Agreement No. CE 4/2009 (EP)
Environmental Monitoring and Audit
for Contaminated Mud Pit at Sha Chau
(2009-2013) - Investigation
18th
MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT FOR CONTAMINATED MUD PITS AT SHA CHAU - December 2010
1.1
Background
Since 1992, the East of Sha Chau area has been the site of a series of dredged
contaminated mud pits (CMPs) designed to provide
confined marine disposal capacity for contaminated mud arising from the HKSAR’s dredging and reclamation projects. CMP IVc is
presently in operation for backfilling by contaminated mud and is anticipated
to reach its capacity in 2011. A series
of four newly constructed seabed pits at the East of Sha
Chau area, CMP Va-d, will
be provided for the disposal of contaminated mud after CMP IVc
is full. Dredging operations are now
taking place to construct CMP Vb. The
environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) programme for the CMPs at the East of Sha Chau area presently covers disposal and capping operations
at CMP IV and dredging operations at CMP Vb.
1.2
Reporting Period
This Monthly Progress Report
covers the monitoring period of December 2010.
1.3
Details of Sampling and
Laboratory Testing Activities
The following monitoring activities have been undertaken for CMP IV in
December 2010:
·
Benthic Macro
In-fauna Monitoring and Pit Specific
Sediment Chemistry Monitoring were conducted on 7 December;
·
Cumulative Impact
Sediment Chemistry Monitoring was conducted on 9 December;
·
Demersal Trawling was conducted on 9-10
December;
·
Sediment Toxicity
Monitoring was conducted on 11 December; and
·
Water Column
Profiling and Water Quality Monitoring
during Capping were conducted on 16 December.
For CMP V, sampling for Impact Water Quality Monitoring during
Dredging Operations was conducted 13
December. A summary of field activities are presented in Annex A.
1.4
Details of Outstanding
Sampling and / or Analysis
No outstanding sampling and laboratory analysis remained from December
2010.
1.5
Brief Discussion of the
Monitoring Results
Results of Impact Water Quality
Monitoring during Dredging Operations for December 2010 are presented for
CMP V. Detailed results will be
discussed in the relevant Quarterly
Reports.
1.5.1
CMP V
Impact Water Quality Monitoring during Dredging
Operations of CMP V – December 2010
Impact
Water Quality Monitoring during Dredging Operations of CMP V was conducted
on 13 December 2010. On the survey day, sampling was
conducted during both mid-ebb and mid-flood tides at two Reference (Upstream)
stations upstream and five Impact (Downstream) stations downstream of the
dredging operations at CMP V. Monitoring
was also conducted at the Ma Wan station.
At each station, in-situ
measurements of water quality parameters as well as water samples were taken
from three depths in the water column (ie surface: 1
m below sea surface, mid-depth and bottom: 1 m above the seabed).
Monitoring results are
presented in Table B1 of Annex B. Levels
of Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Turbidity and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) complied
with the Action and Limit Levels set in the Baseline
Monitoring Report ([1]). Therefore,
there appears to be no evidence of any unacceptable adverse water quality
impacts arising from the dredging operations of CMP V at ESC.
1.6
Activities Scheduled for the
Next Month
Water Column Profiling and Demersal Trawling will be undertaken for CMP IV while Impact Water Quality Monitoring during Dredging will be undertaken
for CMP V in the next monitoring month.
The sampling schedule is presented in Annex A.
1.7
Study Programme
A summary of the Study programme is presented in Annex C.