5.2 Relevant Legislations, Standards & Guidelines

5.4 Recognized Site of Conservation Importance

5.5 Existing Ecological Baseline Condition

5.6 Evaluation of Ecological Values

5.7 Impact Identification

5.8 Impact Evaluation

5.9 Mitigation Measures

5.10 Cumulative and Residual Impact

5.11 Environmental Monitoring and Audit Requirements

5.12 Summary

5.13 References

List of Figures

Figure 5.1	Verification Survey Transect at Sung Shan New Village
Figure 5.2	Verification Survey Transect at Tai Wo
Figure 5.3	Verification Survey Transect at Lin Fa Tei
Figure 5.4	Verification Survey Transect at Ha Che
Figure 5.5	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Sung Shan New Village
Figure 5.6	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Tai Wo
Figure 5.7a	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Lin Fa Tei (Sheet 1 of 2)
Figure 5.7b	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Lin Fa Tei (Sheet 2 of 2)
Figure 5.8a	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Ha Che (Sheet 1 of 2)
Figure 5.8b	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Ha Che (Sheet 2 of 2)
Figure 5.9	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Sung Shan New Village
Figure 5.10	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Tai Wo
Figure 5.11a	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Lin Fa Tei (Sheet 1 of 2)
Figure 5.11b	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Lin Fa Tei (Sheet 2 of 2)
Figure 5.12a	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Ha Che (Sheet 1 of 2)
Figure 5.12b	Updated Habitat map and locations of flora and non-bird fauna species of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area and Identified Site boundary (updated to 2019) at Ha Che (Sheet 2 of 2)
Figure 5.13	Potential Loss of Watercourse Habitat Outside the Site Boundary at Sung Shan New Village
Figure 5.14	Potential Loss of Watercourse Habitat Outside the Site Boundary at Tai Wo
Figure 5.15	Potential Loss of Watercourse Habitat Outside the Site Boundary at Lin Fa Tei
Figure 5.16	Potential Loss of Watercourse Habitat Outside the Site Boundary at Ha Che
Figure 5.17	Illustration of vegetative elements in greening design
Figure 5.18	Profiles of original watercourse and proposed green channel at Sung Shan New Village
Figure 5.19	Profiles of original watercourse and proposed green channel at Lin Fa Tei
Figure 5.20	Profiles of original watercourse and proposed green channel at Ha Che
Figure 5.21	Indicative Locations and Conceptual Details of Proposed Escape Ramp

List of Appendices

Appendix 5-1	Baseline Ecological Survey Report
Appendix 5-2	Supplementary Report on Nesting Activities at Ha Che Egretry

5. Ecological Impact Assessment

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1. This Section describes briefly the ecological baseline of the Study Area established in the Ecological Baseline Survey Report (EBSR) prepared by an ecological survey contractor employed by DSD, and based on the latest available engineering information during the time of reporting and the principle as prescribed in the applicable EIAO-TM, the severity of the potential ecological impact that could be resulted from this drainage improvement project has been assessed and evaluated; and wherever necessary practical and feasible ecological mitigation measures has also been recommended, according to the EIA Study Brief No. ESB-279/2014.

5.2 Relevant Legislations, Standards & Guidelines

5.2.1. The HKSAR ordinances and regulations relevant to this ecological impact assessment include the following:

· Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208) and its subsidiary legislation;

· Forests and Countryside Ordinance (Cap. 96) and its subsidiary legislation, the Forestry Regulations (Cap. 96A);

· Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131);

· Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (WAPO, Cap. 170);

· Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586); and

· Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance ("the EIAO", Cap. 499) and the associated TM (EIAO-TM), in particular Annexes 8 and 16.

5.2.2. This ecological impact assessment has also made reference to the following guidelines and standards as well as international conventions:

· Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG) Chapter 10, Conservation”;

· Planning, Environment & Lands Branch (PELB) Technical Circular 1/97 / Works Branch Technical Circular 4/97, “Guidelines for Implementing the Policy on Off-site Ecological Mitigation Measures”;

· Relevant wildlife protection laws of the People’s Republic of China;

· International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species;

· EIAO Guidance Note No. 6/2010 - Some Observations on Ecological Assessment from the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance Perspective;

· EIAO Guidance Note No. 7/2010 – Ecological Baseline Survey for Ecological Assessment;

· EIAO Guidance Note No. 10/2010 – Methodologies for Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecological Baseline Survey

· EIAO Guidance Note No. 5/2010 - Implementation Schedule for Mitigation Measures arising from the Environmental Impact Assessment Process;

· DSD Technical Circular No. 2/2004 Protection of Natural Rivers and Streams from Adverse Impacts Arising from Construction Works; and

· DSD Practice Note No. 1/2015 Guidelines on Environmental and Ecological Considerations for River Channel Design.

5.3 Study Approach

5.3.1. The ecological baseline and the ecological value of the identified habitat/species within the Study Area were established through extensive literature review as well as the information collected from a 7 months ecological survey that covered the dry and wet seasons in 2015 (between January and July) by a DSD’s contractor, and the detail findings of this study has been documented in an EBSR and attached in Appendix 5-1 of this document. In addition, a verification survey has been undertaken in April 2019 to validate the survey findings from a habitat perspective, and wherever applicable any significant findings have been highlighted in Section 5.5 below. Based on the project’s work scope and the construction process that would be involved in the project, the source and nature of the potential ecological impact were identified and evaluated against the criteria as recommended in Annex 8 and Annex 16 of the EIAO-TM.

Study Area

5.3.2. According to the EIA Study Brief No. ESB-279/2014, the Study Area for terrestrial ecological impact assessment includes all areas within 500 meters distance from the site boundary of the Project and the area likely to be impacted. The drainage improvement works under this project will cover 4 rural villages, namely Sung Shan New Village, Tai Wo, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che, and the Study Area for each of the village has been delineated by making reference to the preliminary layout of the site boundary identified at the time of the baseline study, and presented in the Figures 1 to 4 of the EBSR attached in Appendix 5-1 (in which the “preliminary site boundary” has been referred as “work limit boundary” throughout the EBSR).

Sung Shan New Village

5.3.3. The proposed project area/work site is located on a watercourse to the southeast of Tai Shu Ha Road East and the Tai Shu Ha nullah; and the Study Area covers Tong Tau Po Tsuen at the northwest, Sung Shan New Village at the east, Tai Shu Ha Road West at the south and Nam Hang Tsuen at the west.

Tai Wo

5.3.4. The proposed project area/work site is located between Cheung Po and Tai Wo, and also passes through the village environ of the latter. The Study Area covers part of the Yuen Long San Tsuen at the north, a small area of Tai Lam Country Park at the southeast and south, and Tai Kek at the west. The Cheung Po Ecologically Important Stream (EIS) is also located within the Study Area and approximately 50m from the project area.

Lin Fa Tei

5.3.5. The proposed project area/work sites at Lin Fa Tei cover several locations around Lin Fa Tei, including a section of Kam Sheung Road, a rectangular channel within the village and paralleled with Kam Sheung Road, and also a watercourse, which is a tributary of Kam Tin River, south of Lin Fa Tei. The Study Area covers Shui Lau Tin at the north, Lai Uk Tsuen at the east, Ngau Keng at the south and Seasons Palace at the west.

Ha Che

5.3.6. The proposed project area/work site is on a watercourse in between A Kung Tin (at the north) and Fu Hing Garden (at the south); and the Study Area covers part of Lam Tsuen Country Park at the northwest to east, Wang Toi Shan San Tsuen at the south and Ha Che at the west.

Literature Review

5.3.7. In accordance with Section 4 (i) of the Appendix D of EIA Study Brief, the ecological survey contractor has undertaken an extensive literature review to collate all available information regarding the ecological characteristics of the Study Areas as such to provide the ecological baseline information and identify any information gaps relating to the assessment of potential ecological impacts to the terrestrial and aquatic environment. The reviewed material including but not limited to previous EIA reports, newsletters on local ecological resources such as “Connections” from Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG), “Hong Kong Biodiversity” from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), “Porcupine!” from the Department of Ecology & Biodiversity of the University of Hong Kong, Memoirs of Hong Kong Natural History Society, publications from The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, as well as information included in the AFCD’s biodiversity database and recorded of the AFCD’s Territory-wide Biodiversity Surveys, etc. A full list could be found in the Section 4 of the EBSR and it is contained in Appendix 5-1.

Ecological Field Survey

5.3.8. A seven months ecological field survey was commenced in January 2015 and completed in July 2015 to cover both of the wet and dry seasons of this year, during which habitat and vegetation surveys have been conducted to delineate the distribution and identify the characteristics of different terrestrial habitats within the Study Areas (such as size, vegetation type, species present, dominant species found, species diversity and abundance, community structure, ecological value and inter-dependence of the habitats and species), and wildlife survey of the following terrestrial faunal groups have also been undertaken to validate/supplement the information collated from the literature review, including mammal, avifauna, herpetofauna, odonate, butterfly, as well as freshwater fish and aquatic invertebrate. Representative photographs of the habitat types and/or any important ecological features identified were taken and presented in the EBSR. In addition, egretry survey covered nest count and flight line has also been undertaken in the Ha Che Egretry.

5.3.9. Standard ecological survey methodology and techniques such as survey transect and point survey have been adopted in the Study; and the target species groups were surveyed during periods of known or peak activity to collect representative baseline information. The detailed methodologies of the ecological survey including the surveyed/sampled locations are presented in Section 5 and Figures 1 to 4 of the EBSR; and the detail survey program is shown in Table 5-1 below for information.

5.3.10. Furthermore, by adopting a habitat approach, a verification survey, supplemented with a literature review for latest available information on the ecological condition of the project area, has also been undertaken in April 2019 to validate the findings presented in the EBSR and update the habitat map with the latest site boundary for all of the 4 villages, and during which any species of conservation concern if noted have also been recorded and included in the assessment (see Figures 5.1 to 5.4 for the survey transect of the verification work, and Figures 5.5 to 5.12b for the updated habitat maps - which superseded the habitat maps (Figures 5 to 8) included in the EBSR).

Table 5-1 Baseline Ecological Survey Program

	Dry Season (2015)			Wet Season (2015)
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
*Sung Shan New Village*
Habitat and Vegetation Survey		ü	ü				ü
Mammal Survey (day-time)			ü	ü		ü
Mammal Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Bird Survey (day-time)		ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Bird Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Herpetofauna Survey (day-time)			ü	ü		ü
Herpetofauna Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Odonates and Butterfly Survey		ü		ü		ü
Freshwater Fish Survey		ü		ü	ü
Aquatic Invertebrate Survey		ü		ü		ü
*Tai Wo*
Habitat and Vegetation Survey		ü	ü				ü
Mammal Survey (day-time)			ü	ü		ü
Mammal Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Bird Survey (day-time)		ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Bird Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Herpetofauna Survey (day-time)			ü	ü		ü
Herpetofauna Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Odonates and Butterfly Survey		ü		ü		ü
Freshwater Fish Survey		ü		ü	ü	(ü)	(ü)
Aquatic Invertebrate Survey		ü		ü	ü	(ü)	(ü)
*Lin Fa Tei*
Habitat and Vegetation Survey	ü	ü					ü
Mammal Survey (day-time)			ü		ü	ü
Mammal Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Bird Survey (day-time)		ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Bird Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Herpetofauna Survey (day-time)			ü		ü	ü
Herpetofauna Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Odonates and Butterfly Survey		ü		ü		ü
Freshwater Fish Survey		ü		ü	ü	(ü)
Aquatic Invertebrate Survey		ü		ü	(ü)	(ü)	ü
*Ha Che*
Habitat and Vegetation Survey		ü					ü
Mammal Survey (day-time)			ü		ü	ü
Mammal Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Bird Survey (day-time)		ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü
Bird Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Herpetofauna Survey (day-time)			ü		ü	ü
Herpetofauna Survey (night-time)			ü			ü
Odonates and Butterfly Survey		ü		ü		ü
Freshwater Fish Survey		ü		ü	ü
Aquatic Invertebrate Survey		ü		ü		ü
Ha Che Egretry Survey				ü	ü	ü	ü

Key: (ü) represents surveys at the proposed new sampling points for aquatic fauna.

5.4 Recognized Site of Conservation Importance

5.4.1. The distribution of Recognized Site of Conservation Importance located within the Study Area has been identified during the ecological baseline study as shown in Figures 1 to 4 of Appendix 5-1, and the following section provides a brief account of those areas in each of the Study Area.

Sung Shan New Village

Conservation Area (CA)

5.4.2. A Conservation Area (CA) is located at the northeast and southeast of the Study Area. These areas are zoned as CA under the approved Tai Tong OZP No. S/YL-TT/17. This zoning is intended to protect and retain the existing natural landscape, ecological or topographical features of the area for conservation, educational and research purposes and to separate sensitive natural environment such as Country Park from the adverse effects of development. Generally, there is a presumption against development in this zoning; only developments that are required to support the conservation of the existing natural landscape or scenic quality or are essential infrastructure with overriding public interest may be permitted. The CA is located approximately 100m from the work site boundary.

