E-416 VOL. 2 World Bank Proiect - Hubei Hydropower Proiect Public Disclosure Authorized Lajitan Hydropower Project in Laifeng County of Hubei Province Environmental Impact Assessment Report (First Draft) Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences October 2000 Public Disclosure Authorized Project: Lajitan Hydropower Project in Laifeng County of Hubei Province, P.R. China Document: Report for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA, First Draft) Project Manager: ZHANG Yutian Research Fellow Team Member: MAO Wenyong Research Fellow SONG Fu Research Fellow SU Yibing Associate Research Fellow SUN Xueli Engineer JIANG Hua Engineer NIE Yihuang Engineer LIANG Zhenming Engineer ZHOU Yun Engineer JIAO Yang Assistant Engineer Reviewed by: LI Yanwu Associate Research Fellow EIA Unit: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences Present: CHEN Fu Research Fellow Chief Engineer: XIA Qing Research Fellow EIA License No. National EIA License Grade A No. 1001, issued by SEPA Entrusted by Hubei Provincial Planning Commission Reportfor Environmental Impact Assessmentfor Lajilan Hydropower Project in Laifeng County of Iubei Proince CONTENT CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................. 1 1.1 BACKGROUND. 1.2 EIA CATEGORYAND PURPOSE OF THE REPORT .2 1.3 REFERENCES.................................... ; .2 1.4 ASSESSMENTSCOPE AND ASSESSMENT STANDARD .4 1.5 ENVIRONMENTALPROTECTION TARGETS AND FOCUS OF THE EIA .5 CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEWOF THE PROPOSED PROJECT............................................. 7 2.1 BASICSITUATIONS OF THEPROJECT .7 2.2 TASKSAND SCALE OF THE PROJECT .7 2.3 LAYOUTOF KEY BUILDINGS .8 2.4 IMPLEMENTATIONPLAN FOR THE PROPOSED PROJECT .9 2.5 TOTALINVESTMENT OF THEPROPOSED PROJECT. 8 2.6 ANALYSISFOR THE PROPOSED PROJECT . 18 CHAPTER 3 REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTALSTATUS OF THE PROJECT.............. 22 3.1 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT..................................................................... 22 3.2 ECO-ENVIRONMENT..................................................................... 28 3.3 SOCIALENVIRONMENT ..................................................................... 33 3.4 QUALITYOF LIFE ..................................................................... 36 CIIPTER 4 ASSESSMENT ON STATUS QUO OF ENVIRONMENT .............................. 39 4.1 STATUSQUO AND ASSESSMENT ON WATERENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ................... 39 4.2 STATUSQUO ANDASSESSMENT ON AMBIENT AIR QUALITY...................................... 43 4.3 STATUSQUO AND ASSESSMENT ON ACOUSTICENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ..............44 CHAPTER 5 ENVIRONMENTALIMPACTS OF THE PROPOSED PROJECTAND COUNTERMEASURES..................................................................... 46 5.1 IMPACTSOF THEPROPOSED PROJECT ON ECO-ENVIRONMENT .46 5.2 FORECASTINGAND ASSESSMENT ON AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTALIMPACT .66 5.3 ANALYSISFOR IMPACT ON HYDROLOGICAL REGIME .73 5.4 ANALYSISFOR IMPACT OF SEDIMENT.75 5.5 ANALYSISFOR IMPACT ON GEOLOGICALENVIRONMENT .78 5.6 ANALYSISFOR ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT .79 5.7 ANALYSISFOR IMPACT ON AMBIENTAIR .80 5.8 IMPACTON SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT .83 5.9 ANALYSIS FOR ENVIRONMENTALIMPACT OF RESERVOIR SUBMERGINGAND RELOCATIONOF EMIGRATION................................................................... 86 5.10 ENVIRONMENTALRISKS ANALYSIS .................................................................... 94 CHAPTER 6 ANALYSIS FOR ALTERNATIVES............................................................. 100 6.1 NO-ACTIONALTERNATIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT................................... 100 6.2 COMPARISONWITH POWERSTATION ..................................................................... 100 6.3 COMPARISONIN ALTERNATIVESOF SITE SELECTION............................................... 101 6.4 COMPARISONIN DAMLINE ..................................................................... 102 CHAPTER 7 ENVIRONMENTALMANAGEMENT PLAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PLAN..................................................................... 103 7.1 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN.................................................................. 103 7.2 ENVIRONMENTALMONITORING PLAN.................................................................... 104 CHAPTER 8 PUBLIC CONSULTATION...................................................................... 108 Reportfor EnWronmenJalhnpartAsesmentfor Lajitan Hydropower Project in Laifeng County of Hubei Province 8.1 FORMSOF PUBLICCONSULTATION ..................................................... 108 8.2 ANALYSISFOR THE COMMENTS PROPOSED BY THE PUBLIC.................. 