Environmental audit for the compliance and registration of existing water plant at Maandhoo Fisheries Complex L. Maandhoo

Abstract

1. Maandhoo Fisheries Complex (MFC), based in Maandhoo, Laamu Atoll, requires registration of the existing water production plant on their facility. As part of the registration process an Environmental Audit (EA) has to be undertaken as required under Schedule D of the Maldives Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation. 2. A scoping meeting for this audit was held at EPA on 14 April 2011 and was attended by the key stakeholders, EPA, the proponent and the consultant. The approved TOR is given in Appendix 1. 3. At the time of establishment of MFC in 2005, an EIA was undertaken for the construction of the fish processing facility involving cold storage, Katsoubushi plant for dried fish products, fishmeal facility, power generation and water production, vacuum packing, waste management, laboratory and testing facilities. A revision of the EIA was done for removal of the sea grass bed on either side of the harbour. Later, a further revision was undertaken to expand the harbour basin and to use the dredged material to reclaim the area on either side of the harbour to further extend the area. Those reports provide description of existing environment, proposed development activities and their potential environmental impacts and possible mitigation measures. Aspects specifically relating to water production plant have not been addressed in those reports. 4. This EA concerns the status of the existing water production plant, documenting its operation, safety issues, and its potential environmental impacts of its operation and their possible mitigation measures. Since the MFC have been maintaining ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System and ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System, it was found the MFC maintains stringent measures on all of its processes including the water production. 5. Production of water and maintenance of its quality is of critical importance to canning plant as such consideration is given to ensure highest standards are maintained in water production. Source water for the desalination plant is drawn by gravity flow and collected in a concreted tank beneath the water level. The inlet pipe is 500 m into lagoon on the south side of the harbour. Stringent quality control checks are done routinely throughout the process to ensure maintenance of high standards. 6. Water from the gravity flow tank is pumped through a sediment filter before passing through the RO membranes. Controlled chlorination is done at two stages before the water is used for canning and drinking. The brine outflow is released into the harbour basin mixed with the engine cooling outflow. The release of diluted brine water into the harbour area has no apparent detrimental environmental impact. 7. It was noted that above normal levels of sediment in the intake water was creating additional load to RO membranes resulting to replace the membranes too often. This was due to dredging that has been going on for the last 6-8 months. Once the dredging is complete the sediment load in the intake water is expected to return normal levels. In the meantime it was recommended to use additional sediment filters before the water is passed through the RO membranes. 8. The audit team concluded the environmental standards meet expected levels required by the existing government rules. The only issue that required to be followed up was the recommendation for additional sand filters to avoid the frequent replacement of RO membranes.