Tai Wo

Cheung Po Ecologically Important Stream (EIS)

5.4.3. A section of a watercourse to the southeast of Cheung Po was listed as an Ecologically Important Stream (EIS (AFCD 2015a)). This Cheung Po EIS is entirely within the Study Area of this Project. According to Chan (2001), the Cheung Po EIS is a relatively unpolluted lowland stream inhabited with a diverse fish fauna including several locally rare freshwater fish species, and considered to be the most ecologically important stream in the Northwest New Territories. This EIS is approximately 50m from the work site boundary.

Conservation Area (CA)

5.4.4. Under the draft Kam Tin South OZP No. S/YL-KTS/12, the planning intention of this zoning is to protect and retain the existing natural landscape, ecological or topographical features of the area for conservation, educational and research purposes and to separate sensitive natural environment such as Country Park from the adverse effects of development. There is a presumption against development in this zoning in general. Only development, such as, essential infrastructure with overriding public interest or those that are required to support the conservation of the existing natural landscape or scenic quality, may be permitted. The CA is approximately 150m from the work site boundary.

Tai Lam Country Park

5.4.5. Tai Lam Country Park is the second largest country park in Hong Kong (AFCD 2015d), and part of it (~ 8.95 ha) is located approximately 300m south of the work site at Tai Wo and hence fall within the Study Area. A mix of exotic and native vegetation species is recorded in this Country Park, including Acacia confusa, Castanopsis fissa, Eucalyptus robusta, Machilus spp. and Pinus massoniana. The forests in this Country Park provide habitats for a variety of wildlife, such as, mammals (Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla, Leopard Cat, Red Muntjac Muntiacus muntjak), amphibians (Hong Kong Cascade Frog Amolops hongkongensis, Asiatic Painted Frog and Green Cascade Frog Odorrana chloronota), and reptiles (Chinese Cobra Naja atra, Reeves’ Smooth Skink Scincella reevesii and Bicoloured Stream Snake Opisthotropis lateralis). Fish species, such as, Horse-mouth Chub Opsariichthys bidens and Rice Fish Oryzias curvinotus were also recorded. (Details refer to Section 3.2.3 of the EBSR).

Ho Pui Egretry

5.4.6. The Ho Pui Egretry was located to the northwest of Ho Pui Village and the Kam Tin Secondary Drainage Channel KT13 (B&V, 2006), which is outside of, but close to, the 500m Study Area of the current study. Before the abandonment of this egretry in 2005 (Anon, 2005), a maximum of 10 nests of Eastern Cattle Egrets on bamboo stands were observed (Anon, 2004). This location is approximately 600m from the work site boundary.

Ma On Kong Egretry

5.4.7. Ma On Kong Egretry was located to the east of Toll Gate of Route No. 3 and to the south of the Pat Heung Road. This egretry has been abandoned since 2009 (Anon, 2009). Chinese Pond Heron and Little Egret were recorded in this egretry and a maximum of 18 nests were recorded between 2000 and 2008 (Anon, 2006). The location of this abandoned egretry is approximately 900m from the work site boundary.

Lin Fa Tei

Conservation Area (CA)

5.4.8. An area at the southeast of the Study Area is zoned as CA. Under the approved Shek Kong OZP No. S/YL-SK/9, the planning intention of this zoning is to protect and retain the existing natural landscape, ecological or topographical features of the area for conservation, educational and research purposes and to separate sensitive natural environment such as Country Park from the adverse effects of development. There is a presumption against development in this zoning in general. Only development, such as, essential infrastructure with overriding public interest or those that are required to support the conservation of the existing natural landscape or scenic quality, may be permitted. The CA is located at approximately 100m from the work site boundary.

Tai Lam Country Park

5.4.9. Tai Lam Country Park is the second largest country park in Hong Kong (AFCD, 2015d) and is described in Section 5.4.5. The Country Park is just outside the 500m Study Area.

Ha Che

Conservation Area (CA)

5.4.10. Conservation Area has been zoned within the Study Area in the approved Pat Heung OZP No. S/YL-PH/11, and the planning intention of this zoning is to protect and retain the existing natural landscape, ecological or topographical features of the area for conservation, educational and research purposes and to separate sensitive natural environment such as Country Park from the adverse effects of development. There is a presumption against development in this zoning in general. Only development, such as, essential infrastructure with overriding public interest or those that are required to support the conservation of the existing natural landscape or scenic quality, may be permitted. The CA is approximately 50m from the work site boundary.

Ha Che Egretry

5.4.11. Ha Che Egretry is located at approximately 100m from the site boundary and was identified for the first time in the breeding season of 2002 (Wong, 2002), and a maximum of 45 nests from Chinese Pond Heron and Little Egret in a single breeding season has been recorded in this egretry between 2002 and 2014 (Anon, 2013). More information about this egretry is presented in Section 4.4.6 of the EBSR. Since the completion of the ecological baseline survey in 2015, the Ha Che Egretry was recorded with a total of 24, 23, 22, 15 and 1 nests in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively during the annual egretry counts undertaken by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (Anon, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019) (see Table 5-2 below); but in 2018 the active nests were found abandoned in June and only 1 nest was recorded in 2019 during the monitoring programme, despite it was also reported that 4 nests of Chinese Pond Heron were recorded by AFCD at this colony outside this monitoring programme.

Table 5-2 Ardeids Recorded Nesting in the Ha Che Egretry from 2014 - 2019

Year	Little Egret	Chinese Pond Heron	Total
2014	4	31	35
2015	-	24	24
2016	2	21	23
2017	2	20	22
2018	-	15	15
2019	-	1(4*)	1(4*)

*Recorded by AFCD outside the HKBWS’s monitoring programme

Lam Tsuen Country Park

5.4.1. Lam Tsuen Country Park is designated in 1979 (AFCD 2015c) and this country park is planted with Machilus spp., Acacia confusa, Lophostemon confertus (AFCD, 2015c) and supports a variety of wildlife, such as the mammals East Asian Porcupine Hystrix brachyura, Small-toothed Ferret Badger Melogale moschata, Chinese Pangolin and Leopard Cat, the birds Chinese Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-rumped Munia, and butterfly Common Mormon, Eurema sp., Red Helen, etc. (AFCD, 2015c). Part of this country park (16.48 ha) is located at the edge of the 500m Study Area of this work site (Details refer to Section 3.4.3 of the EBSR).

5.5 Existing Ecological Baseline Condition

5.5.1. The detail result of the ecological baseline survey is presented in the EBSR contained in the Appendix 5-1. In order to validate the applicability of the EBSR which was prepared in 2015 for the use in this assessment, the habitat condition of the 500m Study Area of each of the site has been broadly reviewed from latest aerial imagery, ground-truthing and verification survey in April 2019, with particular focus on areas within and in the vicinity of the proposed site boundary. The updated habitat maps with latest site boundary are shown in Figures 5.5 to 5.12b, and given that the rural environs and ecological characters of the habitats in the immediate vicinity of all the work sites remain largely unchanged, the ecological profile established in the EBSR for is considered valid for the assessment Nonetheless, the northern half of the marsh recorded with the endemic crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon east of the Tai Wo site was found filled into urban/ residential area during the verification survey, and a section of semi-natural watercourse and riverine plantation woodland within/adjacent the work site at Ha Che, where several species of conservation concern has been reported in the EBSR, was also found to be channelized or cleared during a site visit in June 2019 (refer to S.5.5.5 and 5.5.10 for more details).

5.5.2. In addition, despite no species of conservation concern was recorded during the verification survey, two individuals of the butterfly Common Archduke Lexias pardalis, a species of conservation concern, were found in a Fung Shui Wood east of the Ha Che’s site boundary near Shui Kan Shek Tsuen during a site visit in June 2019, and 6 no. of Greater Painted Snipe, a bird species of conservation concern, were found perching at the watercourse within the site boundary of Sung Shan New Village in December 2019 by AFCD.

5.5.3. Accordingly, the ecological habitats delineated in each of the Study Area and within the site boundary has been updated based on the information presented above as well as the latest layout of the site boundary, and shown in Table 5-3 and Table 5-4 below and illustrated in an updated habitat maps (see Figures 5.5 to 5.12b, in which the naturalness of the watercourses within the Study Areas, i.e., either channelized (i.e., Major Channelised Watercourse) or natural to semi-natural (i.e. Minor Watercourse as defined and adopted in the EBSR), has also been shown by making reference to the Figure 9 to Figure 12 of the EBSR and the findings of the verification survey.

Table 5-3 Ecological Habitat and their Respective Coverage (ha) within the Study Areas

Habitat Types	Sung Shan New Village	Tai Wo	Lin Fa Tei	Ha Che
Fung shui wood	-	-	-	0.8
Secondary Woodland	3.9	16.7	6.8	30.8
Plantation	14.2	3.7	19.6	16.3
Grassland/Shrubland	6	12.8	-	16.3
Grassland	34.1	18.8	6.3	14.9
Marsh	-	0.27	0.5	-
Seasonally Wet Grassland	-	1.4	0.3	-
Mitigation Wetland	-	0.6	-	-
Agricultural Land	1.4	26	20.3	0.7
Orchard	-	0.6	4	0.1
Waste Ground	10.9	6.1	47.5	11.8
Urban/Residential Area	63.6	37.93	69.9	75.8
Pond	0.3	0.1	1.3	0.3
Watercourse - Natural Watercourse	0.34 (~1250 m)	0.20 (1650 m)	Nil	0.45 (~ 2260 m)
- Semi-Natural Watercourse	1.19 (~2188 m)	0.39 (~ 1377 m)	1.93 (~ 1670 m)	1.43 (~ 2810 m)
- Channelised Watercourse	1.87 (~2813 m)	2.11 (~ 2752 m)	1.58 (~ 3880 m)	0.61 (~ 1980 m)
*Total No. of Habitat* *(Total Area)*	9 *(137.8)*	13 *(127.7)*	11 *(180.0)*	11 *(170.3)*

Table 5-4 Ecological Habitat and their Respective Coverage (ha) within the Site boundary

Habitat Types	Sung Shan New Village	Tai Wo	Lin Fa Tei	Ha Che
Secondary Woodland	-	-	0.1	-
Plantation	0.3	-	0.2	0.1
Grassland	-	0.1	-	-
Waste Ground	-	0.1	0.1	-
Urban/Residential Area	0.4	-	0.5	0.3
Watercourse - Semi-natural Watercourse	0.3 (~600 m)	0.01 (35 m)	0.4 (~830 m)	0.21 (~ 520 m)
- Channelised Watercourse	0.07 (~50 m)	Nil	0.08 (~160m)	0.17 (~ 320 m)
*Total No. of Habitat*	3	3	5	3

Sung Shan New Village

5.5.4. A total of 9 habitat types, namely: Agricultural Land, Pond, Watercourse, Grassland, Grassland/Shrubland, Secondary Woodland, Plantation, Waste Ground and Urban/Residential Area has been delineated within the Study Area; and among which only Watercourse (channelized watercourse and semi-natural watercourse), Urban/Residential Area and Planation fall within the site boundary. The complete species list recorded within the Study Area of Sung Shan New Village during the ecological baseline survey is given in Appendix A of the EBSR, and a summary of the findings is presented in the Table 5-5 below:

Table 5-5 Species Richness of the Flora and Fauna Recorded within the Study Area of Sung Shan New Village

Flora/Fauna Group	No. of Species Recorded	No. of Species with Conservation Concern	Details ^#
Vegetation	312	2	Aquilaria sinensis (WC, SW, PL, UR), Gnetum luofuense (SW)
Mammal	2	1	Pallas’s Squirrel (PL)
Bird	52	9	Chinese Pond Heron (WC,WC), Little Egret (WC), Black Kite (in flight), Crested Serpent Eagle (in flight), Crested Goshawk (in flight), Common Emerald Dove (SW), Greater Coucal (WC, PL, GR, PL, SW), Lesser Coucal (GR, GS, PL ) and Greater Painted Snipe (WC)*
Amphibian	6	0
Reptile	5	1	Common Rat Snake (SW)
Butterfly	39	0
Odonate	17	0
Freshwater Fish	7	0
Freshwater invertebrate	13	1	Dragonfly larvae of Dog-legged Clubtail (WC)

# ( ) shown the habitat type where the species was recorded within the Study Area, and those habitat would be underlined if the species was recorded within the Site Boundary.

Abbreviation of Habitat: SW: Secondary Woodland, PL: Plantation, FSW: Fung Shui Wood, GS: Grassland/Shrubland, GR: Grassland, AG: Agricultural Land Orchard, WG: Waste Ground, UR: Urban/Residential Area, PO: Pond, WC: Watercourse, MA: Marsh

* information provided by AFCD, see S.5.5.2 above

Tai Wo

5.5.5. Cheung Po EIS is approximately 50m from the site boundary of Tai Wo. A total of 13 habitat types has been delineated within the Study Area of Tai Wo, including: Agricultural Land, Pond, Marsh, Mitigation Wetland, Watercourse, Seasonally Wet Grassland, Grassland, Grassland/Shrubland, Secondary Woodland, Orchard, Plantation, Waste Ground and Urban/Residential Area. Only semi-natural watercourse, Grassland and Waste Ground are present within the site boundary. On the other hand, it was noted during the verification survey that the northern half of the marsh east of the work site where the freshwater crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon was previously recorded have been filled.

