China - Yangtze Basin Flood Control Project : environmental impact assessment (Vol. 1 of 3)

E-291 YANGTZE BASIN FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT CHINA ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FINAL REPORT -_ ~FILE COPY NOVEMBER 1999 Research Institute for Yangtze Water Resources Protection With assistance from: Hunan Water Conservancy & Hydropower Survey & Design Institute Hubei Water Conservancy & Hydropower Survey & Design Institute Jiangxi Water Conservancy & Hydropower Survey & Design Institute Jiangxi Environment Protection Research Institute   YANGTZE BASIN FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT CHINA ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FINAL REPORT NOVEMBER 1999 Research Institute for Yangtze Water Resources Protection With assistance from: Hunan Water Conservancy & Hydropower Survey & Design Institute Hubei Water Conservancy & Hydropower Survey & Design Institute Jiangxi Water Conservancy & Hydropower Survey & Design Institute Jiangxi Environment Protection Research Institute   YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT PREFACE   YBFCP/EI FINAL REPORT ABBREVIATIONS CC Construction Contractor CIEMO Coordinator for P/EMO CWRC Changjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission DC Developing Country ECI Environmental Construction Inspector ECS Engineering Construction Supervisor EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EMO Environmental Management Office EMP Environmental Management Plan EPM Environmental Protection Measure ES Executive Summary ESA Environmental Study Area FS Feasibility Study IAA International Assistance Agency IC Industrialized Country MDB Multi-lateral Development Bank MWR Ministry of Water Resources NEPA National Environmental Protection Agency P/EMO Provincial Environmental Management Office RIYWRP Research Institute of Yangtze Water Resource Protection RO Resettlement Office RS Resettlement SEI Significant Environmental Issue Schisto Schistosomiasis SEPA State Environmental Protection Agency TA Technical Assistance TOC Table of Contents TOR Terms of Reference VEO Village Environmental Officer WB World Bank YBFCP Yangtze Basin Flood Control Project   YBFCPIEIA FTNAL REPORT GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Table of Contents Abbreviations Executive Summary 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose and Basis of EIA 1.2 EIA Methodology 1.3 Relationship to Project Feasibility Study 1.3 .1 Chinese Government Requirements 1.3.2 English Language Version of EIA 1.4 EIA Team 1.5 Report Organization 1.5.1 Organization of Overall Report 1.5.2 List of References 1.5.3 Organization of Each Chapter of Main Report 1.6 Acknowledgments 1.7 Summary and Conclusions 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 2.1 Project Background 2.1.1 Yangtze River and Flooding 2.1.2 Master Plan for Yangtze Basin Development 2.1.3 Need for YBFCP 2.2 Project Components 2.2.1 Dyke Rehabilitation 2.2.2 Resettlement 2.3 Environmental Protection Measures 2.4 Construction Program 2.4.1 Construction Layouts 2.4.2 Construction Methods for Main Items 2.4.3 Construction Schedule 2.4.4 Sunmmary of Construction Program 2.5 Comparison of Alternatives 2.5.1 Non-project Alternative 2.5.2 Other Alternatives Considered 2.6 Economic Analysis of Project 2.6.1 Introduction 2.6.2 Project Budget  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT 2.6.3 Benefit-Cost Analysis 2.7 Project Management 2.7.1 Introduction 2.7.2 Establishment of Institutions 2.7.3 Project Management 2.7.4 Technical Management 2.7.5 Financial Management 2.8 Summary and Conclusions 3 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Study Area (Area Affected by Project) 3.2.1 Areas Receiving flood Protection 3.2.2 Construction Areas 3.2.3 Affected River Reaches 3.2.4 Lower reach 3.3 Land Use 3.4 Natural Physical Resources 3.4.1 Topography and Landfomis 3.4.2 Geology 3.4.3 Climate 3.4.4 Hydrology 3.4.5 Floods 3.4.6 Surface Water Quality 3.4.7 Air Quality and Noise 3.5 Natural Ecological Resources 3.5.1 Fisheries 3.5.2 Other Important Species Habitat 3.5.3 Wetlands 3.6 Economic Resources 3.7 Quality of Life 3.7.1 Family Economics 3.7.2 Public Health 3.7.3 Cultural Relics and Scenery 3.8 Summary and Conclusions 4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND EPMs 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 Project Objectives 4.1.2 Characteristics of Project Impacts 4.1.3 Identification and Grading of SEIS 4.1.4 Summary and Conclusions ii  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT 4.2 Significant Environmental Issues 4.2.1 Resettlement 4.2.2 Land Use 4.2.3 Impact on Aquatic Species 4.2.4 Public Health/Schistosomiasis Control 4.2.5 Dyke Structure Stability 4.2.6 Downstream Impacts 4.2.7 Flood Emergency Program 4.2.8 Impacts on Saicheng Lake Migratory Birds 4.2.9 Borrow Areas and Spoils Disposal 4.2.10 Impacts on Cultural Relics/Heritages 4.2.11 Impacts on Dongting Lake 4.2.12 Construction Operation Constraints 4.3 Other SEIs 4.3.1 Project Construction 4.3.1.1 Water quality 4.3.1.2 Air quality 4.3.1.3 Noise 4.3.1.4 Water supply 4.3.1.5 Control of white ants/termites 4.3.2 Traffic 4.3.3 Public Infrastructure 4.3.4 Environmental Aesthetics 4.3.5 Quality of Life 4.3.6 Regional Wetlands 4.3.7 Summary and Conclusions 5 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Monitoring of Individual SEIs 5.2.1 Resettlement Monitoring 5.2.2 Land Use 5.2.3 Aquatic Ecology 5.2.4 Public Health 5.2.5 Dyke Stability 5.2.6 Downstream Impacts 5.2.7 Flood Emergency Program 5.2.8 Inpacts on Saicheng Lake Migratory Birds 5.2.9 Borrow Areas and Spoil Disposal 5.2.10 Cultural Relics/Heritage 5.2.11 Impacts on Dongting Lake Flood Releasing 5.2.12 Construction Operation Constraints iii  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT 5.2.13 Other SETs 5.2.14 Monitoring by ECIs and VEOs 5.3 Summarized Monitoring Program 5.4 Monitoring Participants 5.5 Sunmmary and Conclusions 6 OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES 6.1 Public Consultations 6.1.1 Introduction 6.1.2 Consultations to the Affected People and Local Nongovernmental Organizations 6.1.3 Public Disclosure of EIA Report 6.2 Compliance with Environmental Laws and Guidelines 6.2.1 Environmental Policies 6.2.2 Constitution and Environmental Laws 6.2.3 Administrative Regulations 6.2.4 Environmental Standards 6.2.5 World Bank Requirements and Guidelines 6.2.6 Summary and Conclusions 6.3 Environmental Economic Analysis 6.3.1 Introduction 6.3.2 Analysis 6.3.3 Summary and conclusions 6.4 Risk Assessment 6.4.1 Risk of Dyke Failure 6.4.2 Flooding Risk Management 6.4.3 Other Risks 6.4.4 Summary and conclusions 6.5 Global Environmental Issues 6.5.1 Introduction 6.5.2 Global Warming 6.5.3 Biodiversitv 6.5.4 Summary and Conclusions 6.6 Summary and Conclusions 6.6.1 Overall EIA 6.6.2 Individual Issues 7 ENIVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN 7.1 Introduction 7.1.1 Need for Environmental Management Plan and Office 7.1.2 International Panel of Experts 7.2 Establishment of the EMOs iv  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT 7.2.1 Provincial and Overall Coordinator 7.2.2 Provincial EMOs 7.3 Role of P/EMOs 7.3.1 Duties of P/EMO 7.3.2 Illustration Figures 7.3.3 P/EMO Subcontractors 7.3.4 Instructions to CCs 7.4 Overall EMO Coordination (C/EMO) 7.5 Environmental Training 7.5.1 Training Objectives 7.5.2 Training Courses 7.6 Budgets 7.6.1 Overall Environmental Management 7.6.2 Coordinator for P/EMO 7.7 Summary and Conclusions 7.7.1 Action Items 7.7.2 Illustrative Drawing and Table 8 CONCLUSIONS 8.1 Executive Summary 8.2 Matrix Presenting Overall Study Results ANNEXES Annex A References Annex B TOR for EIA Annex (B 1) Agreements on Preparation of EIA with Three Provinces Annex (B2) Guidelines for Preparation of EIA Annex C Information on Significant wetlands in Project Area v   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY   YANGTZE BASIN FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS TEXT Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Project Description Chapter 3 Environmental Setting Chapter 4 Environmental Impact Assessment and EPMs Section 4.1 Introduction Section 4.2 Major Environmental Issues Section 4.2.1 Resettlement Section 4.2.2 Land Use Section 4.2.3 Aquatic Ecology Section 4.2.4 Public Health Section 4.2.5 Dike Structural Stability Section 4.2.6 Downstream Impacts Section 4.2.7 Flood Emergency Program Section 4.2.8 Impacts on Saicheng Lake Migratory Birds Section 4.2.9 Borrow Areas and Spoil Disposal Section 4.2.10 Cultural Relics/Heritages Section 4.2.11 Impacts on Dingting Lake Flood Release Section 4.2.12 Construction Operation Constraints Section 4.3 Other SEIs Chapter 5 Environmental Monitoring Chapter 6 Other Inportant Issues Chapter 7 Environmental Management Plan Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusions FIGU3RES: Figure 1.1-2 Sketch Map of Dykes of Yangtze Middle and Lower Reaches Figure 2.2-1 Project Location Figure 3.2-1 Overall EIA Study Area Figure 3.5-2 Saicheng Lake and Migratory Birds Area ES-i  Figure 3.5-3 Schistosomiasis Control in Project Area Figure 4.2.1-9 Summary Evaluation of Environmental Adequacy of Resettlement Program Figure 4.2.2-1 Land Use in Project Protected Area Figure 4.2.2-2 Land Use Following Project Completion Figure 4.2.6-1 Schematic Drawing of River Hydrology Affected by Project Figure 4.2.7-1 Yangtze Flood Prevention Command Institutional System Figure 4.2.7-2 Flood Emergency Program Start Procedure (FEP) Figure 4.2.9-1 Schematic Drawing of Typical Borrow/Filling Operations Figure 5.3-1 Summary of Monitoring Program Figure 6.5-1 Summary of Risk Assessment Evaluation TABLES: Table 2.4-1 Construction Schedule Table 2.8-1 Summary of Project Characteristics Table 3.3-2 Typical Land Use Pattems in Study Area Table 3.4-7 Losses Caused by Most Serious Floods in 20th Century Table 4.2.4-1 Schistosomiasis Control Program Table 4.2.4-2 Schistosomiasis Control Measures in Flood Fighting Emergencies Table 6. 