Agreement No. CE 4/2009 (EP)
Environmental Monitoring and Audit
for Contaminated Mud Pit at Sha Chau
(2009-2013) - Investigation
17th
MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT FOR CONTAMINATED MUD PITS AT SHA CHAU - November 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 November 2010.
1.3
Details of Sampling and
Laboratory Testing Activities
Sediment Quality Monitoring was conducted on 23 November in this monthly
period for CMP IVc.
For CMP V, sampling for Impact Water Quality Monitoring during
Dredging Operations was conducted on
9, 11 and 13 November. 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 November
2010.
1.5
Brief Discussion of the
Monitoring Results
Results of Impact Water Quality
Monitoring during Dredging Operations for November 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 – November 2010
Impact
Water Quality Monitoring during Dredging Operations of CMP V was conducted
on 9, 11 and 13 November 2010. On each
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
The following monitoring events are scheduled
for the CMPs:
CMP IV
·
Pit Specific Sediment Chemistry Monitoring;
·
Cumulative Impact Sediment Chemistry Monitoring;
·
Sediment Toxicity Monitoring;
·
Water Column Profiling;
·
Water Quality Monitoring during Capping;
·
Benthic Recolonisation Monitoring; and
·
Demersal Trawling.
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.