5.5.6. The complete species list recorded within the Study Area of Tai Wo during the ecological baseline survey is given in Appendix B of the EBSR, and a summary of the findings is presented in the Table 5-6 below.

Table 5-6 Species Richness of the Flora and Fauna Recorded within the Study Area of Tai Wo

Flora/Fauna Group	No. of Species Recorded	No. of Species with Conservation Concern	Details #
Vegetation	343	1	Aquilaria sinensis (SW)
Mammal	5	3	Pallas’s Squirrel (PL), Small Indian Civet (SW) and Leopard Cat (SW)
Bird	37	8	Chinese Pond Heron (WC, GR), Grey Heron (WC), Wood Sandpiper (WC), Rufous-capped Babbler (SW), White-shouldered Starling (UR), Crested Goshawk (in flight), Greater Coucal (GR, SW), and Lesser Coucal (GR, SW, GS, WG)
Amphibian	10	2	Chinese Bullfrog (WC) and Brown Wood Frog (GR) and Brown Wood Frog – tadpole (WC)
Reptile	5	0
Butterfly	33	3	Metallic Cerulean (GR), Centaur Oak Blue (SW) and Glassy Bluebottle (WC)
Odonate	28	1	Scarlet Basker (WC)
Freshwater Fish	13	3	Chinese Rasbora (WC), Small Snakehead (WC) and Rose Bitterling (from literature review)
Freshwater invertebrate	23	4	Dragonfly larva of Dog-legged Clubtail (WC), Marauder Clubtail (WC) and Club-tailed Cruiser (WC), and crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon (MA^)

# ( ) shown the habitat type where the species was recorded within the Study Area, and if underlined indicated that the species was recorded within the Site Boundary.

^ denote the habitat recorded with the species of conservation concern was found to be severely disturbed or disappeared during the verification survey

Lin Fa Tei

5.5.7. The Study Area at Lin Fa Tei is dominated by Waste Ground and Urban/Residential Area (~ 65%), and Agricultural Land and Plantation being the next dominant habitat and each occupy ~11% of the Study Area. Other habitat delineated within the Study Area include: Pond, Marsh, Watercourse, Seasonally Wet Grassland, Grassland, Secondary Woodland and Orchard.

5.5.8. Among the 11 habitat types identified, 5 of them are presented within the site boundary, including Waste Ground, Urban/Residential Area, Plantation, Secondary Woodland and Watercourse (semi-natural watercourse and channelized watercourse).

5.5.9. The complete species list recorded within the Study Area of Lin Fa Tei during the ecological baseline survey is given in Appendix C of the EBSR, a summary of the findings is presented in the Table 5-7 below:

Table 5-7 Species Richness of the Flora and Fauna Recorded within the Study Area of Lin Fa Tei

Flora/Fauna Group	No. of Species Recorded	No. of Species with Conservation Concern	Details#
Vegetation	261	1	Aquilaria sinensis (WC)
Mammal	0	0
Bird	46	11	Black-crowned Night Heron (WC), Chinese Pond Heron (WC, WC, AG, MA, WG), Eastern Cattle Egret (WC) , Grey Heron (WC) , Little Egret (WC, AG), Crested Serpent Eagle (in flight), Black Kite (in flight), White-shouldered Starling (AG), Common Emerald Dove (PL), Greater Coucal (WC, MA, SW, AG, PL) and Lesser Coucal (WG,MA, PL, WG)
Amphibian	8	0
Reptile	6	0
Butterfly	28	1	Swallowtail (WG)
Odonate	18	0
Freshwater Fish	8	0
Freshwater invertebrate	21	3	dragonfly larvae of Club-tailed Cruiser (WC) and Emerald Cascader (WC), and crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon (WC)

# ( ) shown the habitat type where the species was recorded within the Study Area, and if underlined indicated that the species was recorded within the Site Boundary.

Remark: Ailanthus fordii is planted and hence not considered as a plant species of conservation concern.

Ha Che

5.5.10. A total of 11 habitat types have been delineated within the Study Area at Ha Che, including Agricultural Land, Pond, Watercourse, Grassland, Grassland/Shrubland, Secondary Woodland, Fung Shui Wood, Orchard, Plantation, Waste Ground and Urban/Residential Area; and only the Watercourse (semi-natural watercourse and channelized watercourse), Plantation and Urban/Residential Area are found within the site boundary. In addition, the Ha Che Egretry is also located within the Study Area and approximately 100m from the nearest site boundary. It was noted during the verification survey that the habitats within and around the site boundary near the Shui Kan Shek Tsuen has been severely disturbed/altered with loss of semi-natural watercourse and plantation woodland habitats.

5.5.11. The complete species list recorded within the Study Area of Ha Che during the ecological baseline survey is given in Appendix D of the EBSR, a summary of the findings is presented in the Table 5-8 below:

Table 5-8 Species Richness of the Flora and Fauna Recorded within the Study Area of Ha Che

Flora/Fauna Group	No. of Species Recorded	No. of Species with Conservation Concern	Details #
Vegetation	299	3	Aquilaria sinensis (GS, FSW, PL, UR), Gnetum luofuense (WC) ^ , Cibotium barometz (WC)
Mammal	3	2	Masked Palm Civet and Pallas's Squirrel
Bird	33	6	Chinese Pond Heron (PO, FSW, PL, UR), Eastern Cattle Egret (WC), Little Egret (WC) , Crested Serpent Eagle (in flight), Wood Sandpiper (WC) and Greater Coucal (PL, WG)
Amphibian	4	1	Hong Kong Newt (WC)
Reptile	2	0
Butterfly	26	1	Common Arckduke (FSW)
Odonate	10	0
Freshwarer Fish	8	0
Freshwater invertebrate	14	2	freshwater crabs Cryptopotamon anacoluthon (WC) and Somanniathelphusa zanklon (WC)

# ( ) shown the habitat type where the species was recorded within the Study Area, and if underlined indicated that the species was recorded within the Site Boundary.

Abbreviation of Habitat: SW: Secondary Woodland, PL: Plantation, FSW: Fung Shui Wood GS: Grassland/Shrubland, GR: Grassland, AG: Agricultural Land Orchard WG: Waste Ground UR: Urban/Residential Area, PO: Pond WC: Watercourse, MA: Marsh

^ The riparian habitat where the Gnetum luofuense was recorded was found severely disturbed during the verification survey.

Remark: Camellia japonica and Michelia figo are planted and hence not considered as plant species of conservation concern.

5.6 Evaluation of Ecological Values

5.6.1. Based on the baseline ecological profile described in the EBSR, Chapter 7 of the EBSR has evaluated the ecological value of the habitats identified within the Study Area by making reference to the criteria listed in the Annex 8 of the EIAO TM, and the results have also been validated during the verification survey and during which the ecological value of the channelized watercourse on the west of Fan Kam Road have been amended to Low instead of Moderate for the disturbance it received from the adjacent village area as well as lack of record of species of conservation concern. Table 5-9 to Table 5-12 tabulated the ecological value of the watercourse habitat identified within the Study Area of each village, and Table 5-13 tabulated the ecological value of the non-watercourses habitat within the Study Area (details of the evaluation refer to Table 24 to Table 70 of the EBSR)

Table 5-9 Ecological Value of Watercourse Habitats at Sung Shan New Village

	Within Site Boundary	Outside Site Boundary
Naturalness	Range from semi-natural to channelised.	Range from natural to channelised.
Ecological Value	Low to Moderate	Low to Moderate

Table 5-10 Ecological Value of Watercourse Habitats at Tai Wo

	Within Site Boundary	Outside Site Boundary
	Watercourse with Sampling Point A1	Cheung Po EIS	Other Watercourses
Naturalness	Range from semi-natural to channelised at the downstream section.	Natural banks and bottom	Range from natural to channelised.
Ecological Value	Moderate	Moderate	Low to Moderate for channelized watercourse with Sampling Point A5, Low for the other channelised watercourses; and Low to Moderate for the others

Table 5-11 Ecological Value of Watercourse Habitats at Lin Fa Tei

	Within Site Boundary		Outside Site Boundary
	Watercourse with Sampling Point A6	Watercourse with Sampling Points A2 to A5 and A7	Outside Site Boundary
Naturalness	Channelised.	Semi-natural.	Range from semi-natural to channelised.
Ecological Value	Low.	Low to Moderate.	Low to Moderate for the natural/semi-natural watercourses; Low for the channelised watercourses.

Table 5-12 Ecological Value of Watercourse Habitats at Ha Che

	Within Site Boundary		Outside Site Boundary
	Section east of Fan Kam Road (with Sampling Points A1 to A3	Section west of Fan Kam Road with Sampling Point A4 to A5	Outside Site Boundary
Naturalness	Range from semi-natural to channelised.	Channelised.	Range from natural to channelised.
Ecological Value	Moderate.	Low.	Moderate to High for the watercourse where Hong Kong Newt and freshwater crabs of conservation concern found; Low to Moderate for the others.

Table 5-13 Ecological Value of Non-Watercourse Habitats within the Study Area

Habitat	Sung Shan New Village	Tai Wo	Lin Fa Tei	Ha Che
Fung shui wood	n/a	n/a	n/a	Low to Moderate
Secondary Woodland	Low to Moderate	Low to Moderate	Low to Moderate	Low, or Low to Moderate
Plantation	Low	Low	Low	Low
Grassland/Shrubland	Low	Low	n/a	Low
Grassland	Low	Low	Low	Low
Marsh	n/a	Moderate	Low	n/a
Seasonally Wet Grassland	n/a	Low	Low	n/a
Mitigation Wetland	n/a	Low to Moderate	n/a	n/a
Agricultural Land	Low	Low	Low	Low
Orchard	n/a	Low	Low	Low
Waste Ground	Low	Low	Low	Low
Urban/Residential Area	Low	Low	Low	Low
Pond	Low	Low	Low	Low

5.6.2. In addition, the flora and fauna species of local and global conservation concern recorded within the Study Area is presented in the Table 5-14 below.

Table 5-14 Species of Conservation Concern Recorded with the Study Area

Species	Study Area*	Protection Status	Conservation Status	Hong Kong Status
*Plant^@*
Aquilaria sinensis	SSNV, TW, LFT, HC	Cap. 586	Vulnerable¹, Near Threatened²	Common³
Cibotium barometz	HC	Cap. 586	Vulnerable², Category II in China²	Very Common³
Gnetum luofuense	SSNV, [HC]	-	Near Threatened¹	Very Common³
*Mammal*
Pallas's Squirrel	SSNV, TW, HC	Cap. 170	-	Common
Small Indian Civet	TW	Cap. 170, Cap. 586	-	Very common⁴
Masked Palm Civet	HC	Cap. 170, Cap. 586	Potential Regional Concern⁴	Common⁵
Leopard Cat	TW	Cap. 170, Cap. 586	-	Uncommon⁴
*Bird*
Chinese Pond Heron	SSNV, TW, LFT, HC	Cap.170	Potential Regional Concern (Regional Concern)⁴	Most confined to New Territories, in particular the northwest⁶
Eastern Cattle Egret	LFT, HC	Cap.170	(Local Concern)⁴	Most confined to New Territories, in particular the northwest⁶
Black-crown Night Heron	LFT	Cap.170	(Local Concern)⁴	Most confined to New Territories, in particular the northwest⁶
Little Egret	SSNV, LFT, HC	Cap.170	Potential Regional Concern (Regional Concern)⁴	Most confined to New Territories, in particular the northwest⁶
Wood Sandpiper	TW, HC	Cap. 170	Local Concern⁴	Common passage migrant and winter visitor⁶
White-shouldered Starling	TW, LFT	Cap. 170	(Local Concern)⁴	Common passage migrant and scarce and localized breeding summer visitor and winter visitor⁶
Crested Serpent Eagle	SSNV, LFT, HC	Cap.170/Cap.586	(Local Concern)⁴, CRDB(VU)¹¹	Uncommon resident. Widely distributed in shrublands on hillsides throughout Hong Kong.
Black Kite	SSNV, LFT	Cap.170/Cap.586	Potential Regional Concern⁴	Common resident and winter visitor. Widely distributed in Hong Kong.
Crested Goshawk	SSNV, TW	Cap.170/Cap.586	CRDB(R)¹¹	Uncommon resident. Widely distributed in woodlands and shrublands throughout Hong Kong.
Common Emerald Dove	SSNV, LFT	Cap.170	CRDB(VU)¹¹	Scarce but widespread resident. Widely distributed in woodland throughout Hong Kong.
Greater Coucal	SSNV, TW, LFT, HC	Cap.170	CRDB(VU) ¹¹	Common resident. Widely distributed in Hong Kong
Lesser Coucal	SSNV, TW, LFT	Cap.170	CRDB(VU)¹¹	Uncommon resident. Widely distributed in Hong Kong.
Grey Heron	TW, LFT	Cap.170	Potential Regional Concern⁴	Most confined to New Territories, in particular the northwest⁶
Rufous-capped Babbler	TW	Cap. 170	Local Concern⁵	Scare resident population of captive origin⁶
Greater Painted Snipe^	SSNV	Cap. 170	Local Concern⁵	Resident, passage migrant and winter visitor
*Reptile*
Common Rat Snake	SSNV	-	Endangered ⁷, Potential Regional Concern⁴	Widely distributed⁸
*Amphibian*
Hong Kong Newt	HC	Cap. 170	Near Threatened^1,8, Potential Global Concern⁴	Common and widely distributed⁹
Chinese Bullfrog	TW	-	Potential Regional Concern⁴	Recorded from many localities in the New Territories⁹
Brown Wood Frog	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Recorded in several localities⁹
*Butterfly*
Swallowtail	LFT	-	-	Rare¹⁰
Metallic Cerulean	TW	-	-	Very Rare¹⁰
Centaur Oak Blue	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Very Rare¹⁰
Glassy Bluebottle	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Uncommon¹⁰
Common Archduke^^	HC	-	-	First recorded in HK in 2008 and local rarity is yet to be defined by AFCD
*Dragonfly*
Club-tailed Cruiser	TW, LFT	-	Global Concern⁴	Common⁵
Emerald Cascader	LFT	-	Potential Global Concern⁴	Abundant⁵
Scarlet Basker	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Common⁵
Marauder Clubtail	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Uncommon⁵
*Freshwater Fish*
Chinese Rasbora	TW	-	Global Concern⁴	Species of Conservation Concern⁵
Rose Bitterling#	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Uncommon, Species of Conservation Concern⁵
Small Snakehead	TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Uncommon⁵
*Aquatic Invertebrate*
Dog-legged Clubtail (larvae of dragonfly)	SSNV, TW	-	Local Concern⁴	Common⁵
Cryptopotamon anacoluthon	HC	-	Vulnerable¹, Potential Global Concern⁴	Endemic¹
Somanniathelphusa zanklon	TW, LFT, HC,	-	Endangered¹, Global Concern⁴	Endemic¹
SSNV: Sung Shan New Village, HC: Ha Che, TW: Tai Wo, LFT: Lin Fa Tei ^ provided by AFCD (pers. comm.) ^^ recorded during verification survey # from literature review (see Table 10 of the EBSR) 1 : IUCN (2015), 2 : AFCD (2003), 3 : Xing et al. (2000), 4 : Fellowes et al. (2002), 5 :* AFCD (2015b), 6 : Carey et al. (2001), 7 : Zhao (1998), 8 : Karsen et al. (1998), 9 : Chan et al. (2005), 10 : Chan et al. (2011), 11. Zheng, G., Wang, Q. (1998) @ The following plant species recorded in the baseline survey, including Ailanthus fordii recorded at Lin Fa Tei, the Michelia figo and Camellia japonica recorded at Ha Che; as well as the Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki recorded at Sung Shan New Village are all planted and hence would not be considered as species of conservation concern in this assessment. [ ] The riparian habitat where the Gnetum luofuense was recorded was found severely disturbed during the verification survey.

