Environmental Impact Assessment
(Final Statement)
OF
Plovdivtsi Water Supply System
Employer: MRDPW
Contractor:
Eng. Velichko Pehlivanov License № 134/04.07.1996
Eng. Daniela Pehlivanova License № 171/25.09.1996
PhD in Biology Margarita Boycheva License № 926/16.04.1998
Eng. Liudmil Gochev License № 453/03.02.1997
October, 2000
PROJECT GOAL AND PURPOSE
The purpose for developing of Plovdivtsi Water Supply System is to secure sufficient quantity of potable water for drinking water supply of Madan group.
The destitute situation in the region necessitated the undertaking of some measures to improve the water supply to the town of Madan and the neighboring settlements. A decision was made in 1985 to commission in operation the first phase of the water supply system project through implementation of the two intakes on the rivers Iskrets and Golyama, coupled with chlorination of supplied water. The construction of the water supply trunk to Madan and its commissioning in operation in 1987 alleviated the town water supply to a certain extent, but in general the supplied water quantity is insufficient, especially in summer months. On the other hand, though the facilities are new, operating the water trunk making using only 1/3 of its capacity may cause its premature depreciation.
It shall be noted that in spite of the chlorination and the relatively clean catchment area of water intakes, the supplied water fails to meet the required standards for drinking water quality on certain indicators.
Attempts made in the past to resolve the issue applying various practices proved that without the construction of a dam, the system of river intakes could not help much in summer months.
Aiming to resolve this significant social problem and in view of the structural changes that occurred in the regional industries, after 1991 it was decided to launch the plan for a staged construction of "Plovdivtsi" dam and the respective Drinking water treatment plant (DWTP).
GROUNDS FOR PERFORMANCE OF THE EIA
The current EIA Statement for " Plovdivtsi Water Supply System" Project has been prepared on the grounds of contract No 1124 of 25.07.2000 with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. In the course of their work on the Statement, the team of experts have observed the requirements on the scope and contents of EIA Statements as provided in Attachment №2 to Art.13, para 1, item 2 of Ordinance № 4 on EIA of 07.07.1998.
The Statement reflects in consolidated form the data available on the condition of the environment prior to launching of project construction works, which includes two sites: Plovdivtsi Dam and DWTP. In addition, a projection is made on the eventual impact on the environmental components as a result of the construction and future operations of the sites.
The Statement also contains measures proposed to be taken for mitigation of the negative impacts and a monitoring plan, which are no only required under the current legislation, but will also help minimize impacts on the nature environment.
The following independent experts are authors of this Statement: eng. Velichko Pehlivanov, PhD in biology Margarita Boycheva, eng Daniela Pehlivanova and eng. Liudmil Gochev
1. Background data:
1.1.Project title, Employer’s address, contact person — address and telephone:
Project title: "Water Supply System Madan - Rudozem".
The project subject to consideration and evaluation in this Statement is "Water Supply System Plovdivtsi", comprising the two main sites:Plovdivtsi Dam и DWTP.
The water supply system of Plovdivtsi Dam will secure water supply to 37 settlements with 42 thousand inhabitants. For the first time the system was designed in 1982 in the phase for preliminary studies and since the scope in terms of the settlements to be included was changed many times, the relevant figures on water demand and dam wall height had also been changed respectively.
In the years that followed, until 1992 a number of projects were developed, covering the phase of technical and economic analyses, for various dam-wall types and heights and the relevant water demand. In 1992 the Ministry of Construction awarded "Vodocanal engineering"- EOOD - Sofia the assignment for updating and finalizing the system parameters in view of the economic and demographic changes that had occurred in the region.
The preparation of a part of the Technical Design of the water system was assigned in 1993, which included 9 volumes. Other 15 volumes were prepared in 1995.
The updating of the DWTP design continued until 2000 when during the summer some of the amendments and supplements were approved.
Project proponent is the MRDPW /Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.
Contact person - address and telephone:
•eng. Parvan Borissov Samardzhiev - MRDPW, tel. 9 405 533.