1-1 Summary of Public Consultation (See main report) Table 6.1-2 Summary of Consultation with NGOs (See main report) Table 6.3-1 Compliance with Pertinent Environmental Laws and Regulations (See main report) Table 7.6.1-8 Estimated Total Cost for Environmental Management Operations (Hunan) Table 7.6.1-9 Estimated Total Cost for Environmental Management Operations (Hubei) Table 7.6.1-10 Estimated Total Cost for Environmental Management Operations (Jiangxi) ES- ii  Y3FCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTWVE SUMMARY CHAPT ER 1 INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 includes the following components: (a) Purpose and Basis of EIA: To prepare the EIA report for the Project which meets the requirements of both the Chinese Government and the World Bank, to be furnished in both Chinese and English languages. The English version is to be part of the World Bank Loan Agreement with the Government. Also, World Bank policy is, when the World Bank participates in financing part of an overall project, the EIA must cover the entire project. The EIA report is prepared by the RJYWRP together with assistance from Institutes of the three provinces involved, and with help from consultants furnished by WB. (b) Basis of Project: The present YBFCP was resulted by the serious Yangtze basin- wide flooding in 1998, which killed thousands of people, made millions of people homeless, and caused $ billions of economic losses. After the 1998 flooding, a comprehensive flood control program was initiated by the Chinese Government and the pertinent provincial governments, of which the YBFCP has been given a high priority. (c) World Bank Involvement: The World Bank has been participating in the series projects of the Yangtze flood control program since the program was started in 1998, including the " Yangtze Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project" and the present YBFCP. (d) Project Description: The YBFCP is planned mainly to rehabilitate the main dikes along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi provinces, located in the hinterland of China, as shown in Figure 1.1-1. The total length of the dikes to be rehabilitated with a World Bank Loan of $300 million is 573 km and the total cost of the project is estimated to be 5.3 billion RMB yuan ($638 million). Figure 1.1-2 shows the dykes included in the present project. (e) EIA Methodology: The EIA takes into account the entire spectrun of environmental effects that could result from the Project, including effects on (i) Physical Natural Resources, (ii) Natural Ecological Resources, (iii) Economic Development, and (iv) Quality of Life Values, plus (v) Global Environmental Issues, applied to each of the three portions of the overall project in Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces. The EIA delineates all Significant Environmental Issues (SEIs) affected by the Project, describes the potentials for each SEI to cause adverse environmental effects if not controlled, and describes recommended control measures, called Environmental Protection Measures (EPMs). The EPMs include (i) Mitigation measures, for lessening the magnitude of adverse impact, and (ii) Offsetting measures, for offsetting any residual adverse effects not solved by mitigation, so that there will be no or no significant net adverse effect for each SEI. In some instances, where feasible, the EIA recommends a third kind of EMP, namely Enhancement measures, for those situations where a small additional investment would yield valuable environmental benefits. ES- I  YBFCPIEIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (f) Relation to Project Feasibility Study: The EIA is considered to be an integral part of the Project Feasibility Study, not an "add on " to the Feasibility Study. The EIA team is part of the overall Feasibility Study team. (g) EIA Team: This section of Chapter 1 describes the members of the EIA team, their regular positions, their specialty skills, and their man-months of input. The various skills involved include inputs in environmental engineering, environmental economics, environmental sociology, and environmental ecology. (h Report Organization: This section of Chapter 1 describes and explains the EIA report's Table of Contents, which is designed to meet all salient requirements of the Chinese Government (MWR and SEPA) and of the World Bank. (i) Acknowledgments: This section of Chapter 1 gives credits to those agencies and individuals that gave important assistance to the EIA team. ES-2  YBFCP/ELA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION Chapter 2 presents a brief description of the overall Project, including its sub-projects in the three provinces involved in the project area, as shown in Figure 2.2-1. More detailed drawings are prepared for each of the three sub-projects. Project Components The overall YBFCP Project is actually an environmental protection project which includes (i) the civil works for rehabilitation of the dykes; (ii) the Project 4f resettlement program; (iii) environmental protection components, and (iv) the non- physical project components including institutional systems for flood hazard warning and for actual flooding assistance operations. Civil Works The total length of the dikes to be rehabilitated is about 573 km (Hubei: 315 km, Hunan: 142 km, Jiangxi: 116 km). The civil works of the project mainly include dike raising and widening, dyke body grouting, dyke foundation treatment, near dike pond filling to consolidate the dyke basis, and strengthening and prolonging cross-dike structures. The sub-projects in three provinces are all designed in consistence with the Yangtze Basin Flood Control Master Plan prepared by the Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Environmental Protection Components The environmental protection components which have been incorporated into the Project include the following: (a) Forest and grass planting: Some 680,000 m2 of wave-break forest and 7,250,000 m2 of erosion prevention grass will be planted on the dike slopes with a total cost of about 33 million yuan; (b) Borrow area resurfacing after borrow activities completed; and (c) Schistosomiasis control measures including borrow pits filling, snail sinks, and snail nets; In addition, environmental protection measures included in the contracts of civil works contractors are i) water, air, noise, and solid waste pollution control, ii) protection of worker's health, iii) prevention of soil erosion, iv) protection of aquatic ecology and migration birds, v) protection of cultural relics, and vi) control of land use. Project Alternatives The possible altematives considered for the project mainly include: (a) Non-project (doing nothing ) altemative;(b) Flood diversion and storage project ES -3  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY to enlarge flood diversion areas and increase flood storage capacities, and (c) High dyke alternative; Non-project Alternative Detailed analysis showed that many reaches of the present dikes with a history of hundreds of years, now have many defects, weak and dangerous sections, poor and permeable foundations, and aged cross-dike structures. If the dykes are kept in the present conditions (doing-nothing alternative), dike failures could occur in many places resulting serious flood disasters with thousands even hundreds of thousands people killed and over 100 billion yuan economic loss if 1954 or 1998 type floods occurred. Increasing Diversion and Storage Capacities The proposed diversion and storage projects, with a total storage capacity of 50 billion mi3, depend on present dykes and the upper basin reservoirs to play their roles, or they cannot be used to hold the extra flood water of the 1 