EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is the thirteenthv EM & A Report for the project of Footbridge and Improvements to Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road & Ap Lei Chau Drive.

This report mainly presents the EM & A works undertaken for the above project from 1 May 2004 to 31 May 2004 in accordance with the EM & A Manual and the Environmental Permit (EP 130/2002) under the Appendix H of the Particular Specification.

Breach of AL Levels

L_{eq (30min)} noise level measurement was performed at four monitoring points namely M1, M2, M3 and M4. M1 is for the Ap Lei Chau Baptist Kindergarten (NSR Ref. no.10). M2 is for the Harbour Mission Church and Yan Oi Kindergarten (NSR Ref. no. 12). M3 is for the Hong Kong True Light College (NSR Ref. no. 17). M4 is for the Shan On House (NSR Ref. no. 20). Since the sensitive receivers on M1, M2 and M3 are for educational uses, the noise limit level is 70 dB(A) during normal school hours and 65 dB(A) during examination period. For the sensitive receiver on M4, the noise limit level is 75 dB(A) as it is a domestic premise.

The construction noise monitoring was conducted on the 6^th, 12^th, 20^th and 28^thof May 2004. All the measured noise levels at the three monitoring stations (M1, M2 and M4) were below the noise limit level.

The measured noise levels at the monitoring station M3 were always higher than the targeted limit level. As reflected from the baseline noise monitoring data, the noise level, which was mainly due to traffic generated from heavy goods vehicles such as double deck buses on Lei Tung Estate Road, exceeded the limit level. The ET has proposed a new exceedance level on early May and was accepted by the EPD. Hence, the new exceedance level of 76.0 dB(A) during normal schoolday and 75.2 dB(A) during examination period will be adopted by in the subsequent noise measurements. In May, all the measured noise levels at M3 were below the noise limit level.

Complaint log & Others

No written complaint was received during the reporting period. No notifications of summons, no successful prosecutions were received during the reporting period.

Future Key Issues

Adverse influence on both air quality and noise level is anticipated from future construction activities. The Contractor should carry out good site practice to minimise the potential construction dust and noise pollution.

The Contractor should exert himself to eliminate the presence of accumulation of stagnant water to avoid the breeding of mosquitoes and the spread of dengue fever. Surface runoff especially generated from mini-piling works should be properly treated through sedimentation tank prior to discharging to stormwater drain.

To improve the hygiene condition of the site, the Contractor should provide rubbish bins where necessary and remove the rubbish, if any, within the site area.

1.0 ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS

1.1 Background

Peako Engineering Co. Ltd was commissioned by the Highways Departments to execute the Project “Footbridge and Improvements to Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road and Ap Lei Chau Drive”.

Babtie Asia Ltd was employed by the Contractor to act as the Environmental Team for this project. The Independent Environmental Checker is BMT Asia Pacific Limited.

The purpose of this report is to document the Environmental Monitoring & Audit (EM & A) works in the period between 1 May 2004 and 31 May 2004.

1.2 Project Organization & Contact Details of Key Personnel

Titles, names and contact telephone numbers of the key personnel of the captioned project are tabulated below:

Title	Name	Contact Number
Engineer’s Representative (Highways Department)	Mr. W. M. Chan	2231 5722
EPD	Mr. Elvis Au	2835 1964
Project Director (Contractor)	Mr. Ronnie Lo	9144 8398
Project Manager (Contractor)	Mr. Steve C L Liu	9551 1401
Site Agent (Contractor)	Mr. C. P. Lam	8206 8280
Environmental Team Leader (Babtie Asia Limited)	Mr. Mark Cheung	2880 9788
Independent Environmental Checker (BMT Asia Pacific Limited)	Ms. Lyn Ip	2241 9812

The project organization and lines of communication with respect to the environmental monitoring works is shown below.

1.3 Construction Programme

The whole project will involve four key construction stages:

· footbridge construction;

· retaining wall construction;

· road construction; and

· drainage works

The overall construction period will be about 20 months. Night-time works are not expected during the construction phase of the Project.

The latest construction programme is attached in Appendix A. This construction programme is subject to continuous refinement.

1.4 Site Management Structure

The site organization chart is shown as Appendix B.

1.5 Scope of Works

The works for this project are divided into five major items

Item 1 – Junction improvements to J/O Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road / Ap Lei Chau Drive, Ap Lei Chau Drive / Ap Lei Chau Praya Road, and widening of Ap Lei Chau Drive.

Item 2 – Construction / modification of the footpaths and central reserves at Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road, Ap Lei Chau Drive, and Lei Tung Estate Road.

Item 3 – Construction / modification of the retaining walls at Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road for the construction of a staircase, a ramp and an elevated footpath.

Item 4 – Construction of a footbridge at Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road.

