A Presentation on

Methodologies of Environmental Impact Assessment

Presented To: Mrs. Tuhina Sinha (Faculty, URP)

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture & Fine Arts University, Hyderabad.

Introduction
Environmental impact is any alteration of

environmental conditions or a creation of new

set of environmental conditions, causes or induced, by the action or set of actions under consideration. There was separate battles to prevent the construction of dams and preserve park and wilderness areas.

Due to rapid population growth and consequent

concentration in large urban centers people were hit by a whole lot of different things
Source: Reading Material on EIA

Introduction
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the possible impactpositive or negativethat a proposed project may have on the environment; considering natural, social and economic aspects. Definition: The process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the

biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to

major decisions being taken and commitments made." After an EIA, the precautionary and polluter pays principles may be applied to

prevent, limit, or require strict liability or insurance coverage to a project, based

on its likely harms.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_assessment

Methodologies
Checklist Method:

Checklists are standard lists of the types of impacts associated with a particular
type of project.

There are four general types of checklists:

Simple Checklist : a list of environmental parameters with no guidelines on how they are to be measured and interpreted. Descriptive Checklist : includes an identification of environmental parameters and guidelines on how to measure data on particular parameters.

Source:http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Environment_Impact/chap3.pdf

Methodologies
Scaling Checklist: similar to a descriptive checklist, but with additional
information on subjective scaling of the parameters.

Scaling Weighting Checklist: similar to a scaling checklist, with additional information for the subjective evaluation of each parameter with respect to all the other parameters.

Checklist Method
Environm ental Area No Effect Positive Effect Negative Effect Direct Indirect Short Term Long Term

Wild Life Air Pollution Water Pollution Noise X Eco value X Public Health X

X X X

X X X X X

Methodologies
The Leopold Matrix : The Leopold matrix, was developed by Dr. Luna Leopold and others of the United States Geological Survey . Matrix was designed for the assessment of impacts associated with almost any type of construction project.

The Leopold system is an open-cell matrix containing 100 project actions along
the horizontal axis and 88 environmental 'characteristics' and 'conditions' along the vertical axis.

The 'characteristics' and 'conditions' in the table are a combination of environmental effects and impacts.

Source: http://www.icsu-scope.org/downloadpubs/scope5/chapter04.html

Methodologies

Source: http://www.icsu-scope.org/downloadpubs/scope5/chapter04.html

Methodologies
Merits: Open cell design to handle a wide range of projects by adding or deleting the items. Comprehensive but based in form of physical, biological, socio-economic aspects of environment.

Good in communication.

Demerits : Complex to interpret.

Problem of double counting.

Methodologies
Network Method:

Network diagrams may be used to illustrate linkages of higher order effects in

the system. reduction in soil stability reduction of organic inputs reduction in fertility state

Increase in soil erosion

Deforestration increase in surface area

Methodologies
Overlay method:

The overlay approach to impact assessment was first suggested by Dr. Ian McHarg.
The study area is sub-divided into convenient geographical units. Within each unit, the assessor collects information on environmental factors and

human concerns
The development of GIS can make this technique particularly stable. The overlay approach can accommodate both qualitative and quantitative data

By a series of overlays, the land-use suitability, action compatibility, and

engineering feasibility are evaluated visually, in order that the best combination may be identified.

Source:http://www.icsu-scope.org/downloadpubs/scope5/chapter04.html#f4.3ab

Methodologies

Source:http://www.icsu-scope.org/downloadpubs/scope5/chapter04.html#f4.3ab

Case Study: Bodhghat project

Bodhghat Project
The Bodhghat project is a river valley project, involving the construction of a major dam on the Indravati River in Bastar district. This project, conceived as a precursor to a series of dams, was planned on the Indravati River near Barsoor a village.

Bodhghat Project
The project involved the construction of the following :
A composite dam of a total length of 1720 m at the dam top level consisting of a 855 m
long and 90 m high concrete gravity dam and fill dams of 500 m and 365 m lengths on the left and right flanks respectively. A 3 km long (with 12.5 m diameter) head race tunnel. A 5 km long tail race canal. A surface powerhouse to support 4 generating units, each of 125 MW.

This project was designed as a peaking station with an installed capacity of 500

MW (4 units of 125 MW) to provide a large peaking potential to the power station
of M.P. State. The forest area was made up of areas under Reserved Forest, Protected Forest and Undemarcated Forest

Bodhghat Project
Nature And Scope Of Issues: The Bodhghat Dam was particularly regarded as environmentally damaging because its functional effectiveness was directly linked to the projects proposed downstream. The dam would result in the forced displacement of some 10 000 tribal people

whose sustainable way of life based on a mixed economy of agriculture, herding,

fishing and forest use would be entirely destroyed. The project would also lead to the inundation of a large area of forest, a resource fundamental to tribal people and whose dependency on the resources from forest is almost total and complete.

Bodhghat Project
The project would result in a total loss of 20 000 hectare of wildlife habitats.

The non availability of cultivable land and the wood lots for meeting the resource
needs of people for fuel wood, timber, food and fodder would have adverse effects on people driven from the project area.

The entire project area, which provides an ideal setting for designation as a
Biosphere Reserve owing to its biological richness and its pristine nature, would become open to ecological destruction.

The Bodhghat project would inevitably lead to the justification and the imposition of Bhopalpatnam, Inchampalli and the other projects located downstream.

Bodhghat Project
Approaches Taken:

For the preparation of EIA report, primary and secondary data and information were
generated through systematic field studies. The field studies primarily focused on:

assessment of the status of wildlife habitats with special reference to wild

buffalo habitat assessment of the human dependencies on natural resources of the project area Review of the rehabilitation policy for project-affected people. Field investigations were made at all sites likely to be impacted by the construction of the proposed dam.