Brazil: Betim Integrated Municipal Project Environmental Assessment

Executive Summary 1. INTRODUCTION

The goal of the Betim Integrated Municipal Project (“the project”) is to support and assist the municipality of Betim, in the Brazilian state of Minais Gerais, to achieve sustainable socio-environmental municipal through poverty reduction, improvement of urban environmental conditions and enhancing the city’s quality of life. Specifically, the project will support Betim in developing and implementing a series of integrated infrastructure and social service investments in the Betim River Basin - the city’s poorest and most environmentally degraded region - coupled with broader efforts to improve municipal governance, regulatory policy and institutional strengthening. To reach this objective will require a balanced approach consisting of integrated, well-targeted investments in infrastructure and social services, coupled with broader efforts to improve municipal governance, regulatory policy and institutional strengthening.

The project’s principal activities comprise: (i) municipal infrastructure and urban environmental rehabilitation within the Betim River Basin, including construction of a new sewage treatment plant and five open-air, flood regularization basins, improvements to 15 kilometers (km) drainage canals and 18 km of secondary roads, as well as the restoration of and environmental protection to urban wetlands and watercourses through the creation of three urban parks totaling 30 hectares (ha) and the restoration of bordering riparian vegetation; (ii) social inclusion programs, including resettlement of about 760 families living in flood-prone areas and improved social policies and programs at the municipal level; (iii) institutional strengthening of the municipality’s policies, finance and management capacities related to governance and municipal planning, including local services management, development of improved information systems and basic infrastructure cadastre, as well as specific activities targeting environmental management strengthening, including development of a Municipal Environmental Management Plan (EMP) as a critical component of the Urban Master Plan, support for improved water resources management and water quality monitoring, as well as an environmental education program.

The project is classified as a “Category A” under the World Bank’s (the Bank’s) Environmental Assessment (EA) policy (OP 4.01). As such, a full-scale EA was conducted as part of project preparation to identify the project’s potential environmental impacts, propose appropriate measures to mitigate any negative impacts and enhance any positive impacts, and develop an environmental management plan comprising all mitigation and enhancement measures to be implemented as part of project activities. The following document summarizes the results of the EA. 2. BACKGROUND The fast-growing municipality of Betim (Betim) is located within the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, 35 km from the state capital of Minas Gerais. Betim’s population is 306.875, of which 298.258 live in the urban area (IBGE-2000 Census). The entire Betim Municipality is located within the Paraopeba River watershed, part of the San Francisco

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River Basin. The Betim River crosses the city, draining into the Paraopeba River, which constitutes Betim’s southern boundary.

Industrialization of the Belo Horizonte municipal area has led to substantial population growth in Betim over the last 30 years, which in turn has caused increasing urban environmental degradation due to: (i) haphazard occupation of the lower river basin; (ii) repeated floods affecting predominantly low-income areas and roads; (iii) urbanization impacts on open spaces; and, (iv) discharge of untreated sewage into streams draining to the Betim River. This has lead to deteriorating water quality and public health scares within the Betim River - ultimately leading to civil society calls for the state water and sanitation company, COPASA, and the Betim Municipality to “cease discharging untreated sewerage or any other polluting effluents into the Betim River and its tributaries.” Actions between Betim’s Municipal government and COPASA have yielded large strides in planning for and investment in municipal urban and social infrastructure and environmental management. One outcome of these efforts is the proposed project, which targets five closely related problems through the following goals: (i) Municipal institutional strengthening to ensure achievement and long-term sustainability of project goals; (ii) Reversal of environmental degradation of the Betim River and its tributaries, due mainly to high pollution levels caused by the discharge of untreated domestic sewerage; (iii) Reduction of flood risk in the urbanized Betim River basin, including its main tributary the Riacho das Areias;

(iv) Expansion of the municipal road system to improve mobility and transport for the poorer sectors of the population;

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Planned Project Sewerage Infrastructure Sewerage collection networks Household-sewerage connections

