China, People's Republic of : Western Counties Water and Wastewater Management Project

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Rural sanitation

Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Urban sewerage - Urban water supply

The project is designed to optimize water and wastewater infrastructure portfolio in the western counties and townships in the PRC. The project involves the construction or acquisition, upgrade and/or expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure and associated facilities during 2016 2018, and operation and maintenance thereafter on a concession basis.

Unit costs of delivering small-scale environmental infrastructure are significantly higher than large-scale urban infrastructure. The project aims to minimize overall costs by adopting (i) a comprehensive multisector approach, and (ii) cost-competitive technologies.

The project is consistent with ADB's Midterm Review of Strategy 2020, which identifies infrastructure and environment as two of four strategic priorities. On infrastructure, the project is in line with the strategy's focus on water supply and sanitation, as well as with its emphasis on PPP. On the environment, the project mitigates water pollution and health threats, and promotes environmentally sustainable growth.

By supporting inclusive growth and environmental sustainability, the project addresses two of the three development goals of ADB's country partnership strategy for the PRC and aligns with its sector focus on environment protection, water management, and pollution control. It strongly complements ADB's ongoing initiatives in wastewater treatment and water pollution control in urban areas, past policy advisory support for tariff reform, and ADB's recent advisory work on the sanitation needs of smaller cities and towns.

The project is classified as category B for environment. The potential environmental and social impacts of the project have been identified and effective measures to avoid, minimize, mitigate, and compensate for the adverse impacts are incorporated in the safeguard reports and plans. The updated ESMS will ensure the Borrower's

capacity to conduct future subprojects in line with ADBs Safeguard Policy Statement and include detailed subproject selection procedure and criteria.

The potential environmental impacts will be reversible and are not unprecedented. The impacts associated with the construction of sewage and water supply network are mainly noise and vibration during excavation works. Traffic congestions and nuisance to communities from road works are manageable as the subprojects are located in small towns. Potential impacts during operation for wastewater treatment include effluent quality, sludge management, noise, odor, and possible generation of toxic gases. Potential impacts during operation for water supply facility include over extraction of water resources, delivery of unsafe water caused by raw water pollution, and adverse impacts associated with the use of chlorine and other chemicals. Subprojects with impacts associated with raw water supply and sludge management will be avoided in the subproject selection process. Other impacts can be mitigated through the adoption of good engineering practices.

Subprojects will be screened and categorized according to ADBs Safeguard Policy Statement. The updated ESMS will include detailed screening procedures and criteria. ADB will not finance any category A subprojects. Initial environmental examinations including environment management plans will be prepared for ADB-funded category B subprojects. The ESMS will cover other activities such as the manufacturing and installation of decentralized wastewater treatment modules for communities.