5.7 Impact Identification

Project Work Scope

5.7.1. According to the latest engineering information of the proposed drainage improvement works as described in Section 2.1, the construction include river training, re-alignment, widening and deepening of existing watercourse and the channelization works, and the work process would involve site clearance (and hence removal of riparian vegetation), temporary stream diversion, excavation and sheet-piling, soil re-profiling, bank protection, streambed restructuring, concreting, as well as landscaping/greening. In addition, the construction of the storm drains and box culvert would also involve ground breaking, trenching, pipe-laying, back-filling and re-instatement of road surface.

5.7.2. The project will be undertaken section-by-section to minimize the potential disturbance and nuisance caused to the local community and environment; and several small meanders and sections of semi-natural channels, which are part of the original watercourses but beyond the project boundary, will be formed beyond the retaining structure of the upgraded channels.

5.7.3. In addition, despite the detail design has not been available at this stage of the study (such as the type of bank protection and streambed restructuring, as well as the plant species selected for landscaping and greening, etc.), it is understood that the project will make reference to the “DSD Practice Note No. 1/2015 Guidelines on Environmental and Ecological Considerations for River Channel Design” as far as practicable.

Sources and Nature of Ecological Impact

Construction Phase

5.7.4. With respect to the work scope and nature of the drainage work in each of the work area, the sources of ecological impact during construction phase include:

· the temporary or permanent land-taking for the widening and deepening of existing watercourses;

· the use of plants/machineries and the increased activities and movements of workforce and vehicles;

· the site clearance, stream diversion, demolition of existing structures, excavation or compaction of the existing stream bed/bank, trenching, and construction of the new structures along the watercourses; and

5.7.5. The physical and biological changes arising from the construction works within the watercourses, including potential hydrological disruption, may reduce the ecological carrying capacity of the affected habitats, and hence the abundance, composition and diversity of plant and animal species (especially sensitive species), and causing a potential reduction in the ecological value as well as loss in ecological linkage and function among the affected habitats and its neighboring environment. The potential ecological impact resulted from the activities listed above include:

· Direct loss of existing ecological habitats within the site boundary, either permanently or temporarily, from land-taking for the channel widening work and increased sediment load during the excavation and movement of heavy plants/machineries within the watercourse; and hence the associated loss/reduction of carrying capacity/ecological linkage and functions of the affected habitats (such as providing shelters, foraging or breeding grounds for local fauna), as well as the associated direct loss of established flora communities and faunal assemblages colonized or inhabited within the riverine habitat (especially the riparian zone and those animals with limited mobility and confined to aquatic habitats).

· Potential direct and indirect loss of watercourse habitat which is part of the watercourse section to be improved but located beyond the site boundary, from the alternation and/or disruption of the hydrological condition and hence habitat nature/condition of those water-bodies.

· Disturbance to habitats and wildlife inhabited in the adjacent areas from:

- elevated audible and visual disturbance from the increased human activities and use of vehicle and plant/machineries during construction;

- physical disturbance from potential encroachment or trespassing into areas beyond the defined site boundary for stockpiling of construction or excavated material, waste dumping, and placement/parking of plant/machinery;

- hydrological disruption and deterioration in the water quality downstream of the work sites from construction activities and increased sediment loads, either intentionally, accidentally, or during rainstorm event;

- habitat fragmentation and hence interruption of animal movement across the grassland in Tai Wo or along the project’s watercourses.

Operation Phase

5.7.6. The source of ecological impact during the operation phase of the drainage improvement project is mostly perpetuated from the permanent changes in habitat status during the construction phase, such as the land-taking which cause a permanent loss of non-riverine habitats adjacent to the project’s sites, the newly created open channel in Tai Wo which cause a permanent fragmentation of habitat and potential interruption of the movement of non-flying animal, as well as the reinstatement work of the disturbed riverine habitat and formation of meanders and narrowed channel outside the project area.

5.7.7. However, the deepened and widened channels at Sung Shan New Village, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che where the embankments at these three sites would be mostly vertical to cope with the site constraints and hydraulic requirements in flood prevention, would hamper the movement of animals from crossing or exiting the channel, including but not limited to the freshwater crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon where its life cycle include the inhabitation of terrestrial habitats adjacent to the watercourse, or other non-flying terrestrial or amphibious animal.

5.7.8. Other sources of ecological impact during the operation phase of the project would mainly associated with the maintenance activities of the widened channel, in particular any vegetation maintenance and desilting operation that may be required to restore the healthiness, aesthetic, as well as the hydraulic capacity of the riparian vegetation and the widened channel. The maintenance activity would cause a direct and/or indirect physical disturbance to the riparian and streambed habitats and affect the floral and faunal communities established/colonized in the riparian zone and channel bed of the widened channel.

5.8 Impact Evaluation

Construction Phase

Temporary/ Long term Loss of Ecological Habitat and Associated Impact to Carrying Capacity and Ecological Linkage

5.8.1. In order to facilitate the impact evaluation, the habitat within the site boundary at each village as well as their respective ecological value and coverage are tabulated in the Table 5-15 below.

Table 5-15 Ecological Value and Coverage of the Habitat within Site boundary

Habitat Type	Sung Shan New Village		Tai Wo		Lin Fa Tei		Ha Che
Habitat Type	Ecological Value	*Size/ Ha*	Ecological Value	*Size/ Ha*	Ecological Value	*Size/ Ha*	Ecological Value	*Size/ Ha*
Secondary Woodland	n/a	-	n/a	-	Low to Moderate	0.1	n/a	-
Plantation	Low	0.3	n/a	-	Low	0.2	Low	0.1
Grassland	n/a		Low	0.1	n/a	-	n/a	-
Waste Ground	n/a		Low	0.1	Low	0.1	n/a	-
Urban/ Residential Area	Low	0.4	n/a	-	Low	0.5	Low	0.3
Watercourse
- Semi-natural watercourse	Low to moderate	0.3 (~600m)	Moderate	0.01 (~35m)	Low to Moderate	0.4 (~830m)	Moderate	0.21 (~520m)
- Channelized watercourse	Low to moderate	0.07 (~50m)	-		Low	0.08 (~160 m)	Moderate	0.07 (~150 m)
							Low	0.10 (~170m)

5.8.2. Although the drainage improvement works will be undertaken sections-by-sections and the loss of ecological habitat and associated impact to their ecological linkage/functions, as well as reduction in carrying capacity at a given time as a whole for the project would likely to be small and confined to a limited area, all of the semi-natural watercourse habitat within the work site would be converted to engineering channel and permanently lost to the project - except the semi-natural watercourse within the temporary work area at Tai Wo (~35m) where most of the affected area would be re-instated. On the other hand, since the details of the re-instatement work for the terrestrial habitats temporarily affected within the site boundary is yet to be available until the detail design stage of the project, it is assumed that the loss of the secondary woodland, plantation, grassland and waste ground within the site boundary would be long term, as they would either be converted to the engineering channel or urban area through re-instatement work such as greening (see Table 5-15 above). Nonetheless, the loss of the channelized watercourse during the construction phase will only be temporary for the nature of the project. The evaluation of this direct impact is tabulated in Table 5-16 to Table 5-19 for each of the village respectively.

Table 5-16 Evaluation of Unmitigated Ecological Impacts from Direct Habitat Loss in Sung Shan New Village

Criteria	Watercourse (channelised)	Watercourse (semi-natural)			Plantation		Urban/Residential Area
Habitat Quality	Low to moderate				Low
Species	Only a larvae of Dog-legged Clubtail, a species of conservation concern, was recorded, others are common and widespread species	4 species of conservation concern were recorded, including a seedling of Aquilaria sinensis, 1 each of the Chinese Pond Heron and Greater Coucal, as well as 6 no. of Greater Painted Snipe. Others are common and widespread species			Most of the flora and fauna recoded are common with no conservation concern, except 2 no. of Greater Coucal		All of the species recorded are common and no species of conservation concern was recorded
Size/abundance	0.07 ha (~50 m), and low faunal abundance.	0.3 ha (~ 600 m), and low faunal abundance.			0.3 ha, and low faunal abundance.		0.4 ha, and low faunal abundance.
Duration	Temporary (same habitat category of the engineering channel)	Impact to be long term without re-instatement					Impact for those loss to the widening of the channel to be long term without re-instatement, but temporary for those loss to temporary land-taking
Reversibility	Irreversible		Irreversible			Reversible
Magnitude	Low because the small area affected as well as the current condition of these affected habitats	Moderate for the size of this habitat being affected					Low because the small area affected as well as the current condition of these affected habitats
Ecological Impact	Minor primarily for the low magnitude of change as well as the limited area to be affected	Minor to moderate as only a low abundance of the 4 species of conservation concern was recorded, and similar habitat is available in the upstream area.		Minor primarily for the low magnitude of change as well as the limited area to be affected

Table 5-17 Evaluation of Unmitigated Ecological Impacts from Direct Habitat Loss in Tai Wo

Criteria	Watercourse (semi-natural)	Grassland	Waste Ground
Habitat Quality	Moderate	Low
Species	3 species of conservation concern were recorded, including 8 larvae of Dog-legged Clubtail, 1 each of the Glassy Bluebottle and tadpole of Brown Wood Frog; others are common and widespread species	All of the species recorded are common and no species of conservation concern was recorded
Size/abundance	Temporary loss of 0.01 ha (~35m long and width varied), with moderate amphibian and stream faunal abundance, and low abundance for other fauna	0.1 ha, with low faunal abundance.		0.1 ha, with low faunal abundance.
Duration	Temporary and to be re-instated	Permanent
Reversibility	Reversible	Irreversible
Magnitude	Minor for the limited work anticipated in the affected habitat	Minor because the small area affected as well as the current condition of these affected habitats
Ecological Impact	Minor for the small area to be temporarily or permanently affected	Minor primarily for their low ecological value and low magnitude of change, as well as the limited area to be affected

Table 5-18 Evaluation of Unmitigated Ecological Impacts from Direct Habitat Loss in Lin Fa Tei

Criteria	Watercourse (channelised)	Watercourse (semi-natural)	Secondary Woodland	Plantation	Waste Ground	Urban/Residential Area
Habitat Quality	Low	Low to Moderate	Low to Moderate	Low	Low	Low
Species	All of the species recorded are common and no species of conservation concern was recorded	Except the following 6 species of conservation concern, i.e., Chinese Pond Heron (2 no.), Little Egret (1 no.), Greater Coucal (1 no.), larvae of Club-tailed Cruiser (1 no.), larvae of Emerald Cascader (1 no.) and Somanniathelphusa zanklon (3 no.), all of the other specie recorded are common	All of the species recorded are common and no species of conservation concern was recorded		All of the species recorded are common and no species of conservation concern was recorded	Except 1 species of conservation concern, i.e., White-shouldered Starling, all of the other specie recorded are common
Size/abundance	0.08 ha (~160 m), with low faunal abundance.	0.4 ha (~830m), with low faunal abundance.	0.1 ha, with low faunal abundance	0.2 ha, with low faunal abundance.	0.1 ha, with moderate abundance of bird and amphibian, and low for other fauna	0.5 ha, with low faunal abundance.
Duration	Temporary	Impact to be long term without re-instatement			Impact for those loss to the widening of the channel to be long term without re-instatement, but temporary for those loss to temporary land-taking
Reversibility	Reversible	Irreversible
Magnitude	Low because the small area affected as well as the current condition of this habitats	Moderate	Low because the small area affected as well as the current condition of these affected habitats
Ecological Impact	Minor impact for its low ecological value, limited magnitude of change and small area affected.	Minor to Moderate impact for the length, moderate magnitude of environmental change, as well as low abundance of species of conservation concern recorded.	Minor impact for the low ecological value, limited magnitude of change and small area affected.

