World Bank Document

E1897 V3 TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE INTEGRAL ENVIRONMENTAL (SOCIAL) ASSESSMENT OF THE AREA OF INFLUENCE OF THE URBAN WORKS “GREAT ASUNCIÓN” (ASUNCIÓN AND SOME DISTRICTS OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF ASUNCIÓN)1 Public Disclosure Authorized A. Introduction 1. The Terms of Reference (TORs) for the Integral Environmental Assessment establish a guide of the main environmental – social requirements to be considered in the assessment to which the subprojects of the Modernization Program of the Water and Sanitation Sector of Paraguay (MPWSS) must be subjected; specifically in its Component 2, Water Supply and Sanitation in Urban Areas, Major Urban Works. The objective is to obtain reliable information for decision-making on technical and management aspects ensuring the solidity and environmental sustainability of the works which would be selected to be financed. Public Disclosure Authorized 2. The objective of the Environmental Assessment is to ensure that all actions and works proposed to be financed by the MPWSS are evaluated as a whole, so that the scope of the benefits, of the negative impacts and of the potential risks of the Programme and of the subprojects that make it up are evaluated in detail and that the knowledge in relation to the response of the receiving bodies of water to the effects of contamination be strengthened and integrated into said assessments, with a definition of the measures and actions that have been envisaged for each selected alternative, in order to prevent, control, mitigate, compensate or correct the adverse environmental impacts caused during the execution of the works and activities; as well as propose a follow-up and attention paid to the contingencies that may arise during the operation and functioning of the works and facilities of the subprojects. 3. The TORs presented in this document stem from the Environmental and Social Public Disclosure Authorized Management Framework (ESMF) of the MPWSS, therefore the objectives of the TORs are consistent with the predictions of the ESMF, which seek to ensure the socio- environmental sustainability of the subprojects to be financed with the resources of the Programme, to comply with the national environmental legislation and with the Bank’s Environmental Safeguard Policies. 4. The MPWSS for urban areas includes subprojects that involve the construction of infrastructure works for the production of drinking water for supply purposes, on the one hand, and the collection of effluents and their treatment and final disposal, on the other. The quick and general environmental and social assessment and the revision of the Master Urban Water and Sanitation Plan indicate a first level of prioritization of major works and one of the two main areas of influence of the Programme; these works would be those relating to sanitation due to the high degree of environmental contamination (urban streams, underground waters of Public Disclosure Authorized the Patiño Aquifer, streets and yards, etc.), to the number of population affected of about 892,000 inhabitants (that presents high density and an annual growth rate ranging from 1.0% to 7.2%, specially in the cities of the Great Asunción and riverside areas of the River Paraguay; unlike 1 See Area Map at the end of the document. 1 Asunción which is already densely populated) and due to its vital important for the development of the area. 5. The Master Sanitary Sewer Plan of ESSAP S.A. was prepared in 1985, where the following works were initially defined: i. Immediate improvements and recommendations for the provision of the new relief sewers serving the drainage areas of Villa Victoria, Vista Alegre and L. A. de Herrera; ii. Three separate plan to improve the existing sewer systems in Varadero, Tacumbú and Bella Vista; iii. Five subprojects to provide sewer collection systems in new areas: Itay, Lambaré, Mariano Roque Alonso, San Lorenzo and Luque. 6. This Plan represents an important contribution in the identification of the needs of priority sanitation infrastructure, however, it needs to be updated on the basis of the special studies that will define the types of final solutions of the works to be executed in each subproject. This priority works include, for Asunción, Great Asunción and Caacupé, the construction, expansion, rehabilitation and/or improvement of: i. sewer systems and/or sanitation network; ii. Possible effluent treatment systems; iii. sewer collectors; and iv. the actual discharge of the sewage of Asunción into the River Paraguay through the construction of a subaqueous outfalls at each discharge point for the best dilution of the effluents in the river mass. 7. Due the focus on the approach to the works of the ESMF, these TORs will mainly consider 2 areas of influence of the subprojects in urban areas; i) the area encompassing Asunción and surrounding districts, called the “Great Asunción”; and ii) the area encompassing the city of Caacupé. Nevertheless, brief references will be included for the other MPWSS subprojects that are not included in these areas of greater interest, but which have been envisaged for execution in later stages after the implementation of the works of greater priority. 