Interceptors Pump station Sewerage Treatment Station

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Quantity 42 km

23,400 new connections

60 km 1

1 (ETE Central) treating 1000 l/s

3.2 DRAINAGE Hydrological and hydraulic studies were conducted so as to: (1) evaluate main channel flows under different project-related scenarios; (2) evaluate current and future flood risk in urban channels, and identify potenial overflow points and causes; (3) identify alternatives for flood control and risk management; and, (4) develop designs of the proposed drainage structures, including channels and flood retention basins. Channel Improvements: The original alternatives evaluated to improve urban drainage included combinations of dredging, channelization, and flood retention basin construction - all with concurrent road construction along the stream right-of-way (see below). While these alternatives could achieve project drainage and transportation goals, the environmental impact analysis done as part of this EA led to an additional alternative being considered: maintaining the natural streambed to the extent possible, with restoration and revegetation of riverine slopes, desilting of the river bed, creation of linear parks along the floodplain to buffer urban impacts on streams and promote long-term works sustainability, and construction of roads adjacent to these areas. The choice of specific intervention would be determined based on existing land use and vegetation. In highly urbanized areas, channelization into open concrete sections with roads constructed adjacent to channels would be the preferred option so as to minimize the need for expropriation and resettlement. In less constrained urban areas, the project would promote the maintenance of natural streambeds and vegetation. All stream areas affected by the project would be revegetated with native riparian vegetation, and the development of linear parks would be promoted wherever possible. Flood Retention Basins: The project will build five flood retention basins in vacant lots within the upper Riacho das Arias sub-basin that could minimize flood peaks further downstream and allow adequate operation of the existing drainage facilities in less flood- prone areas. This solution will reduce flooding within the sub-basin to the 25-year flood event level, while minimizing environmental, social and financial cost.

3.3 ROAD CONSTRUCTION Channelization and Roads: The municipality has chosen to undertake simultaneous construction of drainage channels and 18 km of secondary urban roads, so as to: (1) complete the prioritized urban road network; (2) ensure public service provision such as public transportation, and garbage collection; (3) facilitate the construction of project- sponsored sewerage interceptors, to ensure that domestic and industrial effluents reach treatment and final disposal sites; (4) improve floodplain management and flood control. The original project design would have built concrete drainage channels with roads directly adjacent, justified on the grounds that fewer expropriations and household relocations would be necessary, resulting in lower all-around costs and less inconvenience to local residents. However, the findings of this EA resulted in changes to this design, and roads routes will be selected to minimize environmental impact during construction and operation. This is more thoroughly described in the Section 4.1 and the Environmental Management Plan below.

3.4 URBAN PARKS AND LANDSCAPING/REVEGETATION PROJECTS

The project will support the establishment of three parks, totaling an area of approximately 30 ha. Two of these parks (Parque do Ing6 and Sitio das Poq6es) are adjacent to streams receiving flood improvement and restoration activities by the project. These two parks would run parallel to both streams, buffering the urban impact to the riverine habitats. The

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third park (Jardim Perla) is within a highly urbanized upland area. All parks would include sports, recreational and environmental educational facilities Additionally, the project would include a Green Areas Recovery and Revegetation Program. This program would directly benefit 18km of river banks through revegetation and restoration activities designed to provide improved aquatic habitat to resident and migratory species. This would be additional to the project’s indirect benefits to all aquatic and riparian habitat within the Betim River Basin through the improvement of water quality through project-supported collection and treatment of domestic and non-domestic wastewater. These actions will result in significantly improved stream and riparian habitat in the project area.

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4 - ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 4.1 WORLD BANK SAFEGUARDS The project triggered and addressed the following Bank safeguards: Environmental Assessment (OP 4.01); Natural Habitats (OP 4.04); Involuntary Resettlement (OP 4.12); and Safety of Dams (OP 4.37). The project design incorporates the mitigation measures for each policy, as described below.