•eng. Dinka Kirilova Shilegova - "Vodokanalinvest" - EOOD - Sofia, tel. 987 49 54.
1.2.List of the natural and legal persons that can be affected by the Project implementation.
Water supply system Plovdivtsi is to be constructed in order to meet the water supply demand of Madan group. The system will supply with potable water the settlements along the main water supply trunk line to the town of Madan, incl. the settlement of Rudozem group, and a part of the annual net water volume will be transferred to Smolyan. The project implementation will resolve a very significant and crucial social issue for the population of this region - the regular and sufficient potable water supply at the required quality.
In other words, the project implementation will affect favorably 42 thousand inhabitants and 37 settlements.
On the other hand, and area totaling 232 decares fall within the reservoir of the flooded lake and the 20 m strip on its side. Of those 84,3 decares are arable land and pastures and the rest of the area is property of the state forestry fund and is managed by State Forestry Enterprise of Smilian.
To this area we need to add 6,5 decares of grazing land needed for the construction of the DWTP, or the total project area will come up to 238,5 decares.
As per Decree No 26/07.02.1994 for approval of a tariff on the size of the charges in compliance with Art.15 of the Act on Agricultural Land and Pastures and Art.7 – the project proponents shall pay charges as stated in Attachment No 3 – for change of use of agricultural land and for construction of:
Item З – independent water supply, irrigation, drainage and sewage facilities, including the required sanitary protection zones (SPZ).
No charges shall be due and paid to the budget for the land allocated for dams from the state forestry fund, as well as for band "А" of SPZ around the dam. /Re. - Forest Act SG No89/ 1958 / and Ordinance on the size of charges payable by investors as per Art.8 of the Forests Act (Decree No 2/ 27.01.1978).
The owners from the village ofPlovdivtsi (about 30), whose lands - some 75 decares will be expropriated shall be indemnified for its value in cash, i.e. will receive payment, or in kind by being given equivalent arable land in terms of quantity and quality. This specific issue shall be negotiated between the proponent, Rudozem municipality and the relevant owners.
In other words the implementation of Water supply system Plovdivtsi Project will affect directly the following legal and natural persons:
RudozemMunicipality;
MadanMunicipality;
SmolyanMunicipality;
Plovdivtsi Mayoralty;
State forestry enterprise – Smilian
30owners of expropriated lands and their heirs.
1.3. Location:
The location for the construction of Plovdivtsi dam was selected as early as in 1978. It is planned to be constructed in the southern part of the Central Rhodopes on the Iskrets river – tributary of the Elhovska river, discharging in the Arda river. On this place, located about 400 - 500 above the last houses of Plovdivtsi, the valley of the Iskrets river becomes narrow. The right bank is steep, with thin delluvial cover and some rocks sticking here and there. The left bank is less steep, with thick delluvial cover, terraced at places and with small in size meadows and fields.
A comparatively big bowl, suitable for the future water reservoir, opens behind the range.
The water intake area of Plovdivtsi dam is located fully in the guarded two-kilometer border strip of the Republic of Bulgaria, with the borderline with Greece following the watershed. There are no settlements in it. The only unit in the region is the military establishment of Border Troops, guarding the state border.
The place of the range at elevation 880.65 has been determined as the most suitable in terms of water economy and topographic aspect compared to any other of the locations considered as potential ranges on the Iskrets river.
The building for operations will be located on site, close to the ridge of the wall. The control and measuring installation for monitoring the condition of the dam wall will be installed there. Collected monitoring data will be processed there.
The stone deposit is located in the bowl of the future dam – 350 m from the wall. The size of the stone quarry are 160/160 m and height about 100 m - from elevation + 900 to elevation +1000, with proven deposits category A - 1 478 000 mЗ. The quantity of stone needed for the dam wall is about 500 000 mЗ. The ballast quarry Preseka located 60 km from the dam has been selected for extraction of inert materials for concrete. The features of the ballast meet the hydro technical requirements for the concrete.