954-type. In addition, most of the diversion and storage projects constructed after 1954 have never been used for diversion, and industries and agriculture have been rapidly developed in the planned detention and storage areas. Moreover, the population in the area has increased rapidly; the huge population will be difficult to be transferred and economic loss will be great once these projects are put into use. Therefore, the alternative (b) is not practicable. High Dike Alternative Analysis shows that the maximum flood peak level would be 2-3 m higher than the actual water level of the floods of 1954 or 1998. If the dykes are to be raised by 2-3 meters, it is estimated that 7.6 billion m 3 of earth will be needed, more than 1.60 million mu farmland will be occupied, and about 1.0 million people need to be resettled. Besides, hundreds of thousands of culverts, pump stations, and bridges need to be reconstructed. Furthermore, as the geological conditions of the dyke bases are not good, the dykes are easy to burst under the condition of high water level, which will cause much great disasters. Therefore, alternative (c) is too costly to be implemented with even greater dyke failure risks. It is concluded that the present project, as a key component of the overall Yangtze Flood Control Master Plan, is absolutely necessary and is the only feasible alternative. Project Economics The total project cost is estimated to be 5.3 billion Yuan in which about 2.8 billion yuan is from counterpart funding and 2.5 billion ( $300 million) is from World Bank loan. The benefit-cost analysis was conducted with following benefit streams considered: (i) Reductions in flood losses arising as a result (a) of the dike raising and (b) reductions in the probability of the dike breaching as a result of dike strengthening; (ii) Reductions in flood fighting costs; ES -4  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (iii) Reductions, in some instances, in the costs resulting from the use of the detention basins (i.e. the costs of evacuating the population as well as the resulting flood losses to activities within the detention basins); and (iv) Reductions in 0 & M costs. In addition, the project will be completed before the Three Gorges Project becomes operational. Therefore, two baseline conditions were considered: with and without TGP. The key indicators of the analysis results are shown in the following table. Summary of Project Economic Analysis Province Net Present Value Benifit-Cost Ratio Internal Rate of (10,000 yuan) Return Jiangxi 511,052 4.9 43 Hunan 259,392 2.3 25 Hubei 620,148 2.5 33 Chapter 2 also includes brief review of (i) the Project's construction program; and (ii) the Project's institutional system for managing project planning and implementation. Table 2.4-1 summarizes the construction schedule for the project. Table 2.8-1 is a summary of the salient- characteristics of the overall Project. ES-5  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING Chapter 3 presents basic data on the environmental resources of the region affected by the project including environmental study area, land use, natural physical resources, natural ecological resources, economic resources, and quality of life. Environmental Study Area (ESA) The total ESA for YBFCP includes four sub-areas: project protected area, construction area, project affected river reaches, and the project downstream areas. Figure 3.2-1 delineates the study area, and also the area within the overall study area which will receive additional flood protection from the project. Land Use The project ESA is primarily in the plain of the Yangtze Middle and Lower Reaches which is an area with flat terrain, fertile soil, warm and humid climate, plenty of water, and good irrigation conditions. Therefore, agriculture has been highly developed with cultivated area amounting s up to 85.7 % of all the cultivable land in the area. Other land use in the area mainly includes forestland, water areas, urban and residential areas, and un-used land. Due to the high population density, the amount of land per capita in the area is lower than the nation's average. Typical land use patterns in the study area are shown in Table 3.3-2. Natural Physical Resources The natural physical resources of the ESA include topography/landform, geology, climate, hydrology, floods, surface water quality, and air quality and noise. The landforms in the ESA include accumulated plain, low mountains and hills, river terrace, and beaches and bars. The project is located in area with earthquake intensity equal or lower than Grade VI except for the Yongji embankment area where the earthquake intensity is Grade VII. The ESA belongs to the subtropical monsoon climatic area with rich precipitation (average annual 1,000 -1,600 mm). The project is along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze with mean annual runoff 451 billion rri at Yichang Gauge Station and 894 billion m3 at Datong Gauge Station and mean annual flow 14,300 m3/s and 28,300 m3 /s respectively. The historic maximum flows at the two gauge stations are 71,100 m3 /s and 92,600 m3 /s and miniimum 2,770 m3 /s and 4,620 m3 /s respectively. The Yangzte river is a river with frequent and serious floods, once in every 10 years on average, which usually caused tens even hundreds of thousands people killed, ES - 6  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUIVE SUMMARY millions of people homeless, and countless economic losses. Figure 3.2-1 shows the flooded areas in 1954 and Table 3.4-7 shows the estimated losses due to floods occurred in the last 100 years. Natural Ecological Resources The project area is a highly developed area with limited natural forests and terrestrial wildlife. The natural ecological resources in the ESA that might be affected by the YBFCP include i) fish species, migration birds area, and wetlands. With respect to fish species, there are some 210 species in the middle and lower Yangtze water system and 108 species in the Yangtze mainstream among which 5 state protected species can be found in the project reaches: Chinese River Dolphin, Chinese Finless Porpoise, White Sturgeon, Chinese Sturgeon, and Chinese Sucker. With respect to migration birds area, many lakes in the ESA such as Poyang Lake are migration birds areas which are generally far from the project construction area. In 1998, a new migration bird area, the Saicheng Lake in Jiangxi Province, was formed with five state protected birds found: Grus leucogeranus, Grus mainacha, Grus vipio, and Anser albifrons, Cygnus columbianus. With respect to wetlands, there are 15 significant wetlands in the ESA of which only the Honghu Lake is close to the project construction area. Economic Resources The project protected area is a highly developed area with complete infrastructures, abundant water resources, well irrigated land with high output, and powerful industry bases. The industry in this area includes a number of nation's top-ranking major backbone enterprises. With developed agricultural, economy, qualified technical professionals, good education system, and well developed industries, the area holds an important position in the economy and social development of the whole country. Quality of Life Quality of life situation in the ESA mainly covers family income levels, public health, and cultural values including relics and scenery. As mentioned above, the project region is a highly developed area with well developed agriculture and industry. The mean annual salary of urban and rural residents is in the range of 4,000 - 9,000 yuan and the net income per capita is in the range of 2,000 - 3000 yuan. The average housing area is in the range of 10 - 20 m2 for urban residents and 25 - 36 m2 for rural residents. With respect to public health, there are quite complete medical care systems in the project area including hospitals in all cities and townships and clinics in all villages. A major public health concem is schistosomiasis which has prevailed in the region for a long time. And now the region is still thc most serious schistosomiasis infection region in China. Figure 3.5-3 shows the schistosomiasis situations in tnAet area. ES - 7  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY There are many cultural relics and heritage in the ESA including Yueyang Tower in Yueyang, Yellow Crane Tower and East Lake in Wuhan, and Pipa Pavilion and Xunyang Tower in Jiujiang of which only the Pipa Pavilion and the Xunyang Tower might be affected by the project construction activities if no protection measures were taken. Of the various environmental resources noted above, those which are most subject to be influenced by the project are the regional economics and quality of life which are expected to be greatly benefited due to alleviation of flooding frequencies and severity. ES -8  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND