CE 6313

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Dr. Khondoker Mahbub Hassan

Dept of Civil Engg, Khulna University of Engg & Tech (KUET)
 EIA Methodologies
Why do we need EIA methodologies?
• The administrative procedures for EIA vary from country
to country. A national EIA procedure produces EIS of
uniform standard to be used in decision making.
• But these procedures, by themselves, cannot ensure that
EIS contains structured information, produced in a scientific
manner, easily understandable to decision-makers.
• For this reason, EIA methodologies are needed to aid
identification, prediction and assessment of impacts have
been developed and they ensure the best possible
information from EIA procedures is available to decision-
makers and the public.
 EIA Methodologies
Some common EIA methodologies:
• Checklists
• Environmental Evaluation System (EES)
• Ad-hoc
• Matrices
• Network
• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Simulation Modeling Workshop (SMW)
• Overlays/GIS
 EIA Methodologies
Checklists:
Consists of a list of environmental, social and
economic factors that may be affected by a
development. There are 4 broad categories of
checklists:
• Simple Checklists
• Descriptive Checklists
• Scaling Checklists
• Scaling-Weighting Checklists
 EIA Methodologies
Simple Checklists:
• This method represents a list of environmental factors
to be addressed and is only able to aid identification of
impacts.
• The method ensures that impacts are not overlooked.
• No information however, is provided on specific data
need, methods of measurements or prediction and
assessment.
• Additional guidelines are therefore, needed to perform
other EIA tasks.
 EIA Methodologies
Descriptive Checklists:
• This includes lists of environmental factors likely
to be affected and also provides information on data
requirements, sources of information and predictive
techniques.
• This method is widely used in EIA studies of water
resources projects, transportation projects and land
development projects.
 EIA Methodologies

Scaling Checklists:
• In this method numerical or „letter‟ scales are
assigned to the impact of each alternative being
evaluated on each identified environmental factors.
• The method is quite useful for comparative
evaluations of alternatives.
 EIA Methodologies
Scaling-Weighting Checklists:
• Impact scales are assigned for each alternative to
each environmental factor.
• Relative importance weights are also assigned to
environmental factors.
• Environmental Evaluation System (EES) is an
example of this type.
 EIA Methodologies

Major steps of EES:

• Listing of pertinent environmental factors
• Importance weighting to each factors
• Impact scaling through use of functional
relationship for each factor
 EIA Methodologies
EES Procedures:
• A checklist of environmental parameters is identified
• A group of experts assign weights to these parameters according to
their relative importance in relation to the project.
• A total of 1000 units are distributed between all the parameters
• A group of experts construct scaling mechanisms, termed “value
functions” for each parameter.
• The value function graphs are then used for transforming factor
measurements (baseline or predicted values) into subjective
evaluations. i.e., objective measurements are transformed into a
subjective interpretation of environmental quality (EQ) based on a
scale of 10 for good quality and 0 for poor quality.
• An index expressed in Environmental Impact Units (EIU) is then
developed for each project alternative (i.e. with project) and baseline
environmental conditions (i.e., without project).
 EIA Methodologies
EES Procedures:
Mathematically this is represented as:
m m
EI = (Vi)1Wi - (Vi)2Wi
i =1 i =1
EIU (with pjt.) EIU (without pjt.)

EI = Environmental Impact
(Vi)1 = Value in EQ of parameter „i‟ with project
(Vi)2 = Value in EQ of parameter „i‟ without project
Wi = Relative importance weight unit
m = Total no. of parameters
If the net value is (-)ve = Adverse Impact To proposed
If the net value is (+)ve = Beneficial Impact development project
 EIA Methodologies
How to Construct a Value Function Curve?
1) Collect information on the relationship between
parameter and the quality of the environment.
2) Order the parameter scale, which is normally abscissa,
so that the lowest value is zero.
3) Divide the EQ scale into equal intervals ranging
between 0 and 10, and determine the appropriate value of
the parameter for each interval. This process is to be
continued until a reasonable curve may be drawn.
• Various experts should repeat steps 1 to 3 independently.
The average values should produce the „group‟ curve.
 EIA Methodologies
How to use Value Function Curve (an example)?
• Existing baseline DO level say 10 mg/L without project.
• Predicted level of DO is 2 mg/L with project.
• So, from the value function curve, the EQ scores of 10 and 1 are found
respectively for without and with project conditions.
• These scores are then multiplied by the importance weight previously
assigned to obtain EIU. Say, DO has a weight of 31 for this project.
• Thus, EIU for without and with projects are 310 and 31 respectively.
10
8
6
EQ

