Agreement No.

CE49/2002 (DS)
Drainage Improvement in Southern Lantau
Drainage Services Department Final EIA Report


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3 AIR QUALITY IMPACT
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 This Section presents an assessment of the potential air quality impacts pertinent to the
construction phase of the Project, and recommends appropriate mitigation measures, where
necessary.
3.1.2 Air quality impacts during the construction phase would be mainly associated with dust and
vehicle emissions from various construction activities. Appropriate mitigation measures have
been recommended, where necessary, to alleviate the potential construction dust impacts to
acceptable levels.

3.2 Environmental Legislation and Standards
3.2.1 The criteria for evaluating air quality impacts and the guidelines for air quality assessment are
laid down in Annexes 4 and 12 of the Technical Memorandum on Environmental Impact
Assessment Process (EIAO-TM), respectively.
3.2.2 The Air Pollution Control Ordinance (APCO) provides the statutory authority for controlling
air pollutants from a variety of sources. The Ordinance includes a number of Air Quality
Objectives (AQOs) which stipulate maximum concentrations for a range of pollutants, of
which total suspended particulates (TSP) are relevant to this study. The relevant AQO is listed
in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Hong Kong Air Quality Objectives
Parameter Maximum Average Concentration (gm
-3
)
1

24-Hour
2
Annual
3

TSP 260 80
1. Measured at 298 K and 101.325 kPa.
2 Not to be exceeded more than once per year.
3. Arithmetic mean.

3.2.3 The EIAO-TM also stipulates that the hourly TSP level at sensitive receivers should not
exceed 500 gm
-3
TSP (measured at 25C and one atmosphere) Mitigation measures for
construction sites have been specified in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust)
Regulations.

3.3 Description of the Environment
3.3.1 The sites of the drainage improvement works are located in Mui Wo, Southern Lantau; an area
rural in nature and occupied with mainly village houses. No major air pollutants source was
found in the vicinity of the sites. In the absence of in-situ monitoring data, reference is made
to the annual average concentration of major air pollutants measured at EPDs nearest
monitoring station (Tung Chung) for the last 4 years. The 4-year annual average TSP level at
Tung Chung is 70 gm
-3
according to Hong Kong Air Quality 1999 2002
1
.


1
Air monitoring at the Tung Chung station commenced in April 1999, i.e. only last 4 years data are available.
Agreement No. CE49/2002 (DS)
Drainage Improvement in Southern Lantau
Drainage Services Department Final EIA Report


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3.4 Air Sensitive Receivers
3.4.1 According to Annex 12 of the EIAO-TM, domestic premises, hotel, hostel, hospital, clinic,
nursery, temporary housing accommodation, school, educational institution, office, factory,
shop, shopping centre, place of public worship, library, court of law, sports stadium or
performing arts centre are considered as air sensitive receivers (ASRs). Any other premises or
places having similar sensitivity (in terms of duration or number of people affected) to the air
pollutants may also be considered to be sensitive receivers.
3.4.2 Based on the criteria set out in the EIAO-TM, representative ASRs have been identified close
to the Project site. A brief description of the representative ASRs is summarized in Table 3.2
and the corresponding locations are shown on Figure 3.1.

Table 3.2 Representative Air Sensitive Receivers
NSR Location Use Horizontal Nearest
Distance to Works
Area (m)
Pak Ngan Heung River
APNH1 No. 22 Village House, Tai Tei Tong Residential 4
APNH2
No. 1 Village House adjacent to Pak Ngau Heung
River
Residential 5
APNH3
No. 10 Village House adjacent to Pak Ngau Heung
River
Residential 4
APNH4 Village House, Ling Tsui Tau Tsuen Residential 4
APNH5
No. 6 Village House adjacent to Pak Ngau Heung
Outlet
Residential 6
APNH6 Village House, Ling Tsui Tau Tsuen Residential 2
ALT1 Village House, Ling Tsui Tau Tsuen Residential 17
ALT2 No. 75 Village House, Ling Tsui Tau Tsuen Residential 1
Tai Tei Tong River
ATTT1 No. 25 Village House, Ma Po Tsuen Residential 27
ATTT2 No. 27 Village House, Ma Po Tsuen Residential 45
ATTT3
No. 23 Village House adjacent to Tai Tei Tong
River
Residential 4
ATTT4
No. 10 Village House adjacent to Tai Tei Tong
River Outlet
Residential 5
ASCH Mui Wo Shcool Education 17
Luk Tei Tong River and Luk Tei Tong By-pass Channel
ALTT1 No. 135 Village House, Luk Tei Tong Residential 1
ALTT2 No. 19 Village House, Luk Tei Tong Residential 15
ALTT3 No. 36 Village House, Luk Tei Tong Residential 32
ALTT4 No. 4 Village House adjacent to Luk Tei Tong
River Outlet
Residential 1

