The activities included in all the three Components of the OVFMP represent different types of hydraulic projects associated with the construction of new flood protection systems and improvement of existing ones in the upper part of the Odra River basin – Kłodzko Valley (Component 1), the middle and lower parts of the Odra River basin (Component 2), and the upper part of the Vistula River basin (Component 3).
Therefore, all planned activities have similar characteristics in terms of potential environmental impacts resulting from the features of implementation areas of the investments. They are described in the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) of April 1, 2015. The final ESMF document is available at the websites of the World Bank[1] and the Project Coordination Unit (PCU)[2]. All the investments will be located within river valleys, and the implementation and impact zone will include particular elements of the environment in these areas – most often river channels and, to a different extent, land associated functionally or spatially with the relevant river channel.
In analyzing the characteristics of individual investments, the following types of activities have been distinguished, which will be implemented under individual investments being part of the specific Components:
- improvements to storage reservoirs (front dams, side embankments, outlet and spillway structures),
- changes in water management in a storage reservoir,
- construction and improvements of embankments/retaining walls,
- construction of polders,
- river training and maintenance works in river channels and diked areas of natural and artificial water bodies or strongly changed parts of water bodies and drainage ditches,
- modernization of pumping stations,
- reconstruction of bridges,
- demolition of structures,
- dismantling and relocation of conflicting infrastructure elements (e.g. sections of water supply systems, sewage systems, roads, etc.),
- construction and improvements of elements of navigation related infrastructure (groynes, docking and mooring infrastructure, and waterway signage),
- reconstruction and improvements of hydraulic structures (automatic flood gates, embankment locks and sluices, weirs, barrages).
Environmental impacts generated by the particular types of activities are similar to one another as regards the manner and mechanisms of impact under each Component, and are described in the ESMF. However, depending on their scale and location, they will very in their significance and likelihood of occurrence. On the basis of documentation available at the present stage of implementation of the Project and based on the distinguished types of activities, a framework environmental impact assessment was conducted for each Component of the Project. At the same time, adequate measures mitigating and compensating adverse impacts as well as methods for conducting environmental monitoring within each Component are proposed in the Environmental and Social Management Framework.
For the particular project activities and investments, a site-specific Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is developed during the preparation of a given investment for implementation. When preparing an EMP for each works contract, the rules described in the ESMF and Polish legislation are applied. An approved and publicly disclosed EMP becomes an integral part of bidding documents (BDs) and subsequently of the respective works contract.
Mitigation measures are primarily designed to protect, among others, animated nature resources, health and safety of people, the earth’s surface, water, and soil as well as air quality. Mitigation measures differ depending on the planned investment, but they include obligations to, among others:
- reduce land acquisition and transformations of the earth’s surface to the necessary minimum when carrying out any type of work,
- provide the possibly least onerous conditions for access to the respective construction site which are safe to people,
- preserve natural values outside sites necessary to be occupied for the purpose of the implementation of the investment,
- prevent encroachment of animals into the work area,
- conduct a one-off environmental inventory,
- reduce accidental death of animals by protecting manholes, excavations, and stormwater drains as well as by installing amphibian barriers or relocating protected species outside the work area,
- mark the boundaries of natural habitats,
- determine conditions and permissible time limits for tree and shrub removal,
- prepare a Waste Management Plan,
- reduce exhaust emissions from machines and vehicles,
- provide archaeological supervision,
- provide environmental supervision when carrying out works; the environmental supervision team may include experts such as: phytosociologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, entomologist, chiropterologist, ornithologist, and theriologist.
To ensure the a.m. standards under the OVFMP investments, monitoring of works during the period of their execution and monitoring of the environment subsequently during the period of operation of the hydraulic structures is carried out. Such monitoring can involve, for example, conducting research on fish migration in selected sections of the watercourses over a specified period of time. This can be visual monitoring, photographic documentation, fish catching, or other specialized methods defined in the implementation methodology for a particular contract.
[1]http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/05/24552572/poland-odra-vistula-flood-management-project-environmental-social-management-framework
[2] https://www.odrapcu.pl/popdow_dokumenty.html