OP 4.01 Environmental Assessment (EA) A comprehensive EA has been carried out in accordance with Bank policy for Category A projects. The EA evaluates the existing conditions, identifies the potential direct and indirect environmental impacts and proposes adequate mitigation measures for each negative impact identified, as well measures for enhancing each identified positive impact. The mitigation and enhancement measures are summarized in the Environmental Management Plan, including associated costs, responsibilities and schedule. A public consultation exercise has been carried out supported by appropriate documentation allowing for a meaningful community decision-making process. As part of the project objectives and design, the project has a strong environmental emphasis, including strengthening the environmental institutional capacity of the municipal environmental secretariat and the capacity of the regional river basin committee. Moreover, the project will undertake a review of the environmental policies and regulations in order to scale up the municipal capacity to respond to the environmental needs at the local level. Through the development of an updated and comprehensive environmental management plan associated with the municipal master plan, the project will improve and enhance natural resources management. The project investments will also strongly reduce and mitigate social and environmental vulnerabilities, including natural disasters such as flooding and land slides. It will also protect people’s health by preventing contact with untreated waste water.

Consultation A series of public consultation events were carried out as part of the project preparation and the environmental licensing process. Finally, a well-publicized Public Consultation Meeting took place on January 23, 2004 regarding the final EA, which was made available at the Municipal Environmental Secretariat for public consultation. The key issues raised at the consultation event are summarized in the EA.

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OP 4.04 Natural Habitats Brazilian national law considers river banks greater than 30 m on either side of water courses greater than 10m wide (such as the case of the Betim River and its tributaries) as Areas of Permanent Preservation (APP). The Brazilian Forest Code defines an APP as an “area protected under the terms of Articles 2 and 3 of this Law, whether it is covered by native vegetation or not, which provides environmental functions of preserving water resources, landscape, geological stability, biodiversity, gene flow of the flora and fauna, protecting soil and to ensure the well-being of the human population.” These areas thus constitute “Critical Natural Habitats” in accordance with the Bank’s policy. The Forest Code allows for possible intervention in APPs for essential public services infrastructure works such as transport, sanitation and energy, providing they are declared to be of public benefit, where there are no technical or location alternatives to the proposed works, and providing prior approval has been granted by the competent state environmental authority. There are several APPs within the project area, patchily distributed and suffering from different levels of environmental degradation. The EA evaluated the current state of APPs in the project area, and the potential project impact on these APPs. These results were used to fine-tune the design of project interventions. Specifically, the project would minimize and mitigate impact to Critical Natural Habitat areas (APPs) through integrating the following concepts:

Streams within the project area support a variety of different land uses, existing vegetation and degrees of human intervention. In highly urbanized areas, concrete channelization to achieve flood control goals would be acceptable to minimize costs and social disruption. In less constrained urbanized areas, the project would instead strive to provide set-backs between new roads and streams, maintain watercourses in their natural bed, and undertake activities to promote riparian vegetation along all creek lengths. Specific interventions should be selected that enhance the existing ecological values of riparian areas. Channelization of streams should be done only if it is necessary to achieve hydraulic and hydrological goals (to contain flooding). Secondary road design should aim to: (a) maximize the distance between lateral roads and streams, thereby preserving to the extent possible the APPs as well as retaining the natural features of the streambed; (b) modify the existing road geometry so as to preserve existing patches of APP vegetation and maintain the water course’s natural bed. In other instances, the natural streambed and/or vegetated banks should be retained wherever possible, as this provides significant ecological and landscape value. Any APP affected through project works should be restored through revegetation of native species, and, if possible, linear urban parks established.

Project Natural Habitat Impacts: With the adjustment of project drainage and lateral road design, the Project would have a highly positive impact on biodiversity and natural habitats. This would result from the: removal (through collection and treatment) of current water pollution sources; relocation of families living in floodplain areas; establishment of 30 ha of urban parks; and rehabilitation of riparian vegetation along all stream-courses

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B e t i m T Melhor corn vocP - which are at present affected and degraded. Moreover, the Project will ensure that the system of roads and channels will target alternatives aimed at: (i) maximizing, as far as possible, the natural water course beds; (ii) maximizing the preservation of the APPs and riparian vegetation along water courses; (iii) promoting the use of near-stream space for expanding linear parks, to promote long-term sustainability of water quality and flood control improvements, enhance environmental awareness among local residents, and alleviating the urban impact of flooding; and (iv) consolidating protection of existing parkdprotected areas so as to maximize the long-term sustainability of project water quality and flood control interventions.