Item 5 – Ancillary works including slope works, landscaping works and drainage works.

1.6 Works undertaken during the reporting period with illustrations

The works undertaken in May 2004 were as follows:

· Stem Wall Construction at CW2

· Carriageway Construction and Underground Drainage Work

· Soil Nail and Piling Work

· Demolition of the Existing Retaining Wall at CW1

The photos showing the above works are shown in Appendix C.

1.7 Project Area, Sensitive Receivers & Monitoring Locations

The drawings showing the project area, noise sensitive receivers (NSRs) and the locations of the monitoring stations are shown in Appendix D.

The construction noise monitoring stations are M1, M2, M3 and M4.

M1 is for the Ap Lei Chau Baptist Kindergarten (NSR Ref. no.10). M2 is for the Harbour Mission Church and Yan Oi Kindergarten (NSR Ref. no. 12). M3 is for the Hong Kong True Light College (NSR Ref. no. 17). M4 is for the Shan On House (NSR Ref. no. 20).

It is noted that the locations of the monitoring stations are the same as those adopted in the Noise Baseline Monitoring.

2.0 IMPLEMENTATION STATUS

2.1 Construction Phase

Impacts on the nearby sensitive receivers were identified during various construction stages. Appropriate mitigation measures such as use of quiet plant, reducing percentage on time, avoidance of simultaneous noisy activities have been recommended to reduce the associated impacts.

According to the EIA report, the following should be implemented during the construction period.

Location

Reference Section

Recommended Environmental Protection Measures

Responsibility

Construction Noise Mitigation Measures

Various Locations and work sites within the project limit

Section 5.2.4 & 5.2.5 of EIA Report

Reduce the nuisance from Construction Noise

· Adopt good site practice and proper site management, e.g. plant shall be well maintained and mobile plant shall be sited away from NSRs;

· Use of quiet plant, such as dump truck, grader, breaker and excavator, and working methods;

· Control the number of equipment operating concurrently;

· Reduce the operating time of particular noisy plant on site, e.g. shutting down machines between work periods;

· Monitor noise levels from particularly noisy activities; and if non-compliance with EIAO-TM standards is observed, Contractor shall reduce the number of operating plant or re-adjust working schedule to reduce the impact.

Highways Department

and

Contractor

Location

Reference Section

Recommended Environmental Protection Measures

Responsibility

Construction Dust Mitigation Measures

Various Locations and work sites within the project limit

Section 6.2.2 of EIA Report

Reduce the nuisance of Construction Dust

· Follow the guidelines and regulatory requirements of Air Pollution Control (Open Burning) Regulation and Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation;

· Adopt appropriate environmental pollution control measures on-site, such as, apply water sprays, use clean impervious sheeting to cover dusty materials and set minimum practical height for dropping materials.

Highways Department

and

Contractor

2.2 Advice on the Implementation Status of Environmental Protection & Pollution

Control / Mitigation Measures

2.2.1 Construction Noise Mitigation Measures

The Contractor should use silencers or mufflers on construction equipment such as pneumatic breaker and have air compressors enclosed to avoid exceeding the noise limit and causing nuisance to the nearby sensitive receivers.

Regular maintenance of the construction plant is strongly encouraged to avoid black smoke and excessive noise production. The machines and plant should be shut down or throttled down to a minimum when they are in intermittent use.

The plant known to emit noise strongly in one direction should be orientated to direct noise away from nearby noise sensitive receivers. The mobile plants should be sited as far away from the noise sensitive receivers as possible.

It is important to control the simultaneous operation of the construction plant on site to avoid the potential noise limit exceedance and nuisance to the nearby sensitive receivers especially for those which are for educational purpose. The rock socket excavation of the piling work shall be carried out after school hour to reduce the nuisance to the nearby educational institutions.

The Contractor shall provide temporary noise-insulating facilities such as hoarding, noise barrier at where mostly affected by the Contractor’s construction activities.

The Contractor shall note that the operation of Powered Mechanical Equipment in the restricted hour without the valid Construction Noise Permit is considered a violation of environmental regulations. The Contractor shall exercise tight control over its labourers and sub contractor to prevent carrying out construction activity which breach the current environmental regulations.

3.0 MONITORING RESULTS

3.1 Graphical Plots of the Monitored Parameters

The graphical presentations of the monitored parameters during the reporting period are shown in Appendix G.

3.2 Major Activities During the Reporting Period

Major activities during May 2004 include the following:

· Stem Wall Construction at CW2

· Carriageway Construction and Underground Drainage Work

· Soil Nail and Piling Work

· Demolition of the Existing Retaining Wall at CW1

3.3 Noise Monitoring Methodology

The construction noise monitoring was carried out by using a Sound Level Meter to ensure that exceedance in noise levels could be readily identified and timely action taken to reduce the noise levels within allowable limits.

