1.1.1
The 2011-12 Policy
Address announced that the Government would adopt a multi-pronged approach,
including Rock Cavern Development (RCD), for expanding land resources. Civil
Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) took initiative to commission a
study on “Enhancing Land Supply Strategy: Reclamation outside Victoria Harbour
and Rock Cavern Development”.
1.1.2
The Study has
identified three Government facilities (viz. the Diamond Hill Fresh Water and
Salt Water Service Reservoirs (DHSRs), Sham Tseng Sewage Treatment Works and
Sai Kung Sewage Treatment Works) for relocating to caverns and recommended
further detailed feasibility study to identify and address the issues
associated with the relocation proposal.
1.1.3
Water Supplies
Department (WSD) commenced a detailed feasibility study under Agreement No. CE
33/2014 (WS) “Relocation of Diamond Hill Fresh Water and Salt Water Service
Reservoirs to Caverns – Feasibility Study” in December 2014. The result of the
Feasibility Study (FS) affirmed that relocating the DHSRs and associated
facilities to caverns is technically feasible.
1.1.4
The relocation of DHSRs
to caverns (the Project) would generate social benefits from the release of
about 4 hectares of land to address the territorial housing needs and the local
community needs.
1.1.5
Binnies Hong Kong
Limited was commissioned by WSD in December 2018 to undertake the investigation,
design and construction supervision on relocating the DHSRs into caverns. The
project site is shown in Figure 1.1.
1.1.6
In accordance with the
requirements of Section 5(1) of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Ordinance,
a Project Profile (No. PP-582/2019) for the Project was submitted to the
Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) for application for an EIA Study
Brief on 23 May 2019. Pursuant to Section 5(7)(a) of the EIA Ordinance, the DEP
issued a Study Brief (No.:ESB-317/2019) on 28 June 2019 for the EIA study.
1.2
Designated Project
1.2.1
The Project is a Designated
Project under Item Q.2, Part I of Schedule 2 of the Environmental Impact
Assessment Ordinance, "Underground Rock Caverns", which requires an
environmental permit for its construction and operation.
1.3.1
The purpose of the EIA
Study is to provide information on the nature and extent of the environmental
impacts arising from construction and operation of the Project and related
activities that take place concurrently.
This information will contribute to decisions on:
·
the acceptability of potential environmental
consequences that are likely to arise as a result of the Project;
·
the conditions and requirements for the
design, construction and operation of the Project and related activities to
mitigate against potential environmental consequences; and
·
the acceptability of residual impacts after
the proposed mitigation measures are implemented.
1.4.1
The objectives of the
EIA study as stated in the EIA Study Brief are as follows:
a)
to describe the Project and associated works
together with the requirements and environmental benefits for carrying out the
Project;
b)
to identify and describe the elements of the
community and environment likely to be affected by the Project and/or likely to
cause adverse impacts to the Project, including both the natural and man-made
environment and the associated environmental constraints;
c)
to identify and quantify emission sources and
determine the significance of impacts on sensitive receivers and potential
affected uses;
d)
to identify, assess and quantify any
potential ecological impacts arising from the Project including potential
losses or damage to flora, fauna and natural habitats; and to propose measures
to mitigate these impacts;
e)
to identify and quantify waste management
requirements and to propose measures to mitigate these impacts;
f)
to identify any potential landscape and
visual impacts and to propose measures to mitigate these impacts;
g)
to propose the provision of infrastructure or
mitigation measures so as to minimise pollution, environmental disturbance and
nuisance during construction and operation of the Project;
h)
to investigate the feasibility, effectiveness
and implications of the proposed mitigation measures;
i)
to identify, predict and evaluate the
residual environmental impacts (i.e. after practicable mitigation) and the
cumulative effects expected to arise during the construction and operation
phases of the project in relation to the sensitive receivers and potential
affected uses;
j)
to identify, assesses and specify methods,
measures and standards, to be included in the detailed design, construction and
operation phases of the Project which are necessary to mitigate these residual
environmental impacts and cumulative effects and reduce them to acceptable levels;
k)
to design and specify the environmental
monitoring and audit requirements;
l)
to investigate the extent of the secondary
environmental impacts that may arise from the proposed mitigation measures and
to identify constraints associated with the mitigation measures recommended in
the EIA study, as well as the provision of any necessary modification; and
m)
to identify any additional studies necessary
to implement the mitigation measures of monitoring and proposals recommended in
the EIA report.
1.5.1
The background of the
Project, purpose and objectives of this EIA Report are introduced in this
section. A description of the Project and details of considerations of
alternative options and the construction methodologies are provided in Section
2. Sections 3 to 10 detail the results of the environmental assessment of each key
subject area, covering relevant legislation, environmental conditions,
assessment criteria, methodology, and assessment findings.
1.5.2
Sections 3 to 10
include:
·
Section 3: Air Quality Impact
·
Section 4: Noise Impact
·
Section 5: Water Quality Impact
·
Section 6: Waste Management Implications
·
Section 7: Land Contamination
·
Section 8: Ecological Impact
·
Section 9: Landscape and Visual Impact
·
Section 10: Hazard to Life
1.5.3
The outline of the
requirements for the Environmental Monitoring & Audit (EM&A) programme
is presented in Section 11. The EM&A programme and a detailed
implementation schedule of the recommended mitigation measures are presented in
a separate EM&A Manual. A summary of environmental outcomes and conclusion
of the whole assessment is given in Sections 12 and 13, respectively.
1.5.4
An Executive Summary
(ES) has been prepared as a separate document in both Chinese and English which
contains summaries of main issues, findings, conclusions and recommendations.
END OF TEXT