EPMs Section 4.1 Introduction Following completion of Chapter 2 (Project Description) and of Chapter 3 (Environmental Setting for Project, including delineation of the Environmental Study Area), Chapter 4 has been prepared for the following purposes, (a) to identify the SEIs, including Major SEIs and other SEIs, based on use of a matrix system which lists all of the types of SEIs known to be involved in major flood control/dyke rehabilitation projects, and compares these for application for the present Project, and (b) to present a detailed discussion for each of these SEIs including evaluation of the potential hazards for creating adverse impacts, and delineation of EMPs needed to prevent or neutralize and offset such adverse effects. The matrix analysis found 12 SEIs to be considered as major SEIs, namely (i) Resettlement, (ii) Land Use, (iii) Impacts on Aquatic Species, (iv) Public Health, (v) Dyke structural stability, (vi) Downstream Impacts, (vii) Flood Emergency Prograrn, (viii) Saicheng Migratory Birds, (ix) Borrow Areas and Spoils Disposal (x) Cultural Relics, (xi) hIpacts on Dongting Lake (xii) Construction Operation Constraints. Tlhese 12 major SEIs are discussed in Section 4.2.1 to 4.2.12 of Chapter 4. Section 4.3 discusses several other SEIs including Construction Operation, Environmental Aesthetics, Traffic, Public Infrastructure, Quality of Life, and Regional Wetlands. Section 4.2 Major Environmental Issues Section 4.2.1 Resettlement 4.2.1.1 Overall RS Program A total of 52,859 people are expected to be resettled as a result of the Yangtze River Flood Control Project. These are spread over the three provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei. A big majority of these are rural people living on agriculture and farm livelihood patterns. Following table shows the physical indexes affected by the YBFCP. Project Affected Resettlement Physical Indexes Item Hunan Hubei Jiangxi Total Households 4,464 5,400 2,735 12,466 People 19,213 22,100 11,546 52,859 Houses (103 m2) 1,029 802 472 2,303 Land (mu) 18,577 11,334 7,786 52,697 Lost Means of Production 6,081 5,825 4,972 16,878 (people) Entexprises 67 321 102 490 Resettlement Program ES-9  YBFCP/ELA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The overall Resettlement Program for the three provinces have been prepared in sufficient detail and represent a major milestone in preparing an effective resettlement strategies for the present Project. Resettlement plans have taken into account the various aspects of resettlement including (i) impacts on rural and urban population, (ii) impacts on land use from land requisition and reclamation, (iii) impacts on agricultural productivity and related incomes, (iv) impacts on commercial and business income, (v) resettlement schedule and phase, (vi) employment and livelihood strategies, (vii) resettlement areas including housing, infrastructure, agricultural and non-agricultural production scenarios, (viii) strategies for rehabilitation of socially and economically disadvantaged groups, (ix) host location impacts (including people, land and other resources), (x) compensation principles, (xi) resettlement program organization and management, (xii) resettlement program financing and budgetary allocation, and (xiii) resettlement program implementation and monitoring during final design, construction and operation phases. The program follows all the applicable national laws and regulations. There are procedures and avenues established for grievances and complaints redressal. Three types of resettlement have been identified of which nearly half of resettlers will be resettled within their original villages as shown below. Resettlement Type 1 Number of Number of Resettlement Tye _Households People Internal Resettlement (resettlement of individual households within the 5,670 25,499 existing village area) Collective Resettlement (relocation of communities to new or existing 5,712 22,760 sites, including urban resettlement in blocks and safety platforms) Cash Compensation (when resettlers opt to relocate to another area or 1,217 4,600 for alteative accomodation) _ TOTAL 12,599 52,589 Resettlement Production Plan Production plans for each province are outlined below: Hunan Province - Improve 52,762 mu of land to support 5,077 resettlers and transfer 1,277 mu of foreign village tilled land to support 893 resettlers, among which 623 mu is irrigated tilled land and 604 mu is non-irrigated tilled land. Jiangxi Province - Adjust and transfer 4,987 mu of foreign village tilled land. The rearrangement will mainly concentrated on market gardening, with the development of timber/orchards, animal breeding, village-run firms as supplement. Improved productivity of lands will be facilitated by; soil irnprovement for 125,000 mu of land, t 193 mu of barren field brought under cultivation, construction of 107 irrigation stations, improvement of 420 mu of fruit and tea fields, and development of 1,776 mu for intensive fish breeding. Some 35 village-run firms are also proposed. 'nbei Province - support 53968 rural resetders, among which 3,516 persons will be ES - 10  YBFCP!EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUNMARY involved in improving low-output land, 264 persons in animal husbandry, and 2,189 persons in village-run firms and tertiary industry. Implementation of these programs will require an estimated investment of 153,784,100 yuan, distributed as 54,623,700 yuan for Hunan Province 53,916,400 yuan for Hubei Province and 45.254,000 yuan for Jiangxi Province, which will be met by use of the land compensation and resettlement funds. Income Restoration and Livilyhood Development Elaborate plans have been made for housing including type, standards and living conditions. Adequate financial allocation has been made for compensating the incomes of people during the transition period as well as after resettlement. These include measures for enhancing agricultural productivity in new areas, encouraging other forms of livelihood patterns including occupation in secondary and tertiary industries. Provisions have been made for providing the resettlers with farm subsidies, tax incentives and other financial and support measures that will allow both the resettlers and the host population to reap benefits from the program. In Hunan province, for instance, on completion of resettlement period (2001), there is an increase of estimated 53% in total net income from land resources and estimated 57% from other secondary and tertiary industries. Resettlement Cost and Fund Sources The total cost for resettlement component is estimated at 1,321.5 million yuan of which 725.3 million yuan has been allocated for household development, 231.2 mnillion yuan for land compensation and improvement, and 68.0 million yuan for special schemes. On an average the resettlement cost per capita is estimated at 25,000 yuan. The funds are to be drawn from various sources including: World Bank loan, Central Government Water Construction Fund, and Local Government Water Construction Fund, and so on. 4.2.1.2 Impacts and Measures (a) Resettlement Families Potential impacts on resettled families involve economic effects (received compensation, changes in income, changes skills needed for new pattern for earning), housing/amenities/civic services (changes in area, style, value and facilities), social/cultural values (changes in customs, neighborhood relationship and mental stress, including needs for disadvantaged people). Positive changes in income and housing services are expected from the Resettlement Program which will be managed by ROs through compensation and funds for agricultural rehabilitation with planned crop yield and support for access to the new markets. Due to investment cost difference between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, resettlers tend to move to industries and enterprises which require training for skills and market supports. Cultural values are expected to be insignificant because of resettlement in the nearby areas, excepted for high concentration areas and interactions with worker group during construction stage. Local ROs should be key ES - 11  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY body to resolve complaints and cultural impacts. (b) Host Population Since the host population will receive a number of people, potential direct impacts are very similar to those on resettlement people. It is expected that per capita farmland of the host families will be reduced following land distribution to the resettlers. However, per capita income will have to be not lower by provisions of appropriate and effective measures. The measures include providing farm subsidies, tax intensive and other financial support measures. ifrastructure of both physical and social facilities will be provided for both the new and host population. Since the host