There is state road, category IV to the village of Plovdivtsi. There is a road passing through the bowl of the dam and connecting the state road network with the border unit. This road will disappear with the flooding of the reservoir but a new one will be constructed on the slope, which will also be connected to the crest of the wall.
Temporary roads for implementation of earth works are at different elevations and are connected to the existing road for removal of earth to a site located at about 2 km below the village.
Site No 1, located at about 250 m below the dam wall, in the existing nursery, was selected as a better alternative from the originally developed and proposed two options for DWTP site, for the following reasons:
- It is more secure in terms of technical, geological and geo-morphological characteristics and is not exposed to the risk of local landslips.
- It will be easier to implement the vertical planning.
- There is no need to construct a separate connecting road since the existing one can be used.
- Supply and discharge water connections are shorter in length.
In the course of design clarification, and prior to launching the construction works per se, it was decided to select another site for the DWTP with area reduced to 6,5 decares and located across the nursery, i.e. meeting the above-mentioned advantages of the site proposed under option I.
A one-stage technological diagram has been developed for the DWTP in compliance with water quality indicators, providing not only significant technological advantages, but also technical and economic ones.
The water supply trunk from the town of Madan has been constructed and is in operation. It is made of steel pipes with spiral welding ф 530/7, and is 27,5 km long.
The temporary construction site will be dislocated close to the dam wall. The caravans for workers to change their clothes and some of the offices and small storage rooms etc. will be located there. Heavy construction mechanical equipment and tools will also be kept there. The building of the former kindergarten will be used as kitchen and canteen for the workers. At the same premises are to be found some offices and storage facilities. One of the rooms has been converted into a bathroom.
The temporary construction site has been designed in the most compact fashion in order to occupy as small area possible - 2 decares in this case. The required technical infrastructure is to be constructed using as much as possible the one existing in the village, i.e. water supply, sewage and electricity networks, and wherever necessary a new one is to be built. The site will be fenced in order to restrict the impact of construction and technological processes on the bordering land and protect it from getting polluted with construction wastes.
A water supply system diagram and master plan of the construction site are enclosed with the Statement.
1.4. Legislative and institutional framework:
•Environmental Protection Act
•Act on the Cleanliness of Ambient Air;
•Water Act;
•Law for restriction of adverse impact of wastes on the environment;
•Forest Act;
•Fishing Industry Act
•Law for protection of arable land and pastures
•Ordinance No 4 for EIA;
•Nature Protection Act;
•Law on territorial and spatial planning;
•Vegetation Protection Act;
•Protected Areas Act;
•Law for protection of agricultural lands and Regulations for Implementation thereof;
•Law for pollution protection of air, waters and soil and Regulations for Implementation thereof;
•Law on people’s health;
•Ordinance №2 on fire protection construction and technical standards;
•Ordinance on ground water monitoring;
•Ordinance №2 on sanitary protection zones round water sources and water facilities for drinking water supply;
•Ordinance on issuance of permits for performance of construction works and events that may have an adverse impact on natural water regime, conductivity of river-beds, runoff and ice-break;
•Ordinance on hygienic requirements related to use of drinking water supply dams;
•Sanitary and technical standards and rules for construction and operation of drinking water supply facilities for settlements and industries;
•Ordinance for securing of normal acoustic environment in residential and public buildings and premises;
•Ordinance №2 for construction on agricultural lands;
•Ordinance №2 for standards of admissible emissions (concentrations in flue gases) of harmful substances released in the atmospheric air from fixed sources;