Table 5-19 Evaluation of Unmitigated Ecological Impacts from Direct Habitat Loss in Ha Che

Criteria	Watercourse (channelized)	Watercourse (semi-natural)		Plantation	Urban/Residential Area
Habitat Quality	Section east of Fan Kam Road – Moderate; section west of Fan Kam Road - Low	Moderate		Low
Species	Except two endemic freshwater crab species, i.e., the Cryptopotamon anacoluthon (23 no.), Somanniathelphusa zanklon (1 no.), all of the other species recorded are common	All of the species recorded are common, and although Gnetum luofuense, a species of conservation concern was recorded at the bank of this habitat, the bankside vegetation was found cleared during the verification survey		All of the species recorded are common and no species of conservation concern was recorded
Size/abundance	0.17 ha (~320m), with low faunal abundance	0.21 ha (~520m), with low faunal abundance		0.1 ha, with low faunal abundance	0.3 ha, with moderate floral diversity and low faunal abundance and diversity.
Duration	Temporary	Impact to be long term without re-instatement			Impact for those loss to the widening of the channel to be long term without re-instatement, but temporary for those loss to temporary land-taking
Reversibility	Reversible	Irreversible			Reversible
Magnitude	Low to moderate		Low because the small area affected as well as the current condition of these affected habitats
Ecological Impact	Moderate for the section west of Shui Kan Shek where a total of 23 freshwater crab Cryptopotamon anacoluthon were reported in the EBSR; but Minor for the section west of Fan Kam Road.	Minor to Moderate impact for its ecological value and magnitude of environmental change	Minor primarily for their low ecological value and low magnitude of change, as well as the limited area to be affected

5.8.3. In conclusion, the impact from the long term loss of the semi-natural watercourses and the associated impact in carrying capacity and ecological linkage, is considered to be minor to moderate in Sung Shan New Village (0.3 ha/~600m), Lin Fa Tei (0.4 ha/~830m) and Ha Che (0.21 ha/~520m). On the other hand, the impact from the temporary loss of channelized watercourses within the site boundary of all sites, including the associated impact in carrying capacity and ecological linkage, is considered to be minor for the temporary nature and small area of this habitats being affected, but would be moderate for the section east of Fan Kam Road (0.07 ha/~150m) at the Ha Che site where Cryptopotamon anacoluthon (23 no.) has been recorded. The potential impact due to long term or temporary loss of terrestrial habitats, including the associated impact in carrying capacity and ecological linkage, would also be considered as minor for the small area being affected as well as their low / low to moderate ecological value.

Indirect Loss of Watercourse Habitat beyond the Site Boundary

5.8.4. As shown in Figures 5.9 to 5.12, a number of short section or small meander of the project’s watercourse is located on private land and have not been included into the site boundary, and potentially there would also be a long-term loss of those habitats due to the changes in the local environment – in particular their habitat status caused by the hydrological disruption, i.e., after those sections hydrologically isolated with the original watercourse or upgraded channel. The extent of such potential loss for each village is tabulated in Table 5-20 below, and given that they are part of the original watercourse being upgraded and the respective impact would be similar to those located within the site boundary, and considered to be minor to moderate for the semi-natural watercourses at Sung Shan New Village, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che, and minor for the channelized watercourse west of Fan Kam Road at Ha Che.

Table 5-20 Watercourse Habitats outside the Site Boundary but Potentially Loss to the Project from Hydrological Disruption

Habitat Type	Sung Shan New Village	Tai Wo	Lin Fa Tei	Ha Che
Semi-natural watercourse	0.05 ha (~ 160 m)	N/a	0.05 ha (~ 130 m)	0.01 ha (~ 30 m)
Channelized watercourse	N/a	N/a	N/a	0.02 ha (~140 m)

Direct Loss of Flora and Fauna from Construction Activity

5.8.5. The land-taking process and potential hydrological disruption during the construction work may totally or partially wipe out the plant communities and eradicate the fauna assemblage established within the site boundary, either temporary or long-termly, and potentially causing a loss or decrease in local population of the faunal species with limited mobility or associated with/contained within the aquatic habitats, including the 2 endemic freshwater crabs species recorded at the work site in Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che. Nonetheless, as shown in Table 5-16 to Table 5-19 above, except the freshwater crabs Cryptopotamon anacoluthon where 23 no. of this endemic species has been recorded in the channelized watercourse within the proposed site boundary at Ha Che or the 6 Greater Painted Snipes recorded by AFCD in the semi-natural watercourse of Sung Shan New Village, all of the floral or faunal species of conservation concern reported within the site boundary were only recorded from a single sighting or with low abundance, as such the severity of this potential impact is also considered to be generally minor because the commonness of the species potentially affected and/or low abundance of the species of conservation concern recorded. On the other hand, this potential impact may also be temporary as natural recruitment and re-colonization of wild population may occur if the habitat condition after the greening work could provide a niche for their establishment.

5.8.6. Nevertheless, the potential loss of the freshwater crabs Cryptopotamon anacoluthon in Ha Che, where it was found to be quite abundant in the upper section of the work site, is considered to be moderate.

Disturbance to Aquatic/Terrestrial Habitats from Site Run-off

5.8.7. Any discharge of untreated run-off from the work site to their adjoining habitats may affect the abiotic environment and/or ecology of the water-bodies physically or hydrologically, in particular the Cheung Po EIS which is only 50m away from the nearest site boundary at Tai Wo, and hence potentially affecting the availability of habitats for water-associated wildlife such as the freshwater crab, larvae of odonate, as well as amphibian reported in the EBSR.

5.8.8. Nevertheless, under the implementation of the ProPECC PN 1/94 Construction Site Drainage, occurrence of such events would most likely be short-term and in limited scale; and given that most of the watercourses downstream of the work sites are semi-natural or channelized with limited ecological interest or recorded with a limited diversity of wildlife, the potential ecological impact from those incidents would expected to be limited. Nonetheless, should those event is chronical, prolonged and/or involve chemicals hazardous to wildlife where lengthy recovery of the affected habitat/wildlife assemblage, either naturally or with restoration work, is required, in such case this potential impact would be rated as moderate.

5.8.9. On the other hand, the Cheung Po EIS is only buffered from the work site at Tai Wo by a ~50m wide grassland habitat, any discharge of treated or untreated effluent from the work site to this grassy buffer (such as for soakaway of the treated effluent), would potentially increase the sediment load of the EIS through local erosion of the grassland habitat, which in turn affect the abiotic environment of the EIS and the inhabited biota; and subject to the intensity and duration this could be resulted in a moderate to high ecological impact.

Disturbance to the Surrounding Habitat from Construction Activities

5.8.10. The construction works and the increased human activities within the site boundaries will elevate the level of disturbance (such as noise disturbance and suspended dust and particulate in the local environment in the surrounding habitats through the deployment/operation of construction vehicles/heavy plants/machineries; and the potential trespassing into the areas beyond the site boundary for stockpiling of construction/excavated material/waste, operation/maintenance or parking of plants/ machineries/vehicles, or physical disturbance/hydrological disruption to the aquatic habitats for various purposes (such as water extraction, discharge of site/domestic effluent, etc.), would also disturb the physically environment of those habitats and potentially affect the inhabited wildlife.

5.8.11. Nonetheless, given that the terrestrial habitats adjoining the work sites are mostly “urban/residential area” or “waste ground” within private land and low in ecological value – except the secondary woodland of low to moderate value in Lin Fa Tei where disturbance is limited to the edge of the woodland, trespassing and direct physical disturbance would be highly unlikely. Furthermore, the construction work would be confined to the work site where large scale deployment of construction machinery or intensive construction traffic would not be anticipated, and with the implementation of various pollution control measures under the pertinent ordinance, the magnitude of potential anthropogenic disturbance would be expected to be in a limited scale and localised, as such the severity of this potential impact would also be expected to be very limited and insignificant.

However, should there be any physical/hydrological disruption/disturbance to the Cheung Po EIS at Tai Wo, or the watercourses north and east of the Shui Kan Shek Tsuen at Ha Che, where the two endemic freshwater crabs and/or the Hong Kong Newts were recorded, the resulted impact could range from minor to severe and depending on the nature, duration and intensity of such disturbance.

Direct/Indirect Physical Disturbance to Flora/Fauna in the Surrounding Habitats from Construction Activities

5.8.12. The construction work and the increased human activities will elevate the level of visual and audible disturbance to the wildlife inhabited in the habitats adjacent to the site boundary, and the potential dust coating (include concrete dust) of the vegetation and water pollution may affect the abiotic environment and the wildlife inhabiting in the affected habitats, such as the availability of nectar/food plants for butterfly adult/larvae, or breeding habitats for odonate and amphibian. The potential impact to the ardeids nested in the Ha Che Egretry or the aquatic fauna of the Cheung Po EIS will be discussed in later Sections.

5.8.13. Since mitigation measures related to noise suppression, as well as dust and water quality control recommended in other Sections of this report shall be implemented during the construction stage, any potential impact to the terrestrial wildlife, including those species of conservation concern (such as the Common Rat Snake recorded in secondary woodland at Sung Shan New Village, the Brown Wood Frog recorded in the watercourse at Tai Wo, as well as other avifauna and small to medium-sized mammals), would expected to be short-term, in limited scale and insignificant; and those affected animals, in particular the avifauna or mammal, would likely avoid or flee from the work sites to other similar habitats nearby on a temporal basis if the intensity of such disturbance greater than their tolerant level.

5.8.14. Three floral species of conservation concern which are all common in Hong Kong have been recorded with low abundance within the Study Area, i.e. Aquilaria sinensis, Cibotium barometz and Gnetum luofuense, in which the plantation woodland where the Gnetum luofuense was recorded next to the work site at Ha Che have already been cleared by others and none of the other plants of these three species were recorded in the vicinity of the site boundary of all work sites during the ecological baseline or the verification survey, as such indirect impact to the recorded flora of conservation concern would not be expected. On the other hand, given the general nature of the habitats in the vicinity of the work site, presence of other floral species of conservation concern would also likely be limited or would only be in limited abundance, as such the overall potential impact to any flora of conservation concern would expected to be minor.

5.8.15. For the aquatic wildlife, the impact from direct/indirect disturbance is mostly related to the changes in the physical environment which has already been discussed in previous section; and the implementation of the ProPECC PN 1/94 and waste management control should be able to minimize the chance of such disturbance events described above. Nonetheless, the potential direct/indirect impact to the fauna of conservation concern inhabited in aquatic habitats, especially the Hong Kong Newt and two freshwater crabs recorded at a natural stream east of the site boundary at Ha Che, as well as the Somanniathelphusa zanklon recorded to the southwest of the Tai Wo site boundary would range from moderate to high if the physical and hydrological condition (including water quality) of the riverine habitats for those wildlife being severely altered or disturbed.

Direct/Indirect Disturbance to the Wildlife from Fragmentation and Potential Interruption of Wildlife Movement

5.8.16. The trenching work at Tai Wo during the construction of the open channel, or the potential hydrological disruption at the other 3 work sites during the deepening and widening works, as well the mechanism to be used for water diversion, will either fragment or increase the fragmentation of the local habitat and obstruct the wildlife movement across the grassland at Tai Wo, or along or across the project’s watercourses at the other three sites; in particular for those sections at Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che where the depth of the existing watercourses would be increased by a maximum of 80% (e.g., from the current maximum depth of 2.5m to a maximum depth of 4.5m). Nevertheless, since the grassland habitat at Tai Wo, or the waste ground or urban/residential area which dominate the areas adjacent to the other three sites, are unlikely functioned as important movement corridor for the wildlife of conservation concern recorded within the Study Area, and potential passage across or exit the channel beyond work-in-progress area would still be available for those terrestrial or amphibious animal, as such the potential impact from habitat fragmentation or obstruction of wildlife movement from crossing or exiting the watercourse habitat, is expected to be limited.