is aware of all planned economic and social rehabilitation measures needed for not making worse off economically, social-cultural impacts are to be minimized. These rehabilitation measures are to be effective/appropriate by implementing in parallel with public consultation process. (c) Grievances and Complaints Potential complaints are categorized into psychological/socio-cultural, physiological services, and economics. The avenues to resolve each of those are set out at different levels including by local government, resettlement agency, inspection agency, and supervision. Regular monitoring and supervision will have to be carried out to ensure effectiveness of resolution. Safetv nets to be provided include setting Up Resettlement Area Support Fund for each province, managed by Provincial RO and monitored by EMOs. The fund will have to guarantee acceptable minimum income with support measures for the resettlers. (d) Subsidies for Vulnerable Groups Approximately 5 percent of the affected population are considered vulnerable groups (low income families, female headed families, handicapped and elderly). Allocation of a single 600 yuan payment to assist relocation and transition represents 1.5854 million yuan (Hunan 0.576 million yuan, Hubei 0.663 million yuan, and Jiangxi 0.3464 million yuan). (e) Public Health Public health is concemed with both resettled and host groups, and may also related to work groups (in the same area). General but appropriate public health and sanitation measures will have to be provided to the villages. Special attention and measures should be made on schistosomiasis control during the construction period and early resettlement stages. 4.2.1.3 Overall Environmental Evaluation Considering that the resettlement planning and preparations seem to be well underway and in hand, and assuming that support from the three provincial planning institutes (Jiangxi Water Resources Planning and Design Institute, the Hunan Water Conservancy and Hydropower Survey and Design istitute and the Hubei Water Conservancy and Hydropower Survey and Design Institute), and other Governmental ES- 12  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUIMARY agency participants will continue as planned, it is concluded that the overall Resettlement Program is at this stage in good position to meet both government and Bank requirements to be specified in the Loan Agreement. Accordingly, assuming that all the EPMs specified in the EIA including environmental monitoring are implemented as provided for in the Project ETA and Resettlement Action Plan, the project resettlement activities will be in compliance of both the national as well as the World Bank environmental standards. This compliance will be monitored by the Project Enviromnental Management Office and the International Environrmental Panel. The following recommendations are provided to ensure efficient and environmentally friendly operation of the resettlement program: (a) Environmnental Engineering Aspects: The Resettlement Program Construction Contractor will need to submit drawings, specifications and monthly reports on all activities of the Resettlement Program including attention to all environmental conditions in the construction areas. The Environmental Construction Inspectors (ECIs) to be furnished by the Project EMOs will monitor the operations of the Construction Contractor and ensure work compliance with the environmental standards stipulated in the construction contracts. The recommendations of the International Environmental Panel including those pertaining to social and cultural issues, will need to be implemented by the EMO, including time and budget allocation for site visits by the Panel to allow for direct contact with resettlement and host families. (b) Resettlement Environmental Monitoring: Efficient resettlement environmental monitoring by the Project Environmental Management Office is very critical to the success of the program. This includes (i) delineating resettlement house/facilities design criteria to use for inspecting to see if houses/facilities are being built according to the standards specified, (ii) requiring village to appoint a full-time Village Environmental Officer', (iii) preparation of a manual of guidelines for telling the Officer how to do his work, including monthly reporting and record keeping, (iv) training of the Officer in this work, and (v) monitoring visits to the village by EMO every 2 months for the first year after moving in. then every 6 months. (c) Compilation of Appropriate Standards for RS Villages/Townships: Some periodic technical guidelines will be needed during the construction phase for Resettlement facilities to ensure that all the facilities are being constructed per the standards and specifications. Of particular concern will be the water quality of well supplies to check if mineral content does not exceed specified limits, and does not pose problems of color, hardness, iron and manganese which will be objected to by the Resettlement families.. In addition monitoring will be needed for pollution control measures of the industries proposed to be set-up under the resettlement program. (d) Embankment Resettlement Program: Since the Embankment Resettlement Program flood control project is a separate MWR project, it is not considered in this EIA. This on-going scheme is important in terms of resettlement where some of the host areas are also to be prepared for the present project as well as the flood control project (e.g., for Hubei province). These host areas should include adequate environmental protection measures and monitoring to ensure adequate ES - 13  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY RS management from the environmental point of view. 4.2.1.4 Summary Evaluation Figure 4.2.1-9 presents a summary evaluation of the environmental adequacy of the Resettlement Program for the Project. It can be seen that the net impact of resettlement program is beneficial to both the resettled as well as the host population. However the importance of surveillance and monitoring can scarcely be understated. An efficient environmental monitoring program for the resettlement areas as discussed in Chapter 5 will ensure that all the planned objectives of the program will be achieved. Section 4.2.2 Land Use (a) The Project will change present land uses in the Environment Study Area but only to a small degree. Figure 4.2.2-1 and 4.2.2-2 show present land use and future land use after the project completed. From the large scope, it is shown that the land use mode of the protective area will not be changed significantly and the impact of the project is losses of part land, which is cost of improving most land quality in the protective area (including urban and rural land). (b) During construction period of the project, the conservation of land resources should be strengthened to minimize the irnpact of the project construction on land resources. At planning stage of the project, materials grounds must be rational planned so as to minimize land occupancy. During construction period, the CC must take soil in the specified grounds and prohibiting damaging farmland; the transit must be lay out rationally and the traffic volume arranged balanced so as to disturbance and damage to the normal land use by soil transport; at the same time, water and soil conservation of the project should be strengthened to prevent soil erosion. (c) After the completion of the Project, the flood control standard in the regions will be greatly improved from the present 10-20-year recurrence of floods to protection against the major floods of 1954 type (100 to 200 year recurrences). This new level of protection will effectively ease the flood threat to the regional land resources and these facilitate planning for optional use of the available land. Section 4.2.3 Aquatic Ecology (a) The Yangtze river in the Project construction areas is frequented by four rare aquatic species, as follows: (i) Chinese River Dolphin (lipotes vexilliter): This is already near extinction in the Yangtze river system (only about 100 left), with their habitats mostly in sandbar/backwater area. The Project construction operations areas do not include these habitats, however, careful observations must be made during construction to detect the dolphins and if detected, construction must cease until the dolphins go away and are diverted away. (ii) Chinese sturgeon and Chinese Finless porpoise: ES- 14  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SlUMMARY These species migrate along the river channel's deep bottom troughs, and should not be affected by the project. (b) In addition the river is habitat for "Four Family Fishes" of the Yangtze, namely black carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead. These reproduce in the flood season (May to July) when most construction is halted; hence