3.5 Identification of Environmental Impacts
3.5.1 Potential air quality impacts arising from the construction of the proposed drainage channels
would include dust nuisance and gaseous emissions from the construction plant and vehicles.
It is anticipated that dust would be generated from excavation, material handling and wind
Agreement No. CE49/2002 (DS)
Drainage Improvement in Southern Lantau
Drainage Services Department Final EIA Report


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erosion from the site during earthworks and backfilling for the box culvert, road and channel
construction. The potential dust impacts arising from the drainage improvement works at Pak
Ngan Heung River, Tai Tei Tong River, Luk Tei Tong River and Luk Tei Tong By-pass
Channel are discussed in Section 3.6 below.

3.6 Prediction and Evaluation of Impacts
3.6.1 The sites of the proposed drainage improvement works at the Pak Ngan Heung River, Tai Tei
Tong River, Luk Tei Tong River and Luk Tei Tong By-pass Channel would mainly lie on an
area of inactive wet agricultural land. The proposed alignments would generally follow the
existing river alignments. It is expected that the excavated materials would be mainly from the
rivers and their surrounding inactive wet agricultural land and would have high moisture
content. In addition, the construction materials used for the works would be mainly gabion,
grasscrete and masonry, which are all non-dusty materials. As such, dust emission from
materials handling would not be significant.
3.6.2 In view of the limited scale of the proposed works, construction dust emissions due to wind
erosion and truck movement on unpaved roads would also be considered minor. Given the
high moisture content of spoils, limited scale of works and implementation of appropriate
mitigation measures and good site practices (as described in Section 3.7), no adverse dust
impact would be expected.
3.6.3 As indicated in Section 2.10, construction of the Project would likely interface with the
projects including Outlying Sewerage Stage 2 Mui Wo Village Sewerage (Package 1A)
(Late 05 to Mid 07) and Construction of Emergency Vehicular Access (EVA) and Sewerage
Works at Luk Tei Tong, Mui Wo (late 04 to late 06). Although the construction of EVA and
sewerage works at Luk Tei Tong would likely coincide with the proposed drainage
improvement works under the Project during the period of mid 2006 to late 2006, it is
expected that the major construction works of the EVA and sewerage works at Luk Tei Tong
would have been finished substantially prior to the start of the Project and only minor
construction works would remain during the coincidence period. As such, adverse cumulative
dust impact from the construction works of this concurrent project would not be anticipated.
3.6.4 For the proposed sewerage works under the Mui Wo Village Sewerage, it would take place in
the vicinity of the Pak Ngan Heung River and is expected to be small-scale. There would be
limited potential for adverse cumulative dust impact from the minor construction activities of
this concurrent project. Hence, adverse cumulative dust impact from the construction works
of this concurrent project would not be anticipated.

3.7 Mitigation Measures
3.7.1 To ensure compliance with the guideline level and AQO at the ASRs, the Air Pollution
Control (Construction Dust) Regulation should be implemented and good site practices
should be incorporated in the contract clauses to minimize construction dust impact. A
number of practical measures are listed below:

Use of regular watering to reduce dust emissions from exposed site surfaces and unpaved
road, with complete coverage, particularly during dry weather;
Use of frequent watering for particularly dusty static construction areas and areas close to
ASRs;
Agreement No. CE49/2002 (DS)
Drainage Improvement in Southern Lantau
Drainage Services Department Final EIA Report


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Tarpaulin covering of all dusty vehicle loads transported to, from and between site
location;
Establishment and use of vehicle wheel and body washing facilities at the exit points of the
site; and
Routing of vehicles and positioning of construction plant should be at the maximum
possible distance from ASRs.

3.8 Residual Environmental Impact
3.8.1 With the implementation of the proposed dust suppression measures and good site practices,
no adverse residual impact would be expected.

3.9 Environmental Monitoring and Audit Requirements
3.9.1 With the implementation of mitigation measures stipulated in the Air Pollution Control
(Construction Dust) Regulation, no adverse air quality impact arising from construction works
would be expected. Hence, no air quality monitoring would be required during construction of
the Project. It is recommended that regular site inspections during construction phase be
carried out to ensure that the mitigation measures are properly implemented.