5.8.17. On the other hand, despite water flow within the site boundaries will be maintained during the course of the construction work especially to avoid local flooding, should the hydrological connectivity and ecological linkage between upstream and downstream of the work site being disrupted/interrupted for whatever reason (such as temporary blockage for construction need/process, the use of submerged water pump which prohibit passing of aquatic animal), the movement of the inhabited wildlife such as the freshwater crabs, freshwater fish, and larvae of odonate along the watercourse could be temporarily interrupted, and the potential local aggregation of those animals may attract predator (e.g., ardeids) and cause a temporal reduction of their local population. However, only a low abundance of aquatic wildlife, including those species of conservation concern, has been recorded within or beyond the project sites and their population would be expected to restore through natural recruitment, as such the potential impact from this temporal habitat fragmentation would expected to be limited within the project site.

Direct/Indirect impact to the Riverine Ecosystem from the Reinstatement Work

5.8.18. According to the latest engineering information, the profile of the widened channel including the width, depth, as well as the gradient of the embankment will be varied along the channel to meet with the hydraulics requirements and local site constraints, and it will be reinstated in accordance with the DSD Practice Note No. 1/2015 Guidelines on Environmental and Ecological Considerations for River Channel Design. Given that the nature and breadth of the ecological niches provided by the reinstatement works would determine the floral and faunal communities that could be established or colonised in the widened channel, and hence the effective implementation of the re-instatement work during the construction phase in accordance with the guidelines would have a significant impact on the ecological potential/value of the widened channel.

Potential Impact to Recognized Sites of Conservation Importance

Cheung Po EIS

5.8.19. The Cheung Po EIS is recognised as an ecologically important stream for the presence of a diverse fish fauna, including several locally rare fish species – such as Rose Bitterling and Chinese Rasbora, were recorded in this habitat (Chan, 2001), and it is mostly paralleled and 50m apart from the proposed open channel at Tai Wo, and only hydrologically linked to the work site at a downstream location beyond its boundary, as such it is unlikely to be direct affected by the work hydrologically. Moreover, the EIS is only buffered from the work site by an open grassland which is prone to any direct and indirect physical disturbance related to the construction activities described in previous sections, and any disturbance in this grassland buffer would also threaten the habitat quality of the EIS. Accordingly, because the ecologically sensitivity of this habitat, any direct/indirect physical or hydrological disturbance/disruption of its riverine habitat (including the riparian zone), or indirect deterioration of water quality from construction activities, would result in a moderate to severe ecological impact.

(1) Ha Che Egretry

5.8.20. The Ha Che Egretry is located approximately 100m west of the downstream section of the Ha Che work site. Nesting records of Chinese Pond Heron and Little Egret in this egretry have been made since its establishment in 2002 and up to 45 nests were recorded in this egretry during the breeding season in between 2002 and 2018, but only 4 nests of the Chinese Pond Heron were recorded in the 2019’s breeding season (see Section 5.4.11).

5.8.21. Given that this egretry is buffered from the work site by a series of village houses and it is unlikely that the elevated audible and visual disturbance caused by the construction activities will affect the nested ardeids. On the other hand, according to the findings of the ecological field survey and flight line study undertaken for this egretry during the breeding season (see Appendix 5-2), the majority of sighting records of ardeids within the Study Area in Ha Che are made in woodland habitats and the nested birds were found mostly flied out of sight before landing or if landed would be on the watercourse and urban/residential area outside the site boundary, as such it is believed that the watercourse within the work site is not the main foraging habitat of the nested ardeids in this egretry, and significant impact to the Ha Che Egretry from the proposed drainage improvement at Ha Che would not be anticipated.

Tai Lam Country Park, Lam Tsuen Country Park, Conservation Area and Abandoned Egreties

5.8.22. For the other recognised sites of conservation importance identified in Section 5.4, i.e., the Tai Lam Country Park, Lam Tsuen Country Park, conservation area, as well as the abandoned Ma On Kong and Ho Pui Egretries, none of them are located in close proximity and/or physically linked to any of the work sites, and these sites would also be buffered from the construction disturbance by the habitats or village houses in between, no direct or indirect ecological impact to these sites of conservation interest and the ecological resources within would be resulted from the Project (Details refer to Section 7 of the EBSR).

Operation Phase

5.8.23. As discussed in previous sections, most of the operational phase impact are perpetuated from the long term changes in habitat status within or beyond the project area during the construction phase of the Project, such as the long term loss of non-riverine habitats within the work sites, the long term fragmentation of habitat and potential interruption of the movement of non-flying animal by the newly created open channel in Tai Wo, as well as the long term habitat changes in the disturbed riverine ecosystem; and the severity of those impact have already been discussed in previous sections. Therefore, the ecological impact during the operational phase of the project would mainly related to the disturbance caused by maintenance activities that may require to maintain the hydraulic capacity of the widened channels, as well as the potential interruption of animal movement along/across the watercourse from the predominantly rectangular channel.

Impact to the Riverine Ecosystem from the Maintenance Activities of the Engineered Channel

5.8.24. Vegetation maintenance and desilting of the settled sediment within the embankment or channel bed may be required during the operation phase of the project in order to maintain the hydraulic capacity of the channel, maintain the aesthetic of the greening, or removal of invasive plants or replanting of barren grounds. The physical/audible disturbance generated from the human activities and/or operation of any power equipment, the potential spillage of oil and fuel during the maintenance operation, and hence affect the ecological functioning of the “green channel” and the established faunal assemblage (potentially include those species of conservation concern recorded in the watercourse before the construction work). Despite such impact would likely to be short-term and temporal, the impact severity will depend on nature, duration, scale and intensity of such maintenance operation, and would range from insignificant to severe if extensive removal of the vegetation established within the engineering channel and/or extensive desilting that involve removal of the natural substrate is required.

Interruption and Obstruction of Wildlife Movement from the Deepened/widened Channel

5.8.25. Based on the latest engineering information, the proposed channels of the project would comprises with a mix of rectangular with greening planned for the bankside, embankment and channel bed. Whilst the movement of aquatic wildlife along the channelized watercourse would unlikely be interrupted during the operation phase of the project, any barren vertical embankment may hinder the movement of animal with limited mobility from crossing or exiting the watercourse habitat, including any non-flying terrestrial or amphibious animals that may utilise the aquatic habitat and/or wash/fall into the channel accidentally, especially the amphibian Hong Kong Newt and the freshwater crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon where their life cycle include the inhabitation of terrestrial habitats adjacent to the watercourse, whereas the former has been recorded in a natural watercourse hydrologically linked to the channels at Ha Che, and the latter has been recorded within the work site at Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che, as well as in the immediate vicinity of the work sites at Tai Wo. Nevertheless, it is unknown whether life cycle of the Cryptopotamon anacoluthon involves inhabitation of terrestrial habitats and would be affected by this potential movement obstruction.

5.8.26. Nonetheless, given that the study only recorded a few individuals of the Somanniathelphusa zanklon within the site boundaries (i.e., 1 no. in Ha Che and 3 no. in Lin Fa Tei), and the local environs bordered the widened/deepened watercourses at Sung Shan New Village, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che, including area downstream of the natural watercourse where the Hong Kong Newt and two freshwater crab species (including the Somanniathelphusa zanklon and Cryptopotamon anacoluthon) were recorded at the latter site, has already been severely disturbed with moderate to intensive human activities/disturbance, the abundance of animals being potentially affected would be expected to be in a limited scale, as such the potential impact to wildlife from interruption or obstruction in movement, including crossing or exiting the widened/deepened channel with vertical embankment, would likely be minor in the three villages (Sung Shan New Village, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che). Animals being potentially affected in the Tai Wo site would expect to utilise the potential passage provided by the stream bank in the semi-natural watercourse downstream of the new channel. Given the low abundance of non-flying animals recorded within the work area, the creation of an open channel in the Tai Wo site would unlikely cause a significant impact on the interruption of animal movement.

5.9 Mitigation Measures

Impact Avoidance and Mitigation Measures

Construction Phase

5.9.1. According to the impact evaluation presented in previous Sections and the mitigation strategies recommended in the Annex 16 of the EIAO-TM, i.e. impact avoidance, minimization and compensation, the ecological mitigation measures required during the construction phase of the project will mainly related to:

· implement a work program and site practice that could avoid or minimize the potential disturbance to the habitats and wildlife within or adjacent to the project area, in particular to the Cheung Po EIS at the Tai Wo site; and

· the preservation of floral/faunal species of conservation concern, as well as habitat restoration during the reinstatement of the bankside, embankment and channel bed to compensate for the loss of the semi-natural watercourse/riparian habitats.

Impact Avoidance/Minimization

Work Program

5.9.2. Since the drainage improvement works along existing watercourse will be undertaken section-by section mainly in dry seasons (except the construction of proposed pipe works at Lin Fa Tei being conducted in wet seasons), and any disturbance to the water quality and hydrological characteristics in the upstream area will affect the downstream, the section of watercourse with construction activities should be hydrologically isolated from the rest of the watercourse as far as practicable (except discharge of treated runoff). In addition, the staged construction program should be commenced from downstream upward, with the reinstatement work such as planting of riparian vegetation commenced as soon as the construction activities finished in a particular section to shorten the duration and extensiveness of the ecological impact from the temporary habitat loss. The proposed pipe works at Lin Fa Tei will be constructed during wet seasons as the construction of new drainage pipes will not be constrained by any existing flow.

Good Site Practice

5.9.3. As a general measure to avoid or minimize the potential disturbance to the habitats and wildlife inhabited within or adjacent to the work sites, besides implementing the mitigation measures detailed in Section 6.7 to avoid any deterioration in water quality downstream of the project area, the following good site practice as detailed in Table 5-21 below should be implemented during the construction phase of the Project:

Table 5-21 Good Site Practice to Avoid/Minimize the Potential Disturbance to Habitat/Wildlife during the Construction Stage

Objectives	Measures
Disturbance Avoidance	· Effective implementation of an Environmental Management Systems in accordance with the ISO 14001 for all work sites; · Effective implementation of mitigation measures recommended for dust suppression, noise reduction, as well as water quality and waste management as detailed in other sections of this EIA report; · Effective implementation of the Tree Preservation Measures as detailed in the guidelines published by the Tree Management Office; · Staff awareness training on the ecological importance of the riverine habitats and inhabited wildlife, as well as briefing on the mitigation measures recommended in this report; · Well defined and fenced Work Area with hoarding as far as possible to prevent intentional or accidental encroachment or trespassing into the adjacent habitats for access, parking and operation of plants/machineries, as well as stockpiling of construction material or waste; · Fence off any potentially ecologically sensitive resources within the work area with warning signpost; · Water diversion by means of submerged water pump should be avoided as far as practicable to prevent obstruction of wildlife movement along the channel; · Waste and refuse should be stored or dumped in appropriate receptacles and on-site burning of waste should be strictly prohibited; · Excavated material should be properly covered or promptly disposed, and opportunities to stockpile and backfill the topsoil should be explored; · No chemical should be stockpiled on-site until absolutely necessary; · On-site maintenance of plant/machineries/vehicle should be avoided as far as practicable · Silt/ Sediment/ Oil traps should be installed to avoid direct discharge of effluent or site run-off; · Regular ecological checks
Minimization of Disturbance to Wildlife	· Cut down of vegetation during site clearance should be in stages before groundwork takes place as such to disperse any wildlife that is sheltering in the immediate area; · minimise vehicle access

Objectives

Measures

Disturbance Avoidance

· Effective implementation of an Environmental Management Systems in accordance with the ISO 14001 for all work sites;

· Effective implementation of mitigation measures recommended for dust suppression, noise reduction, as well as water quality and waste management as detailed in other sections of this EIA report;

· Effective implementation of the Tree Preservation Measures as detailed in the guidelines published by the Tree Management Office;

· Staff awareness training on the ecological importance of the riverine habitats and inhabited wildlife, as well as briefing on the mitigation measures recommended in this report;

· Well defined and fenced Work Area with hoarding as far as possible to prevent intentional or accidental encroachment or trespassing into the adjacent habitats for access, parking and operation of plants/machineries, as well as stockpiling of construction material or waste;

· Fence off any potentially ecologically sensitive resources within the work area with warning signpost;

· Water diversion by means of submerged water pump should be avoided as far as practicable to prevent obstruction of wildlife movement along the channel;

· Waste and refuse should be stored or dumped in appropriate receptacles and on-site burning of waste should be strictly prohibited;

· Excavated material should be properly covered or promptly disposed, and opportunities to stockpile and backfill the topsoil should be explored;

· No chemical should be stockpiled on-site until absolutely necessary;

· On-site maintenance of plant/machineries/vehicle should be avoided as far as practicable

· Silt/ Sediment/ Oil traps should be installed to avoid direct discharge of effluent or site run-off;

· Regular ecological checks

Minimization of Disturbance to Wildlife

· Cut down of vegetation during site clearance should be in stages before groundwork takes place as such to disperse any wildlife that is sheltering in the immediate area;

· minimise vehicle access

Mitigation Measures to Avoid Potential Impact to Cheung Po EIS

5.9.4. The Cheung Po EIS is approximately 50m south of the nearest work site at Tai Wo and only buffered from the construction activities by an open grassland, and both of these habitats would be prone to the direct and indirect disturbance caused from the construction activities nearby, in particular any effluents that may be discharged actively or passively into the EIS through the buffered grassland or directly into the EIS. Therefore, in addition to the good site practice recommended in previous sections, the following measures are also recommended to avoid/minimize any potential disturbance to the EIS and the grassland buffer:

· the construction work in Tai Wo should be scheduled in the dry season and sand bags or other similar facilities should be placed along the southern boundary to the work site to prevent any accidental discharge of effluent into the buffered grassland and EIS under adverse weather condition;

· discharge of any effluent, either by means of soakaway or direct discharge to nearby waterways, should be directed away from the grassland buffer and the EIS

Preservation of Faunal species of Conservation Concern

5.9.5. Two freshwater crab species of conservation concern were recorded within the work sites during the ecological baseline survey, including the Somanniathelphusa zankloni recorded at Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che; as well as the Cryptopotamon anacoluthon recorded in the upstream area at Ha Che. Both species are endemic to Hong Kong and considered to be “Endangered” and “Vulnerable” by the IUCN respectively. The construction activities of the project will unavoidably disturb their natural habitats and potentially causing a direct loss of these two species because of their limited mobility.