no significant impact from the Project is expected. (c) Other important fish species have habitats in lake and ponds, which should not be affected by the Project. Section 4.2.4 Public Health (a) Schisto Control (a. 1) Dyke Rehabilitation Construction The Feasibility Study planning for YBFCP includes only some provisions for schisto control during the dyke rehabilitation construction period, and this program needs to be reinforced to include all of the recommended schisto protection steps with allowances for the extra costs, as shown in Table 4.2.4-1. This includes assignments to be carried out by the Schistosomiasis Control Office (SCO) in each province. (a.2) Monitoring of Schisto Control during Construction The recommended schisto/construction monitoring program is given in Section 5.2.4. (a.3) Schisto Control in Flooding Emergencies Table 4.2.4-2 shows the recommended schisto control program to be included in flooding emergency operations. (b) Other Diseases Hazards in Construction: The dyke rehabilitation construction program poses the potential risk for disease outbreaks among construction workers which are common to virtually all major construction projects, including enteric diseases, insect vector transmitted diseases, and others, all of which are to be prevented/controlled by the CC by the CC's Environmental Protection Unit which has this responsibility, as specified in the CC's construction contract, all monitored by the CC with monthly reports to the project EMO and with continuing surveillance by the ECIs furmished by the EMO. This program is described in Section 4.2.12. Control of diseases in resettlement areas is discussed in Section 4.2.1. Section 4.2.5 Dike Structural Stability The present project involving World Bank funding is part of the govenment's overall project for Yangtze dyke improvements, and the overall project is part of the government's comprehensive Basin-wide Flood Control Plan. The comprehensive plan incorporates a variety of flood protection measures including strengthening and raising of dykes. All of the dykes included in the overall project, including those involving World Bank Funding, have been built and added to progressively over a period of hundreds of ES - 15  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY years so that some sections of the dykes are not well designed and constructed. However, this dyke system must continue to be utilized, including use of measures for strengthening dyke foundations as well as raising. The dikes will become much more stable when the project is completed. With this and the other flood control measures included in the overall Project, the overall result will be a system which can manage floods of the 1954 level, provided that emergency control measures of the comprehensive plan (such as use of storage basins) are promptly/efficientty utilized during the flood hazard period. Larger floods may of course occur which will cause overflows but the frequency of flooding/flooding damage after the project will be greatly reduced compared to present conditions. With respect to earthquake hazards, most of the dyke projects are in regions where no special earthquake protection measures are needed. The only exception is the Yongji Dyke, Hunan, where the design earthquake intensity is Level 7 and for these the designs have incorporated the protection measures: the dyke crest has been widened from normal 8.0 m to 10.0 m and the whole dyke has been widened accordingly. Section 4.2.6 Donwstream Impacts Unlike dam/reservoir projects which usually result in a variety of changes in the downstream region, the only physical construction of the present Project is dyke strengthening/raising, and the only major downstream effect will be on downstream hydrology in that, because the Project will increase the volume of river flood flows which will pass downstream. Figure 4.2.6-1 shows that the flow capacity of the downstream region is much greater than in the river system in the Project region, hence no adverse downstream flowing hazards are expected. Also, no other potentials for adverse downstream effects are expected, for example, effects on aquatic species, public health, shipping, etc. 3 Section 4.2.7 Flood Emergency Program The Yangtze Flood Emergency System is one important component of the national flood control system, which composes commanding system, emergency programs, and action plans. A general command of the Yangtze basin-wide flood control, whose office is in the Changjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission (CWRC) located at Wuhan, and subordinate flood control commands at provincial, municipal and county levels as well have been set up. At the same time, the State General Headquarter of Flood and Drought Control has established a flood control command system with its office in the Ministry of Water Resources (Beijing). The Yangtze flood prevention command institutional system is shown in Fig 4.2.7-1. The emergency prograrns prepared by the general command of the Yangtze flood control and local flood control commands includes: flood regulation programs; flood forecasting; rescue program for dyke failure; implementation program for safe transfer from diversion and storage areas; mobilizing and organizing program for flood control teams; flood emergency programs concerning materials supply, communications and ES - 16  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY traffic; emergency programs concerning refugee and anti-epidemic measures. These programs are an integral system and will be put into action correspondingly and immediately when needed to make overall arrangements, ease all kinds of dangerous situations, rescue people and important facilities, ensure material supply, communications, and traffic etc for flood control purposes, take immediate actions to provide food, safe water, and temporary shelters for the refugees, and take measures for control of epidemic measures, especially schistosomiasis control. The time for startup of the emergency program is determined according to the development of the flood situation. Procedures for starting the emergency programs is shown in Figure 4.2.7-2. In 1998 flood, one of the most serious floods of the Yangtze, the flood emergency programs were timely started and played an important role in minimizing the flood losses and damages. Based on the 1998 flooding experiences and on earlier floodings along the Yangtze river, and on flooding experience elsewhere in China, an Emergency Flooding Control System has been established for application in the Yangtze river basin. Section 4.2.8 Impacts on Saicheng Lake Migratory Birds (a) Saicheng Lake, near to urban area, is not a large one. Before 1998, only common migratory birds could be found there, but in winter of 1998 some rare and endangered species were found. This needs further investigation. (b) Figure 3.5-2 illustrates the situation with respect to potentials for disturbance of the Saicheng Lake migratory bird area by the Project's construction activities. As shown in Figure 3.5-2, the construction area are 4 km or more away from the sensitive migratory area (shown by the dotted line), except for the proposal borrow pit located at Basaigedi. Project will include the following protection measures: (i) Eliminate use of the borrow pit at Basaigedi. The amount of borrow proposed to be taken from here is small, hence can be obtained from other near sources; (ii) Give the construction workers training on need not to disturb the mnigratory bird area; (iii)Block off the access routes to the lake which might be used by periodic monitoring (once/month) to ensure that construction workers and operations are not disturbing the migratory bird area. It can be seen from Figure 3.5-2 that all construction sites are far enough away from Saicheng Lake after the Basaigedi borrowing site is given up. Therefore, it is predicted that construction activities will not cause adverse impacts on Saicheng migratory birds. However, there exists the probability of construction workers entering the Saicheng Lake area. All associated contracts must contain provisions that require CCs to train construction workers for protection of the migratory birds, and prohibit construction workers from entering the Lake area where the migratory birds inhabit. Environmental Construction Inspectors must make on-the-spot inspection on the performance of CCs. Section 4.2.9 Borrow Areas and Spoil Disposal ES - 17  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Project will require much use of soil materials for dyke rehabilitation filling with much less production of spoils materials, hence large amounts of soil materials must be taken from borrow areas. Most borrow areas will be located inside the dykes, with the borrow taken from lands which are not valuable for agriculture, in order to avoid disruption of existing