•Ordinance №1 on the terms and conditions for approval of temporary standards of emissions of harmful substances released in the atmospheric air from fixed functioning sites;
•Ordinance №7 on the hygienic requirements for health protection of residential environment;
•Ordinance №14 on the levels of admissible emissions of harmful substances in the ambient air residential areas;
•Ordinance №7 on evaluation and management of atmospheric air quality;
•Manual for design noise protection in residential areas;
•Ordinance №26 for reclamation of damaged areas, enhancement of barren lands, removal and utilization of the humus layer;
•COM DECREE 153 of 1993 on collection and treatment of hazardous wastes;
•Ordinance on the requirements for treatment and transportation of industrial and solid wastes;
1.5. Data sources:
•Detailed designs for the sites, developed and updated by Vodocanal engineering - EOOD Sofia;
•Reference Book on Climate in Bulgaria;
•Bulletin on the environmental status of the Republic of Bulgaria;
•Hydrology atlas of the Republic of Bulgaria, published by the Institute for Hydrometeorology wit the BulgarianAcademy of Sciences;
•Hydrological Reference Book;
•Specialized literature of the impact on individual components of the environment;
•Secondary legislation referred to for justification of compliance with environmental decisions;
•Tonev and team – Ecology of settlements and residential systems, 1982, Nauka I Izkustvo;
•BDS 1478 - 87 - Noise. Admissible levels of industrial noise;
•Climatic regions in Bulgaria, Subev - Stanev 1963;
•Forest pedology – V.Donev;
•Environmental assessment and pollution protection of water flows –Diadovski and team;
•Introduction to biochemical ecology – S.Ostroumov;
•Geology of Bulgaria – Boshev and team;
•Engineering geology and hydrology – Kosev and team;
•Management of environmental systems – Zaslavski and Poluektov;
•Pollution of ambient air and means to protect its cleanliness – Mirchev and Minkov;
•Basics of technological design of water supply installations and WWTP - Mavrov and Dobrevski;
•Combating soil erosion;
•Compendium BDS – OPS volume 1 and 2;
•Draft EIA Statement on Plovdivtsi Dam Project;
•Final EIA Statement on Luda Yana Dam, town of Panagiurishte; -senior scientific research worker candidate of technical sciences Hr. Mateva and team:
•BSA issue 5, 1978;
•Structure of atmospheric turbulence - George Lamly;
•Regional Division of Landscapes in the Republic of Bulgaria – Stoichev and team;
•Bulgarian state standard /BDS/ - "Drinking water"
•Specialized literature on protection of the environment .
2. Project annotation:
2.1. Characteristics of technological processes:
The basic data on the water supply system are enclosed with the Statement.
Plovdivtsi Dam has been designed as an annual equalizer of waters of the Iskrets river. The overall volume of the dam is 2,45 millionm3, of which 1,84 millionm3 usable volume and 0,83 millionm3 dead volume. Such parameters of the water supply system will secure an annual net water quantity in a very dry year /р=95%/ of 4,04 million or 225 l/sec / if the unevenness coefficient К = 1,76/, of which 0,98 millionm3 will be transferred to Smolyan, while the remaining will be supplied to the settlements of Madan and Rudozem. On average per year, the quantity to pass through the spillway will be about 11,16 millionm3 (over 2/3 of the total annual water volume) that will help maintain the environmental balance in the river-bed.
The peculiar volumes of the dam are:
unusable - 0,61 . 106 m3
usable- 1,84 .106 m3
total- 2,45 . 106 м3
The dam wall is rockfill, with central asphalt-concrete diaphragm, 49,25 m high and total volume of the embankment amounting to 454 thousandmЗ. The front diverting weir, also with a watertight asphalt-concrete diaphragm, has been inbuilt in its body. A tooth with a concrete slab will be constructed in the wall axis. The diaphragm, protect by filters on both sides, will be laid on the concrete slab in the tooth.
It is planned to install a double-row grout curtain with a maximum depth of 35,00 m.
Accounting for the specific features of the site, a combined design solution for both an alleviation and water intake has been selected for the dam. The facility represents an non-buried shaft spillway with funnel diameter 12,0 m, shaft diameter - 4,00 m, height above the terrain 40,00 m and Qnp.=189,00 mЗ/sec. Water intakes have been inbuilt in the shaft rib at three levels, securing 225 l/sec. The grid and the opening of the main water outlet are located above the foundation of the spillway. The latter is protected by means of dam balcony up to the inwash elevation.