5.9.6. Although measures such as undertaking the site clearance and ground work in stages to disperse the wildlife inhabited in the immediate area have been proposed, because of the ecological significance of these two species, it is recommended to conduct pre-construction survey to check any freshwater crab species of conservation concern within the site boundary and the cut-off section of the project’s watercourse at Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che. Should any be found, these species should be captured and translocated to suitable habitat free from any development pressure and in close proximity to the project sites wherever feasible and monitored for a minimum of 12 months period after translocation. The project proponent will assume overall responsibility for the translocation work including the pre- and post- translocation survey and monitoring.

5.9.7. An Ecologist with relevant experience in freshwater habitats should prepare a “Freshwater Crab Translocation Plan” for the approval of AFCD. The Plan should detail the methodology and logistics of the pre-construction survey of freshwater crab, capture and translocation program, including the frequency and timing of field survey, details of the receptor site(s), logistics, equipment and measures to be deployed during the process, as well as the requirements for the post-translocation monitoring. In addition, since the drainage work will be undertaken section-by-section, it is also recommended that, before the commencement of construction work in a new section, the site should be inspected by the Ecologist to confirm no inhabitation of these two freshwater crab species, and if found they should be promptly captured and translocated in accordance with the approved translocation plan.

5.9.8. The selected receptor site(s) should match with the habitat requirements of these two freshwater crab species and free of any development pressure to ensure their long term survivorship after translocation. According to the published literatures (including Ng and Dudgeon, 1992; Dudgeon, 1999; Stanton and Leven, 2016 and Stanton et al., 2017), Somanniathelphusa zanklon inhabited in a variety of lotic and lentic lowland habitats and would prefers unpolluted riverine habitats with slow-flowing low-gradient streams, where it burrows in mud and clay banks, as well as the roots of floating plants or the trailing roots and stems of the riparian grasses and other vegetation. In addition, this species is omnivorous with strongly carnivorous tendency, and prefer gastropod prey with light and fragile shells. For Cryptopotamon anacoluthon, it is mostly numerous in upland areas where the stream is shallow with clear, fast-flowing water, rocky substratum, as well as accumulations of leaf-litter, in which the latter is functioned as shelter and food source of this species.

Preservation of Floral species of Conservation Concern

5.9.9. Several floral species of conservation concern has been recorded within the 500m Study Area during the baseline ecological survey. A protected tree species, Aquilaria sinensis, has been recorded in the riparian woodland outside the site boundary of Sung Shan New Village. As there is no direct conflict between Aquilaria sinensis (seedling) and the proposed works within the site boundary of the works, this tree species within the vicinity will be protected and retained during construction in accordance with DEVB TCW No. 4/2020 Tree preservation. However, before the commencement of construction work including site clearance within the site boundary of at Sung Shan New Village, Tai Wo, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che, a baseline vegetation survey with the aims to ascertain the location and/or the presence of any floral species of conservation concern - including but not limited to the recorded Aquilaria sinensis, as well as investigate the feasibility and practicability to protect and retain those individual, should be undertaken by an Ecologist with relevant experience in conducting vegetation survey in Hong Kong.

Impact Compensatory Mitigation

Mitigation Measures to Compensate the Loss of Riverine Habitat inhabited with Species of Conservation Concern within the Project Sites

5.9.10. Minor to moderate or moderate impact from the temporary and long term loss of the 1.1 ha or ~2285 m long riverine habitats at Sung Shan New Village (0.35 ha/ ~600m of semi-natural watercourse), Lin Fa Tei (0.45 ha/~960m of semi-natural watercourse) and Ha Che (0.22 ha/ ~550m of semi-natural watercourse as well as 0.08 ha/ ~175m channelized watercourse) has been predicted and such impact should be mitigated by habitat restoration during the reinstatement and greening of the channel bed and embankment. The DSD Practice Note No. 1/2015 Guidelines on Environmental and Ecological Considerations for River Channel Design, which provide a guideline on channel design for all DSD projects has presented and discussed the principle and ecological benefits of different designs to enhance the ecological value of the engineered channel, should be referenced during the process as far as practicable.

5.9.11. According to the latest engineering information, the locations considered suitable for implementing the habitat compensatory mitigation are shown in the Figures 2.2 to 2.5B. Table 5-22 below shows the dimension of the green channel to be constructed in each of the villages and the overall compensatory ratio. A 1:1 compensation ratio, either in term of the area or length of watercourses with minor to moderate value to be lost to the Project, would be achieved.

Table 5-22 Dimension of Green Channel to be Constructed as Compensatory Habitat

Compensation Requirement $	Sung Shan New Village^#1		Tai Wo		Lin Fa Tei^#2		Ha Che^#3
Compensation Requirement $	Area	Length	Area	Length	Area	Length	Area	Length
Permanent Loss of Semi-natural watercourse within site boundary	0.30 ha	600 m^^	n/a	n/a	0.40 ha	830 m	0.21 ha	520 m
Permanent Loss of Semi-natural watercourse outside site boundary^	0.05 ha	-	n/a	n/a	0.05 ha	130 m	0.01 ha	30 m
Permanent Loss of Channelized watercourse outside site boundary^	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.01 ha	25m
Temporary Loss of Channelised watercourse	n/a	n/a	-	-	-	-	0.07 ha	150 m
Total	0.35 ha	600 m	-	-	0.45 ha	960 m	0.30 ha	725 m
Re-instated “Green Channel”	0.49 ha	610 m	-	-	0.42 ha	930 m	0.23 ha	770 m
Compensated Ratio	~140%	~102%			~93%	~97%	~77%	~106%
Overall loss of Semi-natural and Channelised watercourses	2285m 1.1 ha
Overall Ratio	~104% in area or 101% in length
$ Loss of Watercourse Habitats with Minor to Moderate Ecological Impact ^ The Area include the loss of those watercourse sections that would be cut-off from the project’s stream and predicted to have a minor to moderate impact, and only those sections where there are no share boundary to the project’s site would be included in the “Length” parameter. ^^ The concerned existing semi-natural watercourse (about 160m) encroaches both within and outside site boundary. The portion of the existing semi-natural watercourse fell within the site boundary will be included in the compensatory assessment, while the portion of the existing semi-natural watercourse fell outside the site boundary will not be dual counted in the compensatory assessment. For details, refer to Figure 5.13. ^#1The width and depth of the existing semi-natural and channelised watercourses at Sung Shan New Village are approximately 6m – 8m and 2m – 3m, respectively. The width and depth of the Re-instated “Green channel” at Sung Shan New Village are approximately 7.5m – 8m and 3 – 5m, respectively. ^#2The width and depth the existing semi-natural watercourse at Lin Fa Tei are approximately 1.5m – 6m and 1.5m – 2.5m, respectively. The width and depth the existing channelised watercourse at Lin Fa Tei are approximately 6m and 2.5m, respectively. The width and depth of the Re-instated “Green channel” at Lin Fa Tei are approximately 2m – 4.8m, and 1.7m – 3.7m, respectively. ^#3The width and depth the existing semi-natural watercourse at Ha Che are approximately 2.5m – 6m and 2.5m, respectively. The width and depth the existing channelised watercourse at Ha Che are approximately 2.5m – 4.5m and 2.5m – 3.5m, respectively The width and depth of the Re-instated “Green channel” at Ha Che are approximately 3m – 6.5m, and 1.8m – 3.1m, respectively.

5.9.12. On the other hand, in order to mitigate the loss of habitats for the recorded wildlife of conservation concern, in particular the two endemic crab species which have specific habitat requirements as descried in Section 5.9.8, the following structural and vegetative elements, in which once established could also provide habitat for the Greater Painted Snipe, should be incorporated into the channel and greening design wherever the cross-section or layout of the channel allowed (a graphical illustration of those features is presented in Figure 5.17 and the profiles of the original watercourse and proposed green channels are presented in Figures 5.18 - 5.20).

Instream

5.9.13. The channel bed should be laid with original natural substrate composed of a mix of particles of different grain size, i.e. ranged from sand to boulder as far as the site condition and hydraulic capacity allowed, and the original natural substrates found within the watercourses should be retained and reintroduced to the reinstated channels after the construction works as far as practicable. If those areas could only be created intermittently within the channel bed, they should be physically connected by corridor fringed with vegetation, such as low flow channel lined with natural substrate or area along the toe zone of embankment where riparian vegetation would be established as such to minimize the effect of habitat fragmentation and potential obstruction of wildlife movement along the channel.

5.9.14. Elements that create roughness in the channel, such as a sinuous channel, channel deflector and constrictor (including gabion, boulder clusters or small vegetated island), weir, and rock vane should be strategically installed in the channel bed to create pools, riffles and water turbulence, trap suspended sediment as well as allow organic debris deposition, and hence increase the complexity of the flow pattern and availability of different types of micro-habitats and ecological niche available for aquatic wildlife.

5.9.15. In addition, in order to enhance fine materials holding capacity of any pools or riffles and facilitate the colonization of the aquatic fauna, round shapes rock would be more preferable, and the cervices formed should also be filled with a mixture of pebbles, gravel and sand to facilitate the establishment of aquatic plants and colonization of wildlife. Moreover, large rocks or boulders will be placed randomly on the top layer of natural bedding to prevent the natural substrate and riparian vegetation in the green channel from being washed away. The ground beams within the natural bedding will also help to hold the natural bedding material in position at the channel base, while the channel bed would not be lined with concrete in green channel. The minimum depth of filling natural gravels/pebbles/stone/sand is 500mm, with width equaling to full width of the channel.

Riparian Zone

5.9.16. Riparian vegetation along the toe zone of the embankment is an important habitat for aquatic fauna, especially the freshwater crabs recorded within the project areas where the animal is known to dwell among the submerged vegetative part of the riparian vegetation. Therefore, it is recommended to incorporate constantly-submerged vegetated ledge/aquatic planting bay along the toe zone of the channel for the establishment of riparian vegetation band, in which the emerged or submerged parts of the latter would provide shelter and refuge for the habitation of the Somanniathelphusa zanklon and other aquatic wildlife. Those planting area should be filled either with geobag or a mix of fine particles, and should also be allow trapping and settlement of silt particle to create a muddy habitat as favored by the freshwater crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon.

5.9.17. The upper section of the embankment should also be vegetated with a mix of woody and herbaceous plants wherever suitable and adequate planting space available to promote the diversity of riparian vegetation and detritus input to the aquatic system for the aquatic fauna colonized in the channel.

5.9.18. In addition, in order to restore the habitat for the freshwater crab Cryptopotamon anacoluthon which prefer shallow water accumulated with dense leaf-litter, opportunity for tree planting within the embankment by planting bay should be explored, and inclusion of deciduous tree species in the greening design along the channel side, especially in the upstream section at Ha Che where the animal was recorded, should also be included to ensure adequate leaf litter input would be presented for the use of this species.

5.9.19. The plant species selected for the reinstatement and restoration of the riparian habitat should make reference to those existing species recorded in-situ and avoid any exotic or invasive species as far as possible, and comprised with a mix of different growth forms to increase the habitat heterogeneity and hence the ecological niche provided by the riparian vegetation.

5.9.20. Despite the proposed green channel would be rectangular in shape so as to optimize its hydraulic capacity under the existing site constraints (see Section 2), with the incorporation of an assorted ecological-friendly features as described above, in particularly re-provisioning of habitats for the two endemic freshwater crabs, as well as preclude of any potential intrusive physical and/or hydrological disturbance of the channel through a clear delineation of its boundary and fencing, as a whole the various ecological niche provided by the green channel should be able to mitigate the loss of the watercourse habitat with “minor to moderate” or “moderate” ecological value. The proposed green channels including vegetation and hardware maintenance will be maintained by the project proponent.