4
2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
DO (mg/L)
 EIA Methodologies
How to use Value Function Curve (an example)?
• Similarly, EIU for all others (+)ve and (-)ve impacts are
derived and aggregated.
• If the with project situation has a lower total score than the
without project situation, then the project has an adverse
effect on the environment.
• Other alternative projects can be evaluated similarly to
select the least environmentally damaging one.
 EIA Methodologies
Advantages of EES:
• It is very comprehensive in that it provides an extensive
checklist of environmental characteristics and impacts
that should be considered.
• Both spatial and temporal aspects of identified impacts
can be accounted for in the weighting system.
• It is highly replicable because the direction for
identification and evaluation of impacts is explicit.
• It utilizes the best judgment of a multidisciplinary team
in all evaluations.
 EIA Methodologies
Disadvantages of EES:
• The most important drawback to this method is the
manner in which it compartmentalizes and fragments
the environment.
• The environmental factors are assessed in isolation.
No consideration is given on how changes in one
parameter might affect the others (e.g. water quality
factors).
• The method is heavily dependent on quantification.
 EIA Methodologies
Illustration of Ad-Hoc Technique: An Irrigation Project
Alternatives
Items
A B C
Number of reservoirs on river system 4 1 0
Combined surface area, ha 8,500 1,300 -
New irrigation areas, ha 40,000 12,000 -
Number of inundated archeological sites 11 3 -
Enhanced fisheries, relative magnitude 4x 1x Nil
Provision of flood control measures Yes Yes Nil
New potential malarial areas, relative magnitude 4x 1x Nil
Additional employment potential, no of persons 1000 200 -
 EIA Methodologies
Checklists of Environmental Components (Physico-Chemical):
Sl. Land Surface Water Ground Water Atmosphere Noise

1 Landforms Shoreline Water Table Air Quality Intensity

2 Soil Profile Bottom Interface Flow Regime Air Flow Duration
Climatic
3 Soil Composition Flow Variation Water Quality Frequency
Changes
4 Slope Stability Water Quality Recharge Visibility

Subsidence & Aquifer

5 Drainage Pattern
Compaction Characteristics

6 Seismicity Water Balance Existing Use

Floodplains or
7 Flooding
Swamps
8 Land use Existing Use
Engg. & Mineral
9
Resources
10 Buffer Zones
 EIA Methodologies
Checklists of Environmental Components (Biological):
Sl. Species and Populations Habitats and Communities

1 Terrestrial Vegetation Terrestrial Habitats

2 Terrestrial Wildlife Terrestrial Communities

3 Other Terrestrial Fauna Aquatic Habitats

4 Aquatic/Marine Flora Aquatic Communities

5 Fish Estuarine Habitats

6 Other Aquatic/Marine Fauna Marine Communities

 EIA Methodologies
Checklists of Environmental Components (Human):
Sl. Health and Safety Social and Economic Aesthetic and Cultural
1 Physical Safety Employment Land Forms
2 Psychological Well-being Housing Biota
3 Parasitic Disease Education Wilderness
4 Communicable Disease Utilities Water Quality
5 Psychological Disease Atmospheric Quality
6 Disease Vectors Climate
7 Tranquility
8 Sense of Community
9 Community Structure
10 Manmade Objects
11 Historic Places/Structure
12 Religious Places/Structures
13 Landscape
14 Compositions
Illustration of Checklist Technique for a Road Project
Nature of Likely Impacts

ST = Short Term, LT = Long Term, R = Reversible, IR = Irreversible,

Items Adverse Beneficial

L = Local, W = Wide, SI = Significant, N = Normal, * = Negligible

ST LT R IR L W ST LT SI N
Aquatic Ecosystem x x x
Fisheries x x x
Forests x x x
Terrestrial Wildlife x x x
Rare-Endangered Species x x x
Surface Water Hydrology x x x
Surface Water Quality x
Ground Water * * * * * * * * * *
Air Quality x x
Navigation x x
Land Transport x x
Agriculture x x
Socio-Economic x x
Aesthetic x x