a quarterly basis thereafter. In addition, the routine site
inspections should check the implementation of the recommended good site practices
and other waste management mitigation measures.
12.7.1
As no adverse impact on marine ecological resources
was identified, no monitoring programme specific for marine ecology would be
required.
Introduction
12.8.1
The EIA has recommended
landscape and visual mitigation measures to be undertaken during construction
and operation phases of the Project. This Section defines the EM&A
requirements to ensure the proposed landscape and visual impact mitigation
measures are effectively implemented.
12.8.2
The construction phase EM&A
of the landscape and visual environment and mitigation works shall be carried
out as part of the site audit programme. Specific EM&A during operation
phase of the Project is not required as long as the proposed mitigation
measures in the EIA and as depicted in the Landscape Mitigation Plan are fully
implemented.
Baseline
Monitoring
12.8.3
Baseline changes with respect
to the landscape and visual environments should be carried out in reference to
the recorded baseline conditions of the site as described in Section 10 of the
EIA. The monitoring should in particular record changes of each landscape
resource, landscape character area and the view conditions of each visually
sensitive receiver. Parameters used to describe changes in each of the above
should be the same as in Section 10 of the EIA.
12.8.4
The baseline monitoring should
be conducted as a one-off site survey prior to commencement of any construction
works.
Construction Phase
12.8.5
The proposed landscape and
visual mitigation measures for the construction phase are described in Sections
10 and 13. The measures are on-site
management measures to be undertaken by the Contractor. All mitigation measures
proposed in the EIA and implemented by the Contractor should be audited by a
landscape auditor, as a member of the Environmental Team, on a regular basis to
ensure compliance with the intended aims of the measures. Site inspection
should be undertaken at least once every two weeks throughout the construction
period.
12.8.6
In particular, the extent of
the agreed works areas should be regularly checked during the construction
phase. Any trespass by the Contractor outside the limit of the works, including
any damage to the existing trees, woodland and vegetation should be noted.
12.8.7
The landscape auditor should
also audit the proposed operation phase mitigation measures in the EIA and as
depicted in the Landscape Mitigation Plan to ensure that they are fully
implemented within the Project design and construction.
Operation Phase
12.8.8 The proposed landscape and visual mitigation measures for the
operation phase are described in Sections 10 and 13. The measures are design measures to be
incorporated in the detailed planning and design of the reclamation,
infrastructure and open spaces works.
Landscape mitigation measures would be subsequently managed and
maintained according to ETWB TCW 2/2004.
12.8.9 Monitoring of design works against the recommendations of the
landscape and visual impact assessment should be undertaken during the detailed
design to ensure that the mitigation measures are satisfactorily incorporated
into the design. Any changes to the
design, include design changes on site should also be checked.
12.9.1 There is no monitoring and audit
requirement for the marine archaeology.