farming practice. The overall borrow/filing process, illustrated in Figure 4.2.9-1, shows that spoils materials, and solid wastes from the Gates Improvement Program, will be used mostly for dyke construction, with any excesses used for filling borrow areas so these will not be new snail hazard areas. Where insufficient spoils are available for such filling, the new borrow wet areas will be protected to prevent schisto hazard as explained in Section 4.2.4. Section 4.2.10 Cultural Relies/Heritages (a) Figure 3.2-1 shows the valuable cultural relics/heritages in the ESA. With two exceptions, all of these are located far away from the dyke rehabilitation construction zones so they will not be adversely affected by the construction work. The two exceptions are the Xunyang Tower and the Pipa Tower, which are located on the dike/river bank. The exsiting walls/fences will be used to block the access to the two towers. (b) If during the construction period any evidence is disclosed which indicates possible damage to any valuable relic, the CC (D) will immediately inform the ESC, ECI, EMO and the Provincial cultural relics authority and meet with there officials to prepare the appropriate program for protecting the relics. Section 4.2.11 Impacts on Donting Lake Dongting Lake, with four tributaries on its north side connecting with the Yangtze, is located in Hunan Province which is the only area in the Yangtze middle reach that can accept Yangtze floodwater with a significant effect on cutting down Yangtze peak flood level. The Lake's outlet to the Yangtze is located at Chenglingji. Fig 1.1-2 shows the relationships among the Yangtze river, the Dongting Lake and the lake's tributaries. According to the data, the average annual peak flood discharge through the four tributaries to the lake reaches 37,200m3/s since 1951. When Chenglingji has a high water level, discharge from the Dongting Lake will be hampered, with Dongting lake kept a high water level for some time, and exerting a greater pressure on flood prevention in the Dongting lake area. In order to ensure the safety of the Dongting Lake area, a comprehensive flood prevention improvement project has been carried out in this area in coordination with the rehabilitation of the main dykes, both are integral components of the overall Yangtze Basin Flood Control Plan. The project is to be finished in 2000, two or three yeas ahead the completion of the YBFCP. After completion of the comprehensive flood prevention improvement project in Dongting Lake area, the funsction of the Dongting Lake for alleviating Yangtze floodwater can be fully exerted, and, at the same time the Dongting Lake area can also be safer. Section 4.2.12 Construction Operation Constraints (a) Historically CC's have often caused unnecessary environmental damages, sometimes serious, simply because it is the nature of the CC, and of the Engineering Supervisor of Construction, to focus on expediting building of the projects' physical ES - 18  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY components, with relatively low-priority attention to EPMs. However, experience has shown that it is quite feasible/affordable for the CC to observe and comply with the EPMs specified in EIA, provided these requirements are included in CC's construction contracts and provided an ECI is made available to observe the CC's operations and to require compliance. Figure 4.2.12-1 shows the EPMs to be observed by CCs. (b) A team of ECIs is going to be employed by each P/EMO, who will , like engineering supervisors, monitor on-spot CC's performance to ensure all EPMs specified in the EIA will be actually implemented. (c) A special environmental issue for YBFCP construction is the potential schistosomiasis hazard because most of the YBFCP project construction areas are in serious schistosomiasis hazard areas. Detailed schistosomiasis control programs have been developed in Section 4.2.4 and all CCs are required to implement these measures to protect their construction workers including medical examination, snail killing, provision of safe drinking water, medicine and protection clothes, adequate excreta management, etc. In addition to ECI's daily monitoring, a special schistosomiasis monitoring team will check periodically CC's performance to ensure the EPMs for schistosorniasis control will be implemented during construction period. Section 4.3 Other SEIs a. Other SEIs include 5 issues: project construction, traffic, public infrastructure, aesthetics, and quality of life while the Project construction" covers 4 sub-issues: water quality, air quality, noise, and water supply. b. Water quality: Because the project is mainly a dike rehabilitation (strengthening and widening) project with no significant wastewater produced due to construction activities. Most of the dike rehabilitation work will be done with machines, which results in less construction workers to be involved. And this in turn results less domestic wastewater to be generated and discharge to the river. In addition, construction activities are scattered along the near 700 km dike line and the water volume in the Yangtze is very large with an average annual mninimum flow of 3,000 m3/s. Therefore, the construction of the project will have no significant impacts on the Yangtze water quality. However, the ECIs will monitor the CCs performance to ensure that all the wastewater including construction and domestic will meet national standards when discharged to the river. c. Because most construction activities are scattered along the near 700 km dike line and most of the dike sections are in rural area, the construction of YBFCP would not have significant adverse impacts on air quality, noise level, water supply, traffic, public infrastructure, aesthetics except the construction of some dike sections in or near cities/towns. For construction in such sections, sensitive places and corresponding EPMs have been identified. The ECIs will on-spot monitorg the CC's operations to ensure all these EPMs will be implemented during project construction. d. After implementation of the project, the present intense public fears about flooding will be greatly dispelled as the flood-control standard is greatly increased. This ES - 19  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY will contribute greatly to promote local economic development, attract various investment funds, and increase employment rates and incomes, as a result, to raise significantly the local living quality. e. The Project does not change the hydrology in the wetlands in Project area. All but one of the wetlands in the Project area are too far from the Project construction areas to be affected by the construction operations. For the one near the dykes (Honghu) the construction operations should ensure that construction workers will be barred from travelling to the lake. ES-20  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPIER 5 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING An essential component of the overall YBFCP is its Environmental Monitoring Program, which is to cover both the construction and operations stages of the project, thus covering a period of some 23 years for Hunan Province, 22 years for Jiangxi Province, and 24 years for Hubei Province. The monitoring work should begin as soon as the P/EMOs become operative. Individual monitoring programs have been developed in the Project EIA including monitoring activities, monitoring parameters, number of persons and skills needed, monitoring frequency as well as input needed in terns of professional man-months. The individual monitoring programs are summarized in Figure 5.3-1. Each of the monitoring tasks shown in Figure 5.3-1 is to be managed by a designated member of the professional P/EMO staff. For the construction stage, the ECIs will carry out the field controls of the construction operations, under the direction of the PIEMO. The monitoring program is to be managed and supervised by the EMO, and much of the detailed field work done by the ECIs and by the EMO professional staff. However, other agencies, including the provincial schistosomiasis research institutes, provincial EPBs, and other concemed institutes are to participate in the field work in accordance with agreements with P/EMOs. Costs for monitoring work by these other agencies, which is outside their normal scope of monitoring, are to be reimbursed by P/EMOs of YBFCP. The monitoring costs are significant but actually very small as related to total YBFCP costs, and the benefit/cost ratio will be large because the monitoring is absolutely essential to the success of the project. ES -21  YBFCP/E1A FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUJMMARY CHAPTER 6 OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES (a) EIA technology has been progressively developing since its beginning in the late 1 960s in the