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Environmental Management Plan (EMP)

The El Quimbo Environmental Management Plan is the detailed set of measures and activities that, as a result of an environmental assessment, are aimed at preventing, mitigating, correcting or compensating the environmental impacts and effects duly identified, that are caused by the development of a project, work or activity.

The EMP for the construction of El Quimbo Hydroelectric Plant is composed of two fundamental aspects:

Environmental Aspect: includes the physical part (water, earth, air, waste and noise) and the biotic part, (fauna and flora).

Socioeconomic and cultural aspect: it contemplates everything related to people and the way they live, relate and obtain their sustenance, that is, the environment, the social fabric, customs, traditions, archaeological heritage, employment, population resettlement, the reactivation of their productive activity, among others.

Environmental Aspect

The EMP considers the following environmental effects (impacts):

Physical Environment:

  • Alteration of water quality.
  • Alteration of air quality and noise.
  • Affectation by generation of excavation residues.
  • Generation of domestic and industrial solid waste.
  • Alteration of the soil, among others.

 

In this sense, nine (9) programs have been designed to prevent, mitigate, control or compensate for these effects:

  1. Management of surplus waste.
  2. Water resource management.
  3. Care and protection of sites.
  4. Restoration of temporary use areas.
  5. Solid waste management.
  6. Handling sources of noise emissions.
  7. Water quality management.
  8. Soil management.
  9. Environmental management of blasting.
Program for managing dust and noises sources.
Aimed at controlling air pollution produced by machinery, vehicles and equipment used in the Project. Among the actions to be implemented are: water unpaved roads that require so, control vehicle gas emissions and noise levels, control speed limits (40km/h for light vehicles and 30 km/h for heavy vehicles, use live fences, revegetalize uncovered areas and avoid burning solid waste (garbage), liquids (fuels) for forest (wood and dry leaves)
Blasting Environmental Management Program.
Seeks to preserve the security and tranquility of all communities, by controlling the explosions hat must be carried out during the execution of the Project, in such a way that no accidents or incoveniences are caused to neighbors, taking actions such as: reporting the activity in advance, ringing an alarm before each explosion; taking the necessary measures to avoid that fragments resulting from blasting cause any damage; carry out a detailed inventory of the existence of houses near the sites where the blasting takes place; and have qualified personnel during the procedure.
Program for the Assistance and Protection of Sensitive or Vulnerable Critical Sites during the Project’s Operation, in the Reservoir’s Surroundings (from the filling of the reservoir)
Involves management and control of unsafe (potentially unstable) areas affected by erosion or may be affected by it in the reservoir’s surroundings, allowing to take timely measures that project, prevent or correct any eventuality, maintaining safety and avoiding causing accidents to people and/or damage to buildings located in that area.
Excess Waste Management Program.
Seeks to carry out an adequate transport and final disposal of any excess excavation material produced in the different Project construction sites (reservoir, quarries, diversion tunnel, powerhouse, road construction, etc.), in order to avoid any alteration of vegetation and soil, water pollution, changes in air quality, among other.
Program for the Restoration of Temporary Use Areas.
Seeks to leave in similar environmental conditions each one of the zones that are used during the construction of the Project, that is, where camps, workshops, concrete-production areas, material supply areas, among others, are located.
Water Resource Management.
It involves several activities such as: Management of water intakes, control of water supply sources used for the construction of the project. Treatment of industrial and domestic wastewater from different workplaces without causing pollution.
Solid Waste Management Program.
Seeks to carry out an integral management of domestic, hazardous and industrial solid waste produced during the construction of the Project. Trining, separation at source, recycling, collection, transport, treatment and final disposal activities will be carried out in order to avoid negative effects on the environment.
Water Quality Management Program in the Reservoir and Downstream.
Oriented to the protection, ordering and monitoring of water quality (in the reservoir) and downstream from the dam site. For this, monitoring activities will be conducted to verify the state of the channels and streams that supply the reservoir, control liquid waste and water plants, among others.
Soil Management Program.
Seeks to recover and store soils for a period time, in order to re-deposit them in the places where they have been removed (areas of material extraction, workshops, temporary facilities, among others), with the objective of leaving the area used during the construction phase under similar or better conditions as it was before the start of the Project.

 

Bioetic Environment

The EMP seeks to prevent, mitigate, control and/or compensate, among others, the following environmental effects:

  • Loss of vegetation.
  • Alteration of animal habitats and landscape quality.
  • Affectation of terrestrial fauna.
  • Alteration of fishing activity.

 

In this sense, four (4) programs have been designed to prevent, mitigate, control or compensate for these effects:

  • Management of vegetation cover and land habitats:

Its goal is to establish 11.079.6 hectares of tropical dry forest, in an area close to the reservoir as compensation for the ecosystems intervened by the Project, during the construction of the reservoir and the worksite.

  • Wildlife management:

Implemented to reduce the risk of damaging organisms that may be affected by the intervetion, and will incluide removal through noise, smoke, etc., capture, transfer, and medical attention of fauna, at the beginning and during the construction of the Project.

  • Contingent rescue of fish (During the deviation of the Magdalena River)

It seeks to rescue  the fishes that can get stuck and trapped in pounds during the operation of the tunnel that will deviate the Magdalena River.

  • Management and protection of fishery and fish resources of the Upper Magdalena River Basin in the area of ​​influence of El Quimbo Hydroelectric Project.

For the protection of the fish this program will be implemented oriented to the study, surveillance and control, It will allow obtaining information about the structure and functioning of the communities of fish in the fisherman sector of the Magdalena River and their tributaries.