OP 4.12 - Involuntary Resettlement Project infrastructure works (flood retention basins, roads and channels) will require 820 families to be relocated. Additionally, about 323 uninhabited plots will be used, whose owners will need to be awarded compensation. A Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) was developed in accordance with Bank policy. The Executive Summary of the Plan is annexed.

OP 4.37- Dam Safety Upstream from the area of direct project intervention is an existing reservoir created by the Varzea Flores Dam on the Betim River. In accordance with the Bank’s policy, the EA evaluated the operation and condition of this dam. The reservoir provides water supply for the Metropolitan Area of Belo Horizonte, and is managed by COPASA - the State of Minas Gerais Sanitation Company. The dam, built in the 1970s, is regularly evaluated for safety. While the project does not include activities related to the dam, the downstream interventions clearly would be affected by dam operations. This is especially true for the operation of the five project-constructed retention basins for flood control purposes, whose goals are to retain flood waters, mitigate the downstream flow peaks and enable the proper operation of the existing drainage system. As such, the development of the flood control plan will be done in conjunction with that of the Varzea Flores dam operation plan so ensure coordinated activities. 4.2 OVERALL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS The EA found the range of potential environmental impacts (positive or negative) relate primarily to water quality, flood control and drainage, biodiversity, environmental management and strategic planning. On balance, the proposed project is expected to be highly positive from an environmental standpoint. It would improve environmental quality of the urban wetlands and water-courses of the Betim River Basin through the implementation of sewage collection and treatment, resettlement of flood-prone settlements, creek restoration and urban parks development, improvements in water quality related to industrial pollution through improvements in regulation, licensing, and monitoring, and through promoting the integration of environmental concerns in long-term municipal development planning. Additionally, project-supported training activities targeting regulators, planners and decision-makers, as well as stakeholders would induce a series of behavioral changes among urban residents, which would be expected to be environmentally positive.

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Positive Environmental Impacts: Water Quality: The project would result in significant water quality improvements to the Betim and Paraopeba Rivers through the reduction and treatment of pollution sources, and restoration of environmental services provided by riparian zones of urban streams. The project will directly address the current lack of wastewater collection and treatment - which is responsible for a number of critical negative urban environmental and quality-of- life impacts for Betim and downstream populations. Specifically, the project will address the city’s current critical water quality situation through repairs to the existing sewerage network, the expansion of sewerage services to cover all urban areas within Betim’s two primary watersheds, the identification of illegal household sewerage connections, and construction of a sewage treatment plant with a 500 litershecond (Us) capacity. In additional to the reduction and treatment of domestic pollution sources, the project will target industrial and other non-domestic pollution sources for reduction through identification of existing and potential pollution sources (through the establishment of a cadastre), implementation of a water quality monitoring program to identify the presence and composition of industrial pollutants, and improvements in environmental regulation and licensing. Additionally, by emphasizing the incorporation of environmental criteria in the design, planning and implementation of municipal development, as well as promoting environmental education amongst residents, the project will indirectly lead to long-term improvements in water quality. Lastly, project activities to improve drainage, restore riparian vegetation and create linear ecological parks along creek lengths will result in the restoration of important environmental services provided by buffered, unpolluted, free- flowing creeks.

