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EIA Methodologies 1

Presentation · August 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29890.22725

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Ain Shams University Irrigation and Hydraulics Department
Faculty of Engineering ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
FOR WATER PROJECTS
(CEI 473)

EIA Processes, Methodolgies

and Softwares
By:
Dr. Peter Hany Sobhy Riad
Prof. Ahmed Ali A. Hassan
 Definition of Environment
(The Mother Nature)

Environment
(Biosphere)

Non-living Living organisms

organisms (Abiotic) (Biotic)

Air Soil
Water Human, Bacteria,
(Lithosphere Energy
(Atmosphere) (Hydrosphere) