E1280
Georgia
Irrigation and Drainage Community Development Project – Additional Financing
Addendum to Environmental Impact Assessment
Introduction
IDCDP was approved on June 28, 2001, with a credit amount of SDR 21.3 million (US
$27 million equivalent at the time of negotiations). The project became effective on
February 20, 2002 and the current closing date is April 30, 2008. The project’s original
development objective was to increase agricultural production and farm incomes on
about 110,000 ha by arresting further deterioration of irrigation and drainage
infrastructure and keeping the operable infrastructure functional. This is to be achieved
through rehabilitation and modernization of irrigation and drainage infrastructure in
various systems across the country, and establishment of and support to Amelioration
Associations (AA) that will be empowered to take charge of the management of lower
order irrigation and drainage systems. The main irrigation and drainage system
rehabilitation program is well underway, and if the agreed implementation schedule can
be maintained it is expected that all contracts for the rehabilitation of higher order
irrigation and drainage systems, commanding an aggregate area of 20,100 ha, can be
completed well before the current closing date. Establishment of AAs has exceeded
expectations. There are already 250 registered AAs, covering about 215,000 ha. These
AAs need much awareness and training in order to develop into participatory and
independent member-driven entities. The training program for AAs is now fully
operational. The rehabilitation of AA-managed systems has also started with the
implementation of self-generated AA Development Plans for improvement of lower order
irrigation and drainage systems. It is expected that Development Plans will cover 60,000
ha of AA-managed systems.
Environmental Impact Assessment
As part of the preparation of the Irrigation and Drainage Community Development
Project (IDCDP), an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out in
2000/01. The project was placed in the World Bank’s environmental screening category
“B”, which was consistent with Georgian environmental legislation and the requirements
of the World Bank outlined in Operational Policy 4.01 “Environmental Assessment”.
The EIA was carried out by Environmental Resources Management Consultants (ERM)
through the EC/TACIS Joint Environmental Program (JEP).
The EIA contains a description of existing environmental conditions at the project sites,
including climate, hydrology, soil and water quality, ecology, water usage and socioeconomic conditions, and assesses the impacts on these conditions from implementation
of the project, both in terms of construction and operation. Finally, a series of mitigation
and monitoring activities were developed as part of an Environmental Management Plan
(EMP), in order to address these impacts and to provide adequate safeguards for the
environment.
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The main site-specific environmental issues that were considered in the EIA are: (i)
irrigation water quality; (ii) waterlogging and salinization of soils; (iii) deterioration of
downstream water and/or groundwater quality; (iv) reduction of downstream flows; (v)
disruption to wildlife or sensitive ecological habitats during construction; and (vi)
vegetation growth and sedimentation in canals. The EMP describes the proposed
mitigation and monitoring activities which were developed in response to the impacts
identified, and the institutional roles and responsibilities in relation to each of these
mitigation and monitoring measures.
The Floods of 2005
Georgia was hard hit by unusually major flooding between April and July, especially in
the east and west of the country. Floods are typically caused by a combination of
snowmelt and rainfall. This year, with a large snowpack, high spring temperatures that
caused rainfall at higher elevations and fast snowmelt, and heavy and prolonged rainfall
over large sections of the catchment areas of several of the major river systems, the
floods reached levels estimated up to one in hundred years return periods in certain
rivers. The natural disasters caused destruction or severe damage of infrastructure,
including washing out of flood protection works, roads and bridges, damaging of
irrigation headworks and canals, and inundating of agricultural lands and villages,
affected thousands of hectares of farmlands, often in the poorest areas of the country.
Two distinct types of flooding were reported, namely flooding in the lowlands and
flooding in the mountainous areas. The flooding in the lowlands of Western Georgia has
been prolonged, destroying or severely weakening sections of embankments along
several rivers, including the major Rioni and Tskhenistskali Rivers. The Department of
Amelioration and Scheme Management (DASM) is in charge of maintenance of these
river embankments, but currently lacks the budget for the proper upkeep. The condition
of stretches of embankments is such that, without urgent attention, flooding and
inundation could become a recurring event, even when floods do not reach extreme
levels. Several flood embankments that protect the water supply system of Tbilisi have
been damaged or destroyed, resulting in damage to intake systems and pipelines. The
spillway of the water supply dam (Zhingvali) was damaged as well.