Flood Control and Drainage: Poor drainage and flooding within the Betim watershed is the result of poor urban planning and water management, the unregulated occupation of floodplain areas, deposition of garbage and solid waste, and deterioration of aquatic and riparian environments, all of which have led to high levels and rates of silt deposition. The project will address all of these factors to improve flood control and drainage through a series of targeted and coordinated investments. The project will directly finance resettlement of flood-prone settlements (which also tend to be among the poorest) thereby reducing a source of sediment while simultaneously improving the quality of life for those residents. The project will finance hydraulic improvements through the removal of trash throughout the lengths of all urban creeks, silt build-up in constrained, urbanized reaches, and solid waste through illegal and absent sewerage connections. Additionally, the project will finance the construction of five flood retention basins - the management of which will be linked to that of the Varzea das Flores Reservoir in the upper basin - so as to enable improved water management within the watershed. Moreover, the project will address environmental deterioration of in- and near-stream environments directly, through the support of retaining un-urbanized creeks in their natural state, restoring wetland vegetation along creeks, and creating a series of urban linear parks adjacent to streams, and indirectly, through the promotion of environmental criteria in long-term planning and management decisions, strengthening of environmental management capacity and environmental education campaigns to highlight the importance of these ecosystems.

Urban Environmental Planning: The project will support the development of an urban environmental plan as part of the city’s Master Plan. This plan will emphasize the improvement of environmental policies, regulation, and management capacity through mechanisms emphasizing policy choices, administrative procedures and financing

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instruments that promote sustainable environmental management and planning. This is anticipated to include the updating of aspects such as urban planning, city and construction codes to improve all environmental and stormwater-related issues. For example, new development will be linked to mechanisms for protecting the city’s natural and cultural resources. Contemplated within the development of these instruments will be the establishment of sustainable financing mechanisms to ensure their long-term maintenance. The project is expected to support the creation of an environmental database including legal and institutional components, infrastructure and potential pollution source cadastres, monitoring data and evaluation results. Project design will also address potential needed improvements in water resource management, such as identifying and resolving key gaps in ongoing monitoring and regulations. Lastly, so as to promote sustainable governance, the plan will emphasize the importance of transparency and public participation in all decision-making, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

Urban Environmental Management; The project will directly improve the environmental management of Betim’s natural resources through support to the city’s Secretariat of the Environment. This support will emphasize technical capacity improvements related to the Secretariat’s execution of its licensing mandate. The project will contribute to additional urban environmental management improvements through support to the strengthening of water resources management and water quality monitoring. Specifically, the project’s support to the Paraopeba River Basin Committee, both financially and institutionally, through modifications to state water resource policies, will result in improved water quality. The project will strengthen the Committee’s technical capacity by expanding its geologic. and geotechnical database and cadastre of water users and pollution discharge, through developing decision models for water usage and discharge, and through mapping land use and capability. This system will serve as a basis for the project’s monitoring of Betim River water quality. The project will also promote “greening” of the urban environment through integration of environmental considerations in urban planning, as described above. This support is intended to broaden the support for and management of greenways and urban green spaces in future city development.

BiodiversitjLNatural Habitats: The project is expected to result in improvements to the aquatic and riparian biodiversity within the Betim area and downstream the Paraopeba River. The project’s emphasis on the maintenance of natural conditions in drainage improvements, creation of urban parks, and restoration of aquatic ciliar vegetation along streams will promote the restoration of habitat for wetland and non-wetland species alike. By promoting the preservation of natural floodplains and drainage ways in the upper watershed area, the project will promote the maintenance of existing aquatic and riparian habitats. Through the improvement of water quality and removal of solid waste, the project will result in direct improvements to aquatic and riparian habitats in Betim and the downstream Paraopeba River. The creation of urban parks along streams and in other urban areas will result in long-term biodiversity benefits to local plant and wildlife. And the restoration of in-stream vegetation will yield direct biodiversity benefits to aquatic and semi-aquatic species.

Negative Environmental Impacts: The project will finance a series of infrastructure, including: 42km of interceptors and secondary sewerage network; one sewerage treatment plant; 15km of macro drainage improvements; 5 open-air, flood-retention basins; and 18km of secondary roads. The construction of this infrastructure could result in some limited environmental impacts, that would be mitigated through the implementation of a series of mitigation measures included in the project’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP) described below.