10..................i CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................................................ 113 9.1 CONCLUSIONOF THEENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ................................. 113 9.2 RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................... 1171 ii Reportfor Enironmentai ImpactAssessmentfor LaJitawHydropower Project in Laifeng Couny of HubeaProvince CHAPTER 1 Executive Summary 1.1 Background 1.1.1 Brief Introduction Of the Proposed Project "Lajitan Hydropower Project in Laifeng County of Hubei Province" (Lajitan HPP) is proposed to be constructed in the upper reach of Youshui River located in Baifusi Town, Laifeng County of Hubei Province. The total investment for the proposed project amounts to RMB 330 million yuan. The gross storage capacity of the proposed reservoir reaches to 442.8 million m , occupying an area of 3.07 km2 with an overall length of backwater for 33.1 km. The proposed Hydropower station is to be built with a total installed capacity for 36 MW. Lajitan HPP initiated its, preparation in 1995, lasting for 5 years. The major tasks conducted in the preparation include: * Proposal for Lajitan HPP completed in 1995 * Feasibility study for Lajitan HPP completed in May 1999. 1.1.2 Advance of EIA The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for this proposed project started from 1999, and according to the EIA procedure applied in China, the following steps has been made: * In June 1999, Hubei Provincial Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (HRAES) was instructed by the project owner, Lajitan Hydropower Development Co., Ltd, of Laifeng County, Hubei Province to prepare the EIA Report for Lajitan HPP; * In July 1999, the outline for the EIA Report, prepared by HRAES, was approved; * In May 2000, the EIA Report was completed by HRAES. 1.1.3 Origin of this EIA Since this proposed project is planned to be funded by the World Bank (WB), the EIA for this project has to meet the requirements of WB. According to the comments provided by WB in February 2000', Hubei Provincial Planning Commission (HPPC) recruited the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) to make contribution to the consulting of this EIA with focus on revising and complementing the EIA report. Since April 2000, on the basis of the EIA report prepared by HRAES2, CRAES has mainly made the following contribution to the report: * According to the comments and requirements to this proposed project provided WB, CRAES determined the main part to be revised and complemented, and got 'See Attachment B "Comments on EIA Report" to the minute of the Identification Group for Hydropower Project in Hubei Province, February 2000. 2 This report is prepared on the basis of the EIA Report prepared by HRAES, and uses tremendous data, tables and text of the original EIA report. Reportfor Environmental Impact AssessmentforLaj:tan Hvdropower Project in Laifeng County of Hubei ProWnce contact with the project unit for preparing necessary materials; * CRAES made necessary site visits as a part of complement, such as reconnaissance of dam site, collecting biological samples, gathering materials for complementation and conducting on-site consulting and investigation in various terms; * Based on the above tasks completed, CRAES discussed with the experts from WB on the outline3 and EIA report4 to be revised, and finished the revision on the EIA report for this proposed project. In the light of the EIA approval procedure applied in China and the requirements of WB, the new version of the EIA report, revised and complemented, will be submitted to the related governmental bodies of China and the representatives of WB for review, in both Chinese and English. 1.2 EIA Category and Purpose of the Report 1.2.1 EIA Category Based on the "Notice on Enhancing the Administration of EIA for Construction Projects Funded by International Financial Organizations" issued by Chinese Government and the classifying principles for EIA category provided by. OP4.01 of WB, the EIA category of Lajitan HPP is identified as Category A, according to the nature and characteristics of the proposed project. 1.2.2 Purpose of the Report Through the EIA for the proposed project, the following purposes are to be achieved: the status quo of natural enviromnent, eco-environment and social economic environment of the region where Lajitan Hydropower Station is to be located will be detected, the scope and extent of environmental impacts brought by the proposed project will be assessed, the potential environmental impacts brought by the proposed project will be examined and identified, measures and recommendations for reducing environmental pollution and preventing the destruction on eco-environment will be proposed and plans for environmental protection management and monitoring will be prepared; while the public being involved, the public under the potential impact of this proposed project should understand the roles of the proposed