8. The TORs presented in this document are established on the basis of the general knowledge of the types of works that will make up the subprojects which could be financed by the MPWSS. The information provided here represents an initial basis that requires rigorous information attained by carrying out in-depth studies to assist decision-making on the most viable alternative solutions, the fine-tuning of probable site areas and the potential environmental and social impacts that will be generated in each particular case. The Integral Environmental Assessment will be complemented with the Environmental-Social Management Instruments envisaged in the ESMF of the Project: the Involuntary Resettlement Framework and Acquisition of Property and the Management Framework of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the actions generated upon notification of the Project, these TORs and others suggested by riverside countries of the MPWSS. 9. The preparation of the Integral Environmental Assessment will be ruled by these TORs according to the preselected subprojects, first and foremost based on the updating of the Master Sanitary Sewer Plan of the Area of Influence “Great Asunción”. The information provided in this document includes generic references that need to be confirmed and evaluated for the drinking water and sanitation subprojects. B. BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT Present Situation of the Provision of Drinking Water and Sanitation 2 10. The coverage of drinking water service presented the following percentages to 2002: Asunción, 96.3%; Lambaré, 90.1%; Fernando de la Mora, 87.1%; Mariano Roque Alonso, 77.6%; San Lorenzo, 76%; Luque, 64.2%; Villa Elisa, 85.1%; Caacupé, 83.4%. In Asunción, 100% of the service is provided by ESSAP S.A., while 28% of the total service in the Central Department is provided by ESSAP S.A., 36% by SENASA and 36% by neighbourhood commissions, private water providers (aguateros) and others. In Caacupé, 83.4% of the coverage is provided by ESSAP S.A. 11. According to information of ESSAP S.A., about 75% of sanitary sewers of the city of Asunción are being collected by collector networks and discharged through 12 outfalls directly and untreated into the River Paraguay, causing contamination, specially of fecal coliforms on the shores of the River Paraguay, which places the inhabitants living on the riverbanks and fishermen who are always in contact with the water at great risk, also in detriment of this region’s touristic activities2. 12. The percentages of coverage of the sanitary sewer network in some of the districts of the Great Asunción up to 20023 are as follows: Lambaré, 16%; Fernando de la Mora, 7%; Mariano Roque Alonso, 0%; San Lorenzo, 9%; Luque, 7%; Villa Elisa, 0%. In these districts there is an extensive use of cesspools as a solution for the disposal of sewage; nonetheless the effluents collected and untreated and a percentage of uncollected effluents are directed to nearby streams, except for San Lorenzo that has a treatment plant prior to the discharge, albeit collapsed at present. Another practice that is still observed is the discharging of sewage into streets and yards. 13. The excessive amount of coliforms has been observed in the beaches of the River Paraguay in this area of Great Asunción due to the lack of treatment, in fact several thousands of coliforms per 100ml; while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends less than 500 UFC/100ml (coliforms/100ml) as the maximum for beaches. In Asunción the sewer service is administrated and provided by ESSAP S.A., not so in the other districts where networks are managed by the neighbourhood commissions and other community associations themselves. In the case of Caacupé, the coverage of the sewer network is 0% and sewage is directed to cesspools or adjacent streams. 14. In this section any unknown relevant information must be revealed, and/or any information already existing in reports of the previously prepared Environmental Impact Assessment, such as the one performed by Halcrow4 in 1995, in relation to the sanitary situation that involves: i. The deterioration of the quality of life of urban inhabitants in the possible areas of influence of the subproject; ii. The statistics of morbidity and mortality due to diseases caused by the water; 2 Kawai, H. (2007). Complementary paper of the Project of control and improvement of the quality of water of the Lake Ypacarai basin and of the River Paraguay, JICA, SEAM and DIGESA Cooperation. Preliminary Plan for the Disposal of Sanitary Sewers of Asunción into the River Paraguay. 3 Data, ESSAP Statistics. 4 Halcrow: Sir William Halcrow & Partners (1995). 3 iii. The degradation of aquatic and land ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity in the possible areas of influence of the subproject; iv.

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