Noise, Air and Water Quality: Infrastructure construction would likely result in localized short-term environmental impacts including dust and noise pollution, erosion. Potential air and water quality impacts could result from the extraction and transport of dredge sediments involved in drainage improvements. Additionally, the disposal of dredged sediments could result in long-term water quality impacts if not well-managed. These issues would be managed through a series of mitigation measures described below.

BiodiversityNatural Habitats; The construction of project-related infrastructure could yield localized impacts to riverine habitats through the short-term removal of riparian vegetation. This riparian “mata ciliar ” vegetation is protected under Brazilian national law. Project activities to restore riverine vegetation (described in the EMP below) will more than offset this impact.

Involuntary Resettlement: Implementation of project activities will result in the resettlement of 820 families in urban flood-prone areas and involve the acquisition of 323 empty, privately owned plots. The project’s Resettlement Plan, done in compliance with the Bank’s OP 4.12 and described below, outlines the steps that the project will take to resettle or compensate those affected parties.

4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN

The EA includes a series of mitigation and enhancement measures designed to ensure the project minimizes any negative impacts, and improves the positive ones. These measures, together with a budget (in USD), timetable and institutional responsibilities constitute the project’s EMP, which is summarized in the following section. Many of the activities included within the EMP are already mainstreamed within project design, and do not require a separate document.

Natural Habitats Monitoring and Mitigation ($420,000 plus costs included in project design): While the project is expected to result in significant positive impacts for biodiversity and natural habitats, short-term impacts to riverine habitats will result from the undertaking of drainage improvements. These impacts will be more than mitigated by project interventions to rehabilitate Betim River tributaries through eradication and treatment of pollution sources, resettlement of populations living within the floodplains, creation of urban parks, and restoration of wetland vegetation along the project waterways. Specific environmental mitigation relative to natural habitats include the construction of the wastewater treatment plant to offset impacts related to the expansion of sewerage collection, the creation and management of 30 ha of urban parks, and the restoration of riparian vegetation along ALL creeks affected by the project. Additionally, the project will ensure that the urban drainage program will emphasize the selection of alternatives that: (i) maximize preservation, to the extent possible, of existing water courses and mata ciliar

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vegetation; (ii) use adjacent spaces to create or augment linear parks to promote environmental awareness of residents and to buffer urban impacts to streams; and (iii) strengthen the protection of existing parks or protected areas to maximize the long-term sustainability of water quality improvements. These activities will be the responsibility of the Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) and the technical units. Environmental Management System (Costs included in project design): The project’s environmental management system includes the development and oversight of social and environmental procedures related to all project works. This will be the responsibility of the PCU and the technical executing agencies (Secretary of Environment (SEMEIA) and Secretary of Works and Housing).

Environmental Construction Manual (Costs included in the works design): The project will ensure the development of guidelines and rules for all contractors that set forth the environmental rules and procedures. These guidelines will be appended to all project infrastructure-related contracts. The manual will include actions related to the environmental management and supervision of works, the environmental requirements for contractors, environmental planning rules for construction and oversight of works, including activities to minimize and mitigate construction-related impacts. This will be the responsibility of the PCU and contractors.

Social Communication Program ($300,000): The project includes a Social Communication Program that will be responsible for identifying and involving key community stakeholders (including those directly and indirectly affected by the project) in fundamental project activities, and undertaking a information dissemination campaign about the project. This will be implemented by the UCP and technical executing agencies (including SEMEIA and the Secretary of Work and Housing). Environmental Education Program ($500,000): The project will implement an environmental education program for Betim residents of all ages aimed at increasing their awareness of the importance and vulnerability of natural resources for contributing to biodiversity, public health, water quality and flood control functions. The program will emphasize the role each person can play in protecting and improving the environmental quality of the Betim urban area. This will be implemented by the UCP along with SEMEIA and the Secretary of Education. Resettlement Action Plan ($6,800,000): The project will resettle 820 families and compensate 323 owners of undeveloped urban plots. The project has established a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) that offers two compensatory alternatives at no financial cost to the family or owner: (i) replacement housing with basic services on a plot close to their current location; or (ii) cash compensation based on a social index sufficient for the purchase of replacement housing at the family’s discretion, plus social compensation for poor families to assist in the move for. Additionally, the project will provide technical support to strengthen the social and legal municipal capacities so as to ensure comprehensive juridical and social support is available for resettled families throughout the entire resettlement process. The project’s monitoring and evaluation component will also track the success of resettlement and related institutional strengthening. These activities will be implemented by the UCP and the Secretaries of Works and Housing, and Social Ass is tance .