Floods in the mountainous areas had a different character, with short-duration flash
floods coming down the mountainous streams. This caused localized flooding, river bank
erosion, and damage to physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water supply
systems, houses, and schools. When the floods are exceptional, as this year, such natural
disasters cause widespread physical damage, as well as hardship to the population of
districts that belong to the poorest in Georgia.
A number of major irrigation works, especially headworks, under DASM’s management
were damaged by the floods. None of the structures are in the original project area of
IDCDP. Some structures are not able anymore to divert irrigation water, while others are
now unstable, with a high risk of destruction during next floods, which would then take
large irrigation command areas out of production.
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IDCDP - Additional Financing
Government appealed to the World Bank to assist with reconstruction of destroyed or
severely damaged man-made river flood embankments and irrigation headworks and
canals. The World Bank agreed to allocate US $13 million Additional Financing,
processed under OP/BP 8.50 – Emergency Recovery Assistance. The proposed new
component (the Component) will reconstruct or rehabilitate flood protection
embankments and irrigation headworks and conveyance canals that have been destroyed
or severely damaged by the recent floods. The development objective of the proposed
additional component is to improve and secure the sustainability of river flood protection
works and irrigation headworks and canals, which, if unattended, can lead to increased
flooding occurrences and infrastructure damage, and subsequent human life and
economic losses.
The Component will enable strengthening of river embankments at critical locations
along major rivers (including Rioni, Tskhenistskali, and tributaries of the Alazani).
Several of the targeted embankments have been completely destroyed, while other
embankments have been severely damaged by the floods. It was agreed with the
management and specialists of DASM that appropriate designs will be selected for each
of the sites, which will be durable and require low maintenance. Initial indicators are that
there will be significant use of Reno mattresses and rocks, which are known construction
materials in Georgia.
The new Component will also rehabilitate several flood-damaged irrigation headworks
and canals. These structures are currently unable to abstract and convey the required
water to irrigation areas or are at a high risk of destruction during next floods.
The expected outcomes for the Component of US $16.1 million (including US $3.1
million from government) are: (i) to return flood-damaged irrigation infrastructure to
operational conditions thereby guaranteeing water abstraction and conveyance; and (ii) to
return flood-damaged river embankments to fully operational conditions. The key
outcome indicators to be measured include: (i) a command area of 80,000 ha, serving
about 90,000 farm families, served with required irrigation water; and (ii) flood hazards
removed for 30 villages, with 25,000 households and large areas with public and private
infrastructure. The outcome indicators have been estimated based on a preliminary list of
sub-projects, covering 15 irrigation headworks or canals and 19 river embankment
sections.
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Environmental Issues
The Component will finance repair and reconstruction of destroyed and damaged
infrastructure. No new structures are envisaged. The component will not include any
investments in new or expanded dams or involve resettlement. The proposed component
has been classified as Category "B" for the purposes of OP 4.01, similar to the original
project. There are no potential large-scale, significant, or irreversible impacts associated
with the proposed project. On the contrary, the investments will significantly reduce the
environmental impact from near-term additional precipitation and flooding on weakened
riverbanks and irrigation systems.
During the design stage of each sub-project all possible environmental factors would be
reviewed. Necessary mitigating measures would be an integral part of and
implementation. From visits to the potential sub-projects, it is expected that typically
minor potential negative impacts during reconstruction or rehabilitation of both flood
levees and irrigation works would relate to: (i) disposal of excavated sediments and
construction materials; (ii) use of borrow pits for earth; (iii) possible environmental
damage (waste, noise, mud, and dust at sites) caused by contractors during construction
activities; (iv) social conflicts between migrant workforce and local population; (v)
disruption of hydrological regime; and (vi) disruption of local movement and access.
