ABSTRACT OVERSEEING THE MITIGATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS IN ARMENIA by Lilit Hovhannisyan The internship was completed from December 16, 2013, till July 31, 2016, at the Armenian Water and Sewerage Closed Joint Stock Company (AWSC), Investment Programs Coordination Directorate, Head office, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia. The main project of the internship was “Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project - Additional Financing” funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). I was involved in the project as an Environmental and Social Impact Specialist. This report describes the tasks and assignments for which I was responsible. OVERSEEING THE MITIGATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS IN ARMENIA Internship Report Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Science by Lilit Hovhannisyan Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2017 Advisor: Amélie Davis Reader: Vincent C. Hand Reader: Jonathan Levy ©2017 Lilit Hovhannisyan This Internship Report titled OVERSEEING THE MITIGATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS IN ARMENIA by Lilit Hovhannisyan has been approved for publication by College of Arts and Science and Institute for the Environment and Sustainability ____________________________________________________ Amélie Davis ______________________________________________________ Vincent C. Hand _______________________________________________________ Jonathan Levy Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND ....................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 1.1 About Armenia ...................................................................................................................................... 1 2. AWSC AND THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK PROJECT ............................................................2 3. INTERNSHIP GOAL AND MAIN TASKS ......................................................................................6 3.1 Donor Organization’s Specific Requirements Related to the Task ................................... 8 3.2 ADB Safeguard Policy Statement (2009) .................................................................................... 9 4. DISCUSSION OF LOCAL LAWS, REGULATIONS AND POLICIES THAT DICTATED THE STRUCTURE OF THE JOB .................................................................................................................................. 10 4.1. Background on the Environmental Documentation of the Project ............................... 10 4.2. Armenian Environmental Legislation Framework ............................................................. 12 5. BACKGROUND ON PROJECT FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS/ INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (IFIs) ...................................................................................................................... 12 5.1 Policies of International Financial Institutions in the Developing Country (Armenia) and Loan Requirements for Capital Programs in Armenia ................................ 12 CHAPTER 2: COMPLETE CYCLE FOR ONE SUBPROJECT ............................. 14 1. PREPARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTATIONS ...................................................... 14 1.1 Specific duties and responsibilities for subprojects of WSSSP-AF carried out by the Consultant ................................................................................................................................................... 14 1.1.1. Phase 1: Preparation of Initial Environmental Examination for Each Subproject 16 1.1.2. Phase 2: Preparation of Environmental Management Plans for Each Package... 16 1.1.3. Phase 3: Environmental, Health and Safety Supervision for all Packages ........... 20 2. WSSSP-AF PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS .................................................................. 20 2.1. Discussion of specific deliverables and disclosure requirements ............................. 21 2.2. Selection of the Contractor ....................................................................................................... 23 2.3. Supervision of Construction / EMP Execution.................................................................. 24 2.3.1. Project Management Unit (PMU)..................................................................................... 26 2.3.2. Project Design and Technical Supervision Consultant .............................................. 27 2.3.3. ADB Supervision (International and Local level) ....................................................... 28 iii 2.3.4. Independent Environmental Auditing ............................................................................. 30 2.4. Improvement of Environmental Supervision through Regular Workshops ......... 31 2.5. Detection of cases of non-compliance with the EMP...................................................... 33 2.6. Proceeding with “Notice on the failure” and its financial liabilities ......................... 33 2.7. Project completion and internal environmental audit .................................................. 34 3. REPORTING .......................................................................................................................... 34 3.1. The Consultant’s reporting ....................................................................................................... 34 3.2. AWSC company internal reporting ....................................................................................... 35 3.3. Reporting to the ADB .................................................................................................................. 36 3.3.1 Quarterly progress reporting .................................................................................................... 36 3.3.2. Bi-annual Environmental Monitoring Reporting ............................................................. 36 4. CAPACITY BUILDING AND EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCE ........................................................... 38 CHAPTER 3: REFLECTION ON MY IES EXPERIENCE .................................... 39 1. DURING THE ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTATION PREPARATION STAGE .............................. 39 2. CONSISTENCY OF THE JOB WITH MY AREA OF CONCENTRATION ........................................... 40 3. WHAT BEST PREPARED ME FOR THIS INTERNSHIP ................................................................. 40 REFERENCES ............................................................................................ 41 APPENDIX A: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN’S FIELD VISIT CHECKLIST .............................. 43 APPENDIS B: EXAMPLE OF THE CHECKLIST FOR QUICK ENVIRO-NMENTAL EVALUATION ................. 46 Annex 1: Checklist for Preliminary Climate Risk Screening .................................................... 49 APPENDIX C: POST-CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT CHECKLIST ...................................... 51 iv List of Tables Table 1: List of the WSSSP-AF project’s subprojects and packages with settlements. ......................... 4 Table 2: WSSSP-AF project’s subprojects and packages; Armenia, 2013-2016. ............................ 21 Table 3: Distribution of responsibilities during the Construction Supervision stage. ..................... 25 Table 4: Implementation report on EMP/SSEMP Mitigation Measures. ........................................... 37 v List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Armenia. 2 Figure 2: AWSC Organizational Chart. 3 Figure 3: The Structure of the ADB WSSSP-AF Project. 5 Figure 4: WSSSP-AF Project Implementation Plan. 6 Figure 5: Environmental Clearance Framework (Local Legislation requirements). 11 Figure 6: Map of the “Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project – Additional Financing” project, Armenia 2013-2016. 14 Figure 7: WSSSP-AF project’s subproject implementation phases. 15 Figure 8: Example of the EMP Table of Contents. 19 Figure 9։ The area subject to the archaeological excavation, discovered during WSSSP-AF project construction works (village Vardakar, Shirak marz). 27 Figure 10: Workshop on EMP requirements and monitoring mitigation measures. 28 Figure 11: ADB Armenian Representation’s environmental specialist’s quarterly monitoring visit on construction sites. 29 Figure 12: ADB senior environmental international specialist’s visit within the framework of annual mission of WSSSP-AF project. 30 Figure 13: Environmental Audit’s meeting at construction site. 31 Figure 14: Slides from the Workshop on environmental impact mitigation measures and workers’ Occupational Health & Safety (in Armenian). 32 Figure 15: Presenting Armenia’s best practices at the workshop “Regional Exchange on Good Practice of Environmental Safeguard Management” (August, 2015, Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan). 39 vi Acronyms ADB Asian Development Bank AWSC Armenian Water and Sewerage Closed Joint Stock Company CJSC Closed Joint Stock Company DD Detail Design EIS Environmental Impact Statement EMP Environmental Management Plan FONSI Finding Of No Significant Impact GDP Gross Domestic Product IEE Initial environmental examination IES Institute for the Environment and Sustainability (IES) IPCD Investment Programs Coordination Directorate MNP Ministry of Natural Protection MU Miami University NEP Nature Protection Expertise PAM Project Administration Manual PD Preliminary Design PMU Project Management Unit QPR Quarterly Progress Report RoA Republic of Armenia SAUR