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Industrial and Non-Domestic Pollution Control ($500,000): The project will support industrial and non-domestic pollution control through funding and overseeing the following activities.

a. b.

C. d.

e.

f.

A cadastre of potentially polluting industries and businesses; Revision of environmental laws governing those potentially polluting industries and businesses; Efficiency improvements for industrial environmental licensing; Environmental training and guidelines to promote environmentally friendly and cost- efficient technologies; Joint monitoring of water quality including industrial effluents by the Paraopeba River Basin Committee and FEAN; Monitoring of industrial effluent discharge to the sewerage system by COPASA. These results will be incorporated into the project’s monitoring and evaluation system.

The oversight of these activities will be the responsibility of SEMEIA.

Illegal Household Sewerage Connections: (Costs borne by COPASA): The project will fund the ‘Caqa esgoto’ program implemented by COPASA, which identifies illegal domestic wastewater discharge. When illegal connections are identified, the homeowner will be required to properly connect to the sewerage network. The work will be conducted by COPASA, with the costs borne by the property owner (using a delayed payment plan) or by the municipality, in the case where the property owner cannot afford it. Oversight of these activities will be the responsibility of COPASA.

Dam Safety ($85,000): In accordance with the Bank’s OP 4.37 policy, the EA evaluated the operational and safety procedures for the V6rzea das Flores Reservoir located in the upper Betim River watershed. The project will ensure that the reservoir’s operation will be coordinated with the flood control management plans for the Betim watershed, emphasizing harmonization of reservoir operation with that of the five flood-storage reservoirs built through the project. These activities will be overseen by COPASA, the state water company, who is responsible for the management of the V6rzea das Flores Reservoir and is represented within the PMU. These activities will be part of the works annual operational manuals, which will be submitted to the PMU. Additionally, COPASA will submit to the PIU annual reservoir inspection reports. Oversight of these activities will be the responsibility of the Betim municipality and COPASA. Flood-Retention Basin Operation and Safety Procedures ($60,000): The project includes the development and funding of operational and safety procedures for each of the five new flood-retention basins. These procedures will include rules for individual basins, as well as rules for their joint operation. Technical and safety procedures for operating the basins will be funded through Component Ia, while routine operation and safety procedures will be established and implemented within the municipality administration structure. These activities will be the responsibility of the PCU and the Secretary of Civil Defense. Dredge Transport and Disposal ($??): The project will include the removal, transport and disposal of dredged sediments originating in the project watercourses. These materials will be handed in accordance with rules and procedures, consistent with licensing requirements, established in a dredge materials manual. This manual will be developed as part of the project. These activities will be under the oversight of the PCU and SEMEIA.

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Environmental Institutional Strengthening ($1,160,000): The project supports a number of activities aimed at strengthening environment-related municipal institutional capacity. These activities include: (i) the development of a municipal urban environmental plan to integrate environmental considerations in the new municipal urban plan; (ii) development and implementation of management plans for all parks created through the project; (iii) elaboration of technical manuals and environmental procedures for all new development within the city, including all flood control and water management development; and (iv) the implementation of an Environmental Database. These activities are the responsibility of SEMEIA. Environmental Monitoring ($620,000); As environmental monitoring is critical to the success of a number of project activities, the project includes environmental monitoring within several project components. Through Component I.3.a., the project will monitor the project’s impact on the water quality in the Betim watershed. Additionally, several of the project indicators included in the project’s monitoring and evaluation element (Component 111.4) are environmental due to the project’s goals of promoting sustainable development and improved environmental quality. These activities are the responsibility of the PIU and SEMEIA.

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