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RBOD ProjectEnvironmental Vista

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Stage-I Larkana and Shahdad Kot districts. Stage-II Kashmore, Jacobabad, Dadu ... LBOD changed whole regime of KPOD after construction of the Tidal Link Canal. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: RBOD ProjectEnvironmental Vista


1
RBOD Project-Environmental Vista
  • Naseer Memon

2
RBOD Project
  • Stage-I Larkana and Shahdad Kot districts
  • Stage-II Kashmore, Jacobabad, Dadu districts
    and Balochistan
  • Stage-III IV Sindh and Balochistan
  • Length of drain 273 kms
  • Design discharge increased from 2,271 to 3,525
    cusecs
  • Cost increased from Rs. 14 to 31 billion
  • Expected completion-2008

3
Drainage projects are environmentally sensitive
development projects and need careful design
implementation, stringent mitigation measures and
effective long term monitoring
4
Outfall Options
  • Manchar Lake
  • River Indus
  • Evaporation Ponds
  • Via LBOD to Sea
  • Via RBOD to Sea
  • The last option is likely to be the least
    damaging if socio-environmental impacts are
    properly mitigated

5
Environmental Impact Assessment
  • Conducting EIA is a pre-requisite for
    environmentally sensitive large projects.
  • Public sector projects are generally implemented
    without EIA.
  • It is appreciable that the IPD conducted an EIA
    for RBOD project.

6
Review of the EIA
  • EIA is a guiding document for environmental
    management of the project. Therefore it would be
    pertinent to review the stipulations of the EIA.
  • Stakeholder consultation on environmental issues
    is missing which is mandatory under PEPA Act
    1997.
  • Responsibilities in some areas are not clearly
    defined. e.g. who will ensure pre-discharge
    treatment of Kotri industrial effluent?
    (proponent is responsible)

7
Review of the EIA
  • The EIA proposes Environmental Biological
    Management through plantation of 2 million trees
    in Khirthar hills.
  • It is not clear as to who will implement this
    huge undertaking and who will fund this plan.
  • Abstract of cost given in the PC-1 of the project
    (page 35-36) is silent about this item. EIA also
    does not give any rough estimates.
  •  

8
Review of the EIA
  • The following aspects are also missing in the
  • EIA
  • Change Management
  • Indicators for compliance and effect monitoring
  • Selection of camp sites, waste disposal and
    restoration plan
  • Transport management (speed limits, oil leakages,
    washing etc.)

9
Impact on hill torrents ecosystem
  • The project area is exposed to occasional
    torrential flows from Khirthar range
  • The EIA document does not provide adequate
    information on likely effects of the project on
    hill torrent ecosystem and the drain structure
    itself.
  • Lessons learnt from CBRC need to be analyzed and
    incorporated.

10
Impact on hill torrents ecosystem
  • The following aspects require further
    investigation
  • Number of torrents interrupting the drain, their
    maximum past discharges and frequency
  • Impact on downstream water users and resulting
    socio-economic losses
  • Engineering risk involving training of flash
    floods through narrow escapes

11
Impact on local aquifer
  • Drainage projects pose serious environmental risk
    for freshwater aquifers
  • The EIA does not adequately cover this very
    important environmental aspect.  
  • The project area runs closer to River Indus. It
    is most likely that the area has freshwater
    recharge zone with relatively higher water table,
    which will become prone to saline seepage. 
  • Revised PC-I provides stone pitching of bunds and
    lining of bed
  •  

12
Impact on Gharo creek ecosystem
  • Chapter 6 (page-6-11) mentions, No monitoring
    was done for the Gharo Creek, therefore no
    scientific statement can be made viz-a-viz
    environmental impact of K.G drain on the Gharo
    Creek.
  • However in conclusion it is said that The
    current environmental assessment of Gharo Creek
    does not indicate any serious state of
    pollutionTherefore, it can be predicted that
    with the discharge of RBOD into Gharo will not
    have a negative impact

13
Impact on Gharo creek ecosystem
  • It is not clear what sort of assessment is
    referred here in absence of monitoring.
  • Gharo creek ecosystem merits scientific
    assessment before jumping into conclusions like
    no impact.
  • For long-term impact assessment baseline
    information need to be collected.
  • EIA is silent about mitigation measure if such
    monitoring establishes negative environmental
    impact on the creek ecosystem.

14
Tidal Impact
  • Page 6-11 article-vi mentions with the rising
    tide the flow in the Khuhi-Gharo drain is
    reversed up to almost 10 kms from the creek.
  • This reminds terrible failure of Tidal Link Canal
    of LBOD.
  • LBOD changed whole regime of KPOD after
    construction of the Tidal Link Canal.
  • The EIA is silent about the likely impact of the
    backflow in KG drain after commissioning of the
    RBOD. Also it does not give details of outfall
    structure

15
Socio-economical Issues
  • Socio-economical issues of any large development
    project are long reaching and are integral part
    of environment. This may include employment,
    displacement, impact on means of livelihood,
    historical rights of communities, gender
    perspective etc.
  • The EIA has very superficially touched (only 7
    lines (page 6-3) this very vital impact of the
    project.

16
Socio-economical Issues
  • The only aspect discussed is possibility of local
    employment and termed it positive. It does not
    even stipulate any terms for employment
    distribution and other related issues.  
  • There is no mention of impact on ground water,
    loss of livelihood, women issues etc.
  • Absence of comprehensive socio-economic impact
    assessment might eventually result in
    complications for the project executants.

17
Recommendations-Impacts
  • The following aspects should be studied in
    greater details
  • Impact on hill torrents ecosystem
  • Impact on freshwater lakes
  • Impact on Gharo creek ecosystem
  • Impact on ground water aquifer
  • Impact on livelihood means of communities
  • Impact of backflow during high tide

18
Recommendations-Monitoring
  • Establishing Environmental Cell in IPD for the
    project is appreciable.
  • Environmental impact monitoring should not be
    restricted with the Environmental Cell. It should
    be made broad based involving other stakeholders
    like SEPA, SWD, Environmental NGOS e.g. WWF, IUCN
    and universities.  
  • Environmental monitoring reports should be made
    public on quarterly basis.

19
Recommendations-Upstream Measures
  • In order to mitigate environmental impacts,
    upstream measures should also be considered.
  • Like treatment of industrial effluent of Kotri,
    similar measures may also be adopted in the
    districts releasing agricultural disposal in
    MNVD.  
  • In collaboration with the Agriculture department
    use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides may be
    restricted and gradually replaced with organic
    alternatives to minimize pollutants in RBOD.  

20
Recommendations-Upstream Measures
  • Municipal effluent received by MNVD may also be
    treated before releasing into the drain.
  • The environmental monitoring plan should also
    encompass these aspect.
  • Future extension at upstream should only have
    been considered after satisfactory performance of
    the current phase of the project.
  • At suitable upstream locations localized
    evaporation and recycling options should also be
    investigated to reduce the discharges.

21
Recommendations-Learning from Past
  • RBOD is the second largest drainage project in
    Sindh after LBOD.
  • Issues, failures and successes registered in the
    LBOD project should be carefully analyzed and
    incorporated in RBOD project.
  • Implementing the project in shortest possible
    time with lowest possible cost is appreciable
    objective but not at the cost of increased risk
    and higher cost for people

22
  • Thank You
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