USA. In the 1 990s, a major addition to EIA report is the requirement for presenting an environment management plan, to be implemented by an environment management office, for ensuring that all EPMs specified in the EIA will actually be carried out in the project implementation stages following the feasibility study/EIA stage. In the 1990s several other issues important to ETA have become established as part of the overall EIA study and Chapter 6 focuses on these. These are public consultation, public disclosure, compliance with environmental laws, environrnental economics, risk assessment, and global environmental issues. (b) Sections 6.1 to 6.6 of Chapter 6 discuss the individual issues noted in Section 6.7. Each of these sections includes its own summary and conclusions section for that issue as follows: (i) Public Consultation Public consultation program has been conducted by Project proponent in the three provinces and by the EIA team during the Project preparation stage. Some 327 individuals covering all range of age, occupation, and education of the people to be affected by the Project and 38 members of NGOs as well as representatives of pertinent government agencies and professional institutions, have been consulted. Consultation forms include discussions at meeting, interviews at random and filling questionaires. Among the 365 people consulted, 364 show positive attitude to the project and 160 made donation for fighting the 1998 deluge. Information of the people consulted and their comments have been summarized in Table6. 1 -1 and Table 6.1- 2 respectively. Some of their comments have been taken into consideration in preparing the EIA or made available to pertinent agencies such as resettlement offices in three provinces. (ii) Public Disclosure Public disclosure is an integral part of the EIA process. In order to take the views of affected groups and local NGOs fully into account in project design and implementation, the project EIA report will be openly released so that affected people and NGOs can understand the project and its environmental impacts, and give their opinions, suggestions and requirements. The completed EIA report is to be given on 30 November 1999 to selected libraries in the three provinces, which are located at places which can be readily reached by people living along the river in the areas subject to flooding and at capitals of the three provinces. For this purpose a total of seven libraries in three provinces are selected. ES- 22  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Three days prior to giving the EIA report to the libraries, notices will be given on provincial and local newspapers and televisions to inform the public that they may visit the libraries to review the report and give their comments to RIYWRP. These comments will be taken into consideration in subsequent project planning/ implementation. (iii) Compliance with Environmental Laws Figure 6.3-1 lists the various laws/regulations of PRC, as given in Sections 6.3.2, 6.3.3 and 6.3.4, and of the Word Bank requirements as given in Section 6.3.5, and identifies the sections of the EIA report which cover compliance with the PRC requirements and Word Bank guidelines. The EIA gives due attention to all Chinese Government requirements and World Bank guidelines. (iv) Environmental Economics While there is as yet no intemational agreement on how to make such analysis, because of the difficulties in evaluating "intangible" project benefits, nevertheless this type of analysis is now becoming past of the EIA process. Section 6.4.2 shows clearly that the environmental benefits of the project in controlling flooding will result in huge economic and social-economic benefits, compared to quite limited and relatively insignificant project dis-benefits. The project is for all people in the region protected by the project, and unlike many major projects, it is not in the 14ich get richer poor get poorer" category. (v) Risk Assessment (a) Section 6.5 of the EIA makes a Risk Assessment evaluation for the YBFCP. Figure 6.5-1 summaries the evaluation and shows that the Project planning and design have given proper careful attention to this issue. (b) It should be noted flood control projects for major rivers everywhere in the World are designed to protect against floods for a selected flood magnitude, which represents the highest level of protection which is economically practicable, and floods of higher levels will of course result in serious flooding damage .The purpose of such projects is to reduce the flooding events as much as feasible, and for YBFCP the design flood is that for 1954 , representing a 100-200 year flood. On this basis it is concluded that the YBFCP planning has given proper and adequate attention to this issue. (vi) Global Environmental Issues This section deals with Global Environmental Issues particularly Earth Warning and Biodiversity degradation. This evaluation shows that the effects of the project in these issues will be negligible. ES - 23  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 7 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN Action Items (a) To ensure effective implementation of the EPMs specified in the EIA, including environrnental monitoring, Provincial EMOs are to be established in each province. The provincial EMOs are responsible for implementing environmental protection requirements in the project final design, construction, and operation stages of the project for both dyke constructions areas and resettlement areas. (b) An Overall Environmental coordinator (C/EMOs) is to be appointed to work together with the P/EMOs to ensure needed coordination between the three P/EMOs. (c) The P/EMOs and C/EMOs are to be established immediately following the Governmental /World Bank Loan Agreement. (d) The C/EMOs and P/EMOs will be responsible for handling administrative affairs concerning visits of WB Missions and of the International Panel of Environmental Experts. On each visit the Panel will review the EP of the Project including the roles of the C/EMOs, P/EMOs, ECIs, CCs, VEOs, EMO sub-contractors, and prepare a report on adequacy of EP by all participants with recommendations for needed improvements. (e) The overall EMP includes provisions for (i) training of the staff of the PiEMOs including ECIs, VEOs, and subcontractors, plus (ii) a training visit to USA to study how environmental aspects of flood control are managed for the Mississippi River, which is of about the same magnitude as the Yangtze with quite similar problems, to take advantage of lessons learned there in the comprehensive R&D program for the Mississippi basin carried out over the past half-century by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Illustrative Drawings and Tables Figure 7.3.2-1 shows the institutional structure of a provincial EMO and its relationship with other parties included in environmental management for the project of each province. Figure 7.3.2-2 shows the main work of the P/EMO. Table 7.6.1-8, 9, 10 show the cost estimates for environmental management for the three provinces respectively, Hunan $1,342,275, Hubei $1,499,685, Jiangxi $1,155,825, which will be included in overall project budget. ES- 24  YBFCP/EIA FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Executive Summary The Executive Summary is a consolidation of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the EIA study, which is presented at the beginning of the EIA report. It is a compilation of the "Summary and Conclusions" sections of Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and of sub-chapters of Chapters 4 and 6. Matrix Presenting Overall Study Results Figure 8.2-1 summarizes the overall ETA study. As it shows, the YBFCP is essentially an environmental improvement project because it will greatly enhance the socio- economics/quality of life of the people living in the flooding-hazard areas which will be protected by the project. It is indeed a " People's Project", so much so that many individuals living in these areas have made personal contributions to help Project funding. Figure 8.2-1 in addition shows that, assuming the EPMs specified in the ETA, including environmental monitoring, are properly carried out, the Project will not result in any significant adverse environmental effects. To ensure these EPMs will be carried out, the Project includes an Environmental Management Office with responsibility for getting this done, with its budget guaranteed in the Government/Bank Loan Agreement, and with establishment of an Intemational Panel of Environmental Experts who will visit the Project every 6 months during the construction period to check on the Project environmental performance, who will report directly to both the Goveniment and the Bank. ES -25   : _ N t ! a IIIE l q)R' I P ? S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CD , gL ' " / 6!