The sound lever meter was mounted on a tripod at a height of 1.2m above the ground level. This was positioned at least 1m away from any nearby reflective surfaces. During the noise data collection, a portable wind speed meter is adopted to check the wind speed.

Noise monitoring would be cancelled in the presence of fog, rain and wind with a steady speed exceeding 5 m/s, or wind with gusts exceeding 10 m/s.

At the end of the monitoring period, the L_eq, L₁₀ and L₉₀ were recorded. The site conditions and noise sources were recorded on a standard record sheet.

3.4 Noise Monitoring Equipment

The approved integrating Sound Level Meter, Model No. NA-27, in compliance with the International Electrotechnical Commission Publication 651:1979 (Type 1) and 804:1985 (Type 1) specification as referred to in the Technical Memorandum issued under the Noise Control Ordinance (NCO), was used for construction noise measurement.

3.5 Calibration Details

The Sound Level Meter has been taken to a laboratory for calibration. The certificate is shown in Appendix E.

A sound level calibrator, Model No. NC-73, was used to calibrate the Sound Level Meter before and after the measurement on site. The certificate is shown in Appendix E

3.6 Noise Parameters Monitored

The construction noise levels were measured in terms of equivalent A-weighted sound pressure level (L_eq) measured in decibels (dB).

L_eq(30min) was used as the monitoring parameter for the time period between (0700 to 1900) hours on normal weekdays.

The two statistical sound levels L_A10 and L_A90, the level exceeded for 10 and 90 percent of the measurement time respectively, were also recorded as supplementary information for reference.

3.7 Monitoring Locations

The noise baseline monitoring was conducted at four noise sensitive receivers as stated below.

Monitoring Location	Noise Sensitive Receiver	Ref. No. in the EIA Report
M 1	Ap Lei Chau Baptist Kindergarten	10
M 2	The Harbour Mission Church and Yan Oi Kindergarten	12
M 3	The Hong Kong True Light College	17
M 4	Shan On House	20

All the monitoring points are at façade. Hence, no correction of data is required.

Locations of construction noise monitoring stations and photos are shown in Appendix D.

3.8 Monitoring Date, Time, Frequency and Duration

The monitoring frequency will depend on the scale of the construction activities. The following was adopted as an initial arrangement of measurement on the regular monitoring frequency for each station on a per week basis when noise generating activities are underway:

(a) one set of measurements between 0700 – 1900 hours on normal weekdays;

(b) one set of measurements between 1900 – 2300 hours;

(d) one set of measurements between 0700 – 1900 hours on holidays

During the reporting period, the construction noise monitoring followed the scheme (a). The time and duration of measurement are shown in the Appendix F.

3.9 Noise Monitoring Results

The data for noise monitoring is presented in Appendix F.

For M1, the results show that during the reporting period, the noise level is on average 65.7 dB(A) which is below the noise limit level 70 dB(A).

For M2, the results show that during the reporting period, the noise level is on average 67.0 dB(A) which is below the noise limit level 70 dB(A).

For M3, the results show that during the reporting period, the noise level is on average 74.7 dB(A) which is below the new approved exceedance level 76.0 dB(A).

For M4, the results show that during the reporting period, the noise level is on average 66.9 dB(A), which is below the noise limit level 75 dB(A).

The major noise sources during the reporting period include backfilling work of retaining wall near Lee Tung Estate Road, soil nail construction and demolition work of the existing retaining wall near Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road.

3.10 Weather Conditions

The weather conditions were mainly sunny and did not affect the environmental monitoring works during the reporting period.

3.11 Influencing Factors

Other noise source included the noise from the piling works at the site of Architectural Services Department inside the monitoring station M3, True Light College. Also, heavy traffic running along Lei Tung Estate Road contributes to the noise recorded at monitoring station M3.

3.12 Graphical Plots of Trends of Monitored Parameters

The graphical plots of trends of monitored parameters at four monitoring stations are shown in Appendix J.

4.0 RECORD OF NON-COMPLIANCE OF THE ACTION AND LIMIT LEVELS, COMPLAINTS, NOTIFICATIONS OF SUMMONS AND SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTIONS

4.1 Non-compliance of the Action and Limit Levels

4.1.1 Noise

During the reporting period, the measured noise levels were below the noise limit level at the monitoring stations M1, M2 and M4.

Based on the baseline noise monitoring results, heavy traffic along Lei Tung Estate Road mainly contributes to the background noise levels recorded in the vicinity of M3. As the baseline levels already exceed the limit level, the ET had proposed the new exceedance level and was accepted by the EPD in May. The new exceedance level for M3 is determined as 76.0 dB(A) during normal schoolday and 75.2 dB(A) during the examination period.