These are all environmental issues that are adequately described in the original EIA, and
for which mitigating measures are described in the original EIA. The measures can be
summarized as follows: (i) sediments and other debris would be displaced in an orderly
manner, rather than dumped indiscriminately, in places that have been approved by the
Client’s Engineer; (ii) earth for fill of embankments has to be hauled from borrow pits
approved by the Client’s Engineer that have to be recultivated at the end of the contract;
(iii) contractor to be required to prevent, minimize, or mitigate environmental damage,
and required to reinstate original conditions as much as possible; (iv) contractor to make
maximum use of local workforce; (v) minimize the period over which cofferdams are in
place for works on levees and headworks; and (vi) phase rehabilitation and prepare
detours to minimize disruption of local movement and access, e.g on levees that are also
used as local roads, with alignments of detours to be recultivated at the end of the
contract.
The use of rocks and stones for Reno mattresses that will be used for flood levee
protection has not been described in the EIA. Rocks and stones will have to be sourced
from official quarries that have valid licenses. Lining of earthen embankments with
rocks and Reno mattresses is aesthetic and the materials fit well into the natural
surroundings. They are durable materials that do not cause damage to the environment
over time. Stockpiles of rock or stone that remain at the end of the contract will have to
be removed and placed at sites approved by the Client’s Engineer.
All the above issues and measures to be taken will be described in the tender documents,
for which there are established practices under the ongoing project. The tender
documents also call for the preparation of site-specific environmental management plans
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to be prepared by the contractor and cleared by the PTU before a contract starts. The
PTU employs an environmental specialist who will be made responsible to oversee the
additional Component with regard to environmental aspects and ensure that the proposed
works will cause no damage to the environment.
Considering that the project will reconstruct or rehabilitate recently damaged
infrastructure, there are no specific environmental issues to be considered during
operation. The principal objective of the measures is to reinstate the river or irrigation
structure operating regime. Therefore, there will be no adverse effect on the population
or environment. To the contrary, settlements submersion risk will be decreased and
abstraction of water will again be guaranteed.
Dam Rehabilitation
Under IDCDP, an independent Dam Safety Panel, comprising one experienced
international dam engineer, who was the chairperson of the Panel, and six local
specialists, carried out safety evaluations at four major irrigation dams (Algeti, Sioni,
Tbilisi, and Zonkari Dams) and a large river diversion structure near Poti in the Rioni
River, which operated at the verge of failure, endangering the safety of the population of
Poti.
The Panel convened three times between August 2003 and August 2004, and all five
structures were visited. A program of investigations - including geotechnical,
hydrological, seismic, stability analysis, and underwater surveys - was also carried out.
Detailed reports have been prepared. It was concluded that none of the dams has critical
safety issues that have to be addressed immediately, except for the Poti structure where
emergency rehabilitation works are currently carried out.
The Zhingvali Dam, the Tbilisi water supply storage dam in the Dusheti District, was
damaged during the floods. Government is interested to have the latter dam in good
condition.
The Panel was mobilized in August 2005 to review the safety of the Zhingvali Dam. The
2005 floods caused damage to the chute slabs, which in turn caused erosion of the subsoil foundation, and movement of the side slopes on the left bank. An investigation and
design plan has been prepared during the Panel meeting. Remedial works that have been
proposed are the backfill of the voids between the slabs and subsurface foundation,
reinstate the chute and add an extra 0.5 m thick lining to the walls and slabs, and slope
stabilization.
It is proposed that the current Operational Regime for Zhinvali reservoir is reviewed and
the reservoir is lowered during the winter to a safe level that would guarantee safety to
the population living downstream of the dam during the 2006 flood season. This lowered
reservoir level shall be maintained until after the emergency rehabilitation works to the
surface spillway are completed.
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The Dam Safety Panel will stay in place and will reconvene during critical stages of the
design and construction process in order to ensure that the works will return the dam to a
fully safe condition.
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