Chapter 1: introduction

8.4 Post-Construction Environmental Audit of KAHEP

Though monitoring /auditing will be carried out bi-monthly and by external entities during construction, the environmental audit of KAHEP will begin only after two years of the completion of the project as per the Environmental Protection Rule of the Government of Nepal. The KAHEP will make necessary arrangements for this Audit through GON or its nominated auditor. The role of the environmental auditor is to identify environmental change arising from the project and to assess the effectiveness of the mitigation measures adopted, suggesting additional measures where appropriate. In addition, auditing of the project will indicate where initial predictive methods were weak or environmental knowledge lacking, thus indicating areas where further research or attention to detail may be necessary. Additionally, close liaison with the implementing agency will secure valuable insights into the EA process and strengthen the capacity of the agency.

The environmental auditor needs to record the nature and scale of actual changes to baseline conditions and compare them with the predicted impacts. Where mitigation measures have been adopted, some assessment of their effectiveness must be made. Where measures are inadequate or impacts unforeseen, a strategy for restoration needs to be formulated in consultation with the relevant bodies. It is also essential that the effectiveness of mitigation measures be assessed over time to ensure that temporary stopgap solutions are not employed and that any gradual, but potentially serious, deterioration in environmental quality is detected.

The function of the environmental audit may, therefore, be summarized as follows:

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  Verify compliance with the stated mitigation/performance targets
  
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  Verify compliance with relevant environmental legislation
  
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  Ensure minimum human exposure to environmental risk
  
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  Advise on environmental improvements
  
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  Liaise closely with the parties involved in the monitoring process and initiate a counterpart program for the audit to ensure institutional memory;
  
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  Review the overall success of the project in relation to its environmental goals and suggest where improvements in procedure could be made in the future.
  

8.4.1 Environmental Audit Framework for KAHEP

Environmental audit framework for KAHEP is presented in Table 8.15.

Table.8.15: Environmental Audit for KAHEP

SN	Parameters	Location	Methods	Indicators
A	Physical Aspects
1	Change in river morphology particularly downstream changes	Downstream of power house, between powerhouse and dam site	Inspection	Bank erosion, sand deposition patterns
2	Water Quality	Dam site and powerhouse	Laboratory analysis of water samples	DO, pH, BOD
3	Air Quality	Lower Dhuseni settlement. Lower Pinasi settlement	Analysis of air samples	TSP, PM10and PM2.5
4	Watershed	Dam site, road, powerhouse site	Observation	Eroded and unstable area, coverage of vegetation
5	Land use pattern and land lake area	Dam site, canal, powerhouse and in the vicinity	Inspection	Change in the land use
6	Minimum release	Downstream of dam	Measurement of minimum release	Discharge in the river
7	Water use and water rights	Dam site, powerhouse site, dewatered stretch	Inspection and information from the local people	Flow in the river
B	Biological Aspects
8	Vegetation cover (increase and decrease)	Project site	Counting and visual observation	Decrease in the forest cover
9	Numbers of trees felled	Project site	Counting and visual observation	Number of cut trees stumps
10	Wild life affected	Project site	Interview with local people and observation, photographs	Decrease in the wild life seen
12	Change in the species of fish in the river	Kabeli River	Sampling at the project sites	Species if fish in the river (increased or decreased)
12	Fish migration	Kabeli	Sampling at the project sites and interviewing fisherman	Species if fish in the river (increased or decreased)
C	Socio-economic and cultural Aspects
12	Economic status of the affected people(present and past income)	Project site	Questionnaire survey and interview, observation	Economic status of the people
13	Review of compensation paid out	Project site	Questionnaire survey and interview	Status of the affected people, beneficial use
14	Community development works	Project site	Records from the local offices	Numbers of development works, number of shops increased and decreased
15	Occupational health and safety	Project site	Records	Number and type of accidents/diseases
16	Religious site	Dam site, powerhouse site	Observation	Protection works
17	Water supply and sanitation	Project site	Records and observation	Epidemic, complaints

8.4.2 Agencies Responsible for Auditing

The project proponent will be responsible for the auditing activities after the completion of the project as per the Environmental Protection Regulation of the Government of Nepal. However, agencies like the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation and other relevant organizations will be consulted during the auditing. Local NGOs and National NGOs may also be entrusted to carry out the task, if they are engaged to do so by the government.

The auditing should focus on impacts of forest clearance, compensatory plantation, geological and soil condition, status of affected people, land use pattern and infrastructure development, etc. The auditing of the KAHEP will focus on parameters as mentioned in table above.

8.4.3 Environmental Auditing Schedule

Environmental Audit will be carried out after two years of commencement of the project. However, audits during construction and operation phases of the project lies under the purview of the auditing agency.