4.2 Written Complaints and Verbal Complaints

No written and verbal complaint was received during the reporting period.

The following table shows the summary for all the complaints received since the commencement of the Contract.

TOTAL NO. OF COMPLAINT	NO. OF COMPLAINT RECEIVED WITHIN REPORTING PERIOD	NO. OF COMPLAINT THAT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION	NO. OF CLOSED COMPLAINT
3	1	0	3

The statistics for environmental complaint in May and the cumulative statistics for the environmental complaint since the commencement of the construction works are shown in Appendix I.

4.3 Description of Actions taken

No mitigation measures were considered to be necessary as mentioned in Section 4.1.

4.4 Notifications of Summons and Successful Prosecutions

No notifications of summons or successful prosecutions were received by the Contractor regarding the non-compliance of the environmental performance of the construction site during the reporting period.

4.5 Review of the Reasons for and the Implications of Non-Compliance & Complaints

The non-compliance recorded at M3 is both due to the noisy background noise generated from the heavy traffic on Lei Tung Estate Road, the construction works undertaken by the ASD in the Hong Kong True Light College, and the construction noise of the retaining wall construction by the Contractor.

5.0 SITE ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT RESULTS

5.1 Site Inspection by Environmental Team (ET)

Weekly site inspections were conducted by the ET and following deficiency was found during the reporting period.

· Unused oil drum was disposed improperly on site

5.2 Corrective Action taken by the Contractor

· Unused oil drum was transported out of the site

6.0 OTHERS

6.1 Future Key Issue

In the coming month, the following activities will be undertaken.

· Demolition Work

· Ramp Construction Work

· Footbridge Construction

· Temporary Traffic Diversion

Potential environmental impacts arising from the above construction works are mainly associated with dust, noise and site runoff.

Nonetheless, with the implementation of the following mitigation measures, potential impacts to the surrounding sensitive receivers could be minimised.

Construction Dust

· Regular watering of unpaved areas and the dry topsoil.

· Wet by water spraying on any dusty materials before loading and unloading.

· Cover or shelter any stockpile of dusty materials with tarpaulin.

· Investigate other dust sources.

· Prohibit any open burning on site.

· Maintain onsite machinery and vehicles regularly.

· Switch off vehicles and equipments while not in use.

· Erection of tarpaulin barrier to stop the spread of construction dust generated during mini-pile work

Construction Noise

· Carry out good site practice.

· Use quieter plant.

· Adopt quiet working methods.

· Enclose certain type of power mechanical equipment such as generators and compressors.

· Shut down the machines and plant or throttle them down to a minimum when they are in intermittent use between work periods.

· Put the noisy equipment away from nearby NSRs as far as possible.

· Shift the working hours as the last resort.

Construction Site Runoff

· Direct the site runoff to the desilting facilities.

· Desilt the site runoff before discharging it into the stormwater system.

· Avoid direct discharge of wastewater into stormwater drainage system.

Attention should be given to the potential silty effluent resulting from the minipile works (future works) for the footbridge foundation at Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road to ensure it is treated as mentioned above before being discharged.

The Contractor should clean out any sediments or debris which block the stormwater U-channels within the site area. The Contractor should also remove any rubbish within the site area.

The Contractor should exert himself to eliminate the presence of accumulation of stagnant water to avoid the breeding of mosquitoes and the spread of dengue fever.

6.2 Advice on the solid and liquid waste management status

6.2.1 General Refuse

General refuse may be generated by site workers. Bins shall be provided for containment prior to disposal of such waste. The Contractor should avoid the accumulation of waste materials or rubbish on site.

If there is any chemical waste or oil generated by the site, they should be properly treated and disposed of as chemical waste. If applicable, the Contractor should register as a chemical waste producer under the registration of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Environmental awareness shall be encouraged in office so as to reduce volume of office waste.

The accumulation of construction waste materials should be avoided. Segregation of waste and regular removal of waste materials on site are encouraged.

6.2.2 Liquid Waste Management

The accumulation of stagnant water within the construction site should be avoided to eliminate breeding grounds of mosquitoes.

To achieve this, the Contractor should identify potential stagnant areas on the Site, provide personnel to inspect the Site and take necessary rectification action such as sweeping away the stagnant water to ensure no mosquitoes can breed.

To control the silty water, the Contractor should provide sandbags/ bunds to direct site surface runoff to the desilting facilities such as sedimentation tanks. The desilting facilities should be properly operated and maintained. To avoid the breeding of mosquitoes and other insects, the sedimentation tank should not become a pool of stagnant water. Care should also be taken to ensure the capacity of the desilting facilities is sufficient to handle the discharge and to avoid overflow of the silty water.

The Contractor should identify the sources of wastewater generated from the site area. The produced wastewater should be collected and treated prior to disposal.