5.9.21. In order to ensure the reinstated habitat could compensate the loss of the important riverine habitat, a Habitat Creation and Management Plan (HCMP), detailed with the approach and design features that could facilitate and promote the colonization of the freshwater crab and other wildlife after the reinstatement work, should be prepared with a collaboration of a drainage engineer, an ecologist, as well as a landscape architect, and submitted to the AFCD for review and approval before the commencement of the construction works. In addition, the HCMP should also detail the monitoring program to monitor the physical environment of the restored habitat including the water quality, water current, as well as the establishment of riparian vegetation and the biota assemblage recolonize in the reinstated channel.

5.9.22. Finally, despite the impact from potential interruption of movement across the widened channel for the terrestrial and/or amphibious wildlife is considered to be minor and potential passage would still be available in the shallower section (i.e., 2m deep) of the channels or through the climbing plants clinged on the embankment, as an enhancement measures, it is recommended to include features that could facilitate the movement of wildlife in the proposed channel design, such as strategic placement of escape ramp at the vertical embankment of the proposed channels to prevent wildlife wash down from upstream, while the provision of wire mesh at the toe of along the proposed railings except the locations with escape ramp to prevent wildlife falling into the proposed channels. The potential locations and conceptual design of the proposed escape ramps and wire mesh are shown in Figure 5.21; and the design details of such features, including the installation locations, material, gradient, width and length of the ramp, as well as mesh size and extent of the wire mesh, should also be specified and included in the HCMP for AFCD’s agreement.

Operation Phase

5.9.23. The operation phase impact is mainly related to the maintenance activities that may be required to maintain or restore the hydraulic capacity and the aesthetic of the channel and its structure, and vegetation maintenance of the planted or self-seeded plant on the bank side and embankment would also be required. In order to minimize the potential ecological impact associated with those maintenance activities, the following mitigation measures related to work planning and site practice are recommended:

· Any maintenance activities within the channel bed should be scheduled in the dry season and beyond the breeding season of the freshwater crab, which normally spawning in the wet season;

· Provide staff awareness training on the ecological importance of the riverine habitats and inhabited wildlife and remind the team to minimize unnecessary disturbance to the channel;

· The use of powered equipment should be with cautions to avoid accidental spillage of oil or fuel into the water body ; and

· If dredging or desilting is required, it should be undertaken in dry season and section-by-section to disperse any wildlife that may be sheltering in the immediate area, and vehicle access and the use of powered equipment should be minimized

5.9.24. The table below summarizes the findings of the impact assessment as well as the mitigation measures recommended.

Table 5-23 Summary on the Ecological Impact Assessment and Corresponding Mitigation Measures Recommended

IMPACT NATURE	PROJECT SITE	IMPACT SEVERITY	MITIGATION MEASURES*
Construction Phase
Temporary/Long term Loss of Ecological Habitat and Associated Impact to Carrying Capacity and Ecological Linkage.	SSNV	Minor to moderate for semi-natural watercourse, minor for others	1. Stage construction and commence reinstatement work as soon as possible 2. Habitat restoration during the reinstatement and greening of the channel bed and embankment
	LFT	Minor to moderate for semi-natural watercourse, minor for others
	HC	Moderate for a section of 320m long channelized watercourse, minor to moderate for semi-natural watercourse, and minor for other habitats
	TW	Minor	n/a
Indirect Loss of Watercourse Habitat beyond the Site Boundary	SSNV	Minor to moderate	1. Habitat restoration during the reinstatement and greening of the channel bed and embankment
	LFT	Minor to moderate
	HC	Minor or minor to moderate
	TW	nil	n/a
Direct Loss of Flora and Fauna from Construction Activity	SSNV	Minor	1. Good Site practice
	LFT	Minor	1. Good Site practice 2. Baseline vegetation survey and if feasible protect and retain any floral species of conservation concern recorded 3. Pre-construction survey and if needed translocation of freshwater crab
	HC	Generally minor but moderate for the freshwater crab Cryptopotamon anacoluthon
	TW	Minor	1. Good Site practice
Disturbance to Aquatic/Terrestrial Habitats from Site Run-off	SSNV	Minor but could be moderate if lengthy recovery of the affected habitats required	1. Good Site practice
	LFT	Minor but could be moderate if lengthy recovery of the affected habitats required
	HC	Minor but could be moderate if lengthy recovery of the affected habitats required
	TW	Minor but could be moderate to high if lengthy recovery of the Cheung Po EIS required	1. Good site practice 2. Work scheduled in dry season 3. Installation of barrier to control the inflow of surface runoff from project site
Disturbance to the Surrounding Habitat from Construction Activities	SSNV	Minor	1. Good Site practice
	LFT	Minor
	HC	Minor but could be moderate to severe if affecting the watercourses north and east of the Shui Kan Shek Tsuen
	TW	Minor but could be moderate to severe if affecting the Cheung Po EIS	1. Good site practice 2. Work scheduled in dry season 3. Installation of barrier to control the inflow of surface runoff from project site
Direct/Indirect Physical Disturbance to Flora/Fauna in the Surrounding Habitats from Construction Activities	SSNV	Minor	1. Good Site practice
	LFT	Minor
	HC	Minor but could be moderate to high if the physical and hydrological condition of the nearby habitat of the HK Newt and two freshwater crabs east of the site boundary at Shui Kan Shek being severely altered or disturbed
	TW	Minor but could be moderate to high if the physical and hydrological condition of the nearby riverine habitats of the freshwater crab Somanniathelphusa zanklon being severely altered or disturbed	1. Good site practice 2. Work scheduled in dry season 3. Installation of barrier to control the inflow of surface runoff from project site
Direct/Indirect Disturbance to the Wildlife from Fragmentation and Potential Interruption of Movement Corridor	SSNV	Minor	1. Good Site practice
	LFT
	HC
	TW
Potential Impact to Recognized Sites of Conservation Importance	SSNV	Negligible	n/a
	LFT
	HC
	TW	see above for Cheung Po EIS
Operational Phase
Impact to the Riverine Ecosystem from the Maintenance Activities of the Engineered Channel	All sites	depend on nature, duration, scale and intensity of such maintenance operation, and would range from insignificant to severe if extensive removal of the vegetation established within the engineering channel and/or extensive desilting that involve removal of the natural substrate is required	1. proper work scheduling 2. awareness training of maintenance crew 3. good maintenance practice
Interruption and Obstruction of Wildlife Movement from the Deepened/widened Channel	All sites	Minor	1. provision of escape ramp as enhancement features

* details refer to S.5.9

5.10 Cumulative and Residual Impact

Cumulative Impact

5.10.1. As mentioned in Table 2.4, the potential interfacing project identified at this stage of the study includes road improvement works to Fan Kam Road. Given that the work areas of the project would likely confined to the developed or village areas with minimal disturbance to riverine habitats, cumulative impact on the existing ecological resources within the Study Area, in particular watercourse or riverine habitat, would be expected to be minimal.

Residual Impact

5.10.2. Despite “Minor to moderate” or “moderate” ecological impact have been predicted/identified from the proposed drainage improvement works at the 4 project areas, with the implementation of various corresponding mitigation measures as summarized in Table 5-23 above, including avoidance and minimization measures to mitigate the potential impact (such as direct loss of species of conservation concern or disturbance to the adjacent habitats), as well as the provisioning of “green channel” in-situ to compensate the direct loss of the 1.1 ha or ~2285 m long riverine habitats with a ratio of 1:1 (in terms of both area and length), there would be no residual ecological impact from the Project, and off-site mitigation measures would not be required.

5.11 Environmental Monitoring and Audit Requirements

Construction Phase

5.11.1. A range of ecological mitigation measures have been recommended in the previous Sections to avoid, minimize or compensate the potential ecological impact that could be resulted from the drainage improvement project, and most of them are related to the good site management and work practice that should be audited on a regular basis by the Environmental Team (ET) during the regular site check. In particular, the ET should checked and ensure that the construction activities have not trespassed into the watercourses beyond the work sites, and sandbags or other similar facilities that could will be installed to prevent the site runoff from the Tai Wo site entering the Cheung Po EIS.

5.11.2. On the other hand, the effectiveness of the Freshwater Crab Translocation Plan should be monitored by an Ecologist of the ET, in accordance with the monitoring requirements to be defined in the approved Freshwater Crab Translocation Plan, and the implementation of the Habitat Creation and Management Plan should also be regularly audited during the re-instatement work.

Operation Phase

5.11.3. Suitable habitats for the affected aquatic fauna have been recommended as mitigation measures during the re-instatement and greening of the widened channel. The re-colonization of those affected fauna in the widened channel would depend on the natural recruitment of eggs, juvenile or adult from similar habitat in the vicinity, in particular the watercourse upstream or downstream of the project area which may share similar habitat characteristics of the project site. The habitat quality and continual existence of any faunal communities in the engineered channels would also be subject to the land use status and management practice of the private land lots in the adjacent areas.

5.11.4. Therefore, it is recommended that the operational phase monitoring should focus on the habitat quality of the reinstated channel, such as the coverage and community structure of the established riparian and channel vegetation, the community structure and diversity of the fauna assemblage in the riverine habitats, the diversity of micro-habitats available for faunal use, the water quality, as well as abundance of detritus in the channel, etc.

5.11.5. In addition, it is also recommended to cover the area within 100m upstream and downstream of the project sites during the first and last session of the monitoring, in which the data collected off-site could act as a reference for evaluating the ecological functions performed by the reinstated channel.

5.11.6. The post-construction monitoring should last for at least a 3 years period and undertaken by an Ecologist of the ET with relevant experience. The details of the monitoring program, including methodology, frequency and monitoring parameters should follow those presented in the HCMP approved by AFCD.

5.12 Summary

5.12.1. The potential ecological impact from the proposed drainage improvement project at Yuen Long has been evaluated in accordance with the applicable Technical Memorandum of the EIAO. The project will cover four village areas, namely Sung Shan New Village, Tai Wo, Lin Fa Tei and Ha Che, and a total no. of 14 habitat types and 41 species of local or global conservation concern has been delineated and identified within the 500m Study Area of each work site. Because most of the work site is adjacent to rural village and hence bordered by man-made or heavily disturbed habitats, only a few natural or semi-natural habitats and species of conservation concern will be directly or indirectly affected by the project, including the semi-natural watercourse , one protected plant species (Aquilaria sinensis), as well as two species of endemic freshwater crab which has been categorised as “endangered” (Somanniathelphusa zanklon) and “vulnerable” to extinction (Cryptopotamon anacoluthon) by the IUCN. The drainage improvement works which involve widening and deepening of the existing watercourses in Ha Che and Lin Fa Tei will unavoidably destroy their habitat and potentially affect local population of these two species in the Kam Tin area. As a whole for the proposed Project which cover a length of ~2800m watercourse, the ecological impact from the potential permanent loss of 2110 m long semi-natural watercourse habitat and 25m long channelized watercourse are considered to be minor to moderate and moderate respectively.

5.12.2. A range of good site management and construction practice, as well as scheduling of the work program have been recommended to avoid or minimize the ecological impact to the valuable ecological resources recorded within or in the vicinity of the work areas. Translocation of the two endemic crab species to area protected from anthropogenic disturbance or development pressure within the Kam Tin Valley has been recommended before the commencement of the construction work. Implementation principle and guidelines has been suggested in this assessment and the details including monitoring requirement will be presented in a “Freshwater Crab Translocation Plan” to be prepared by an Ecologist of the ET for AFCD’s approval.

5.12.3. Furthermore, the reinstatement of the widened channels has provided an opportunity to mitigate the ecological functions provided by the lost riverine habitat, and a range of features and greening approach have been suggested to enhance the ecological quality of the restored habitat, including those suitable for the recolonization of the two endemic crab species. Accordingly, a HCMP collaborated by drainage engineer, ecologist and landscape architect has been recommended to detail the restoration process and monitoring strategy of the mitigation of riverine habitat,

5.12.4. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the widened channels are open habitat and its riparian habitats and the flora and fauna that could be established or colonised within the work site is subject to the habitat quality and intensity of anthropogenic activities in the adjacent areas. Therefore, the effectiveness of the habitat restoration should focus on the spectrum and breadth of the ecological functions performed by the restored habitat.

5.12.5. The Cheung Po EIS is only 50m apart and buffered by grassland from the nearest site boundary of the proposed open channel at Tai Wo, and hence would be prone to any direct/indirect construction disturbance and potentially resulted in a moderate to severe ecological impact; as such in addition to the good site practice, specific mitigation measures including scheduling the construction work in Tai Wo during the dry season and deploying sand bags or other similar facilities along the southern boundary to the work site has been recommended to prevent any accidental discharge of untreated effluent into the buffered grassland and EIS under adverse weather condition. In addition, discharge of any site effluent, either by means of soakaway or direct discharge to nearby waterways, should be directed away from the grassland buffer and the EIS.

5.12.6. Tai Lam Country Park and Lam Tsuen Country Park are avoided and located some distances away from the project sites. Hence, no direct or indirect ecological impact to these sites of conservation interest and the ecological resources within would be resulted from the Project.

5.12.7. Finally, with the implementation of the various mitigation measures recommended in this assessment, there will be no residual ecological impact from the project and off-site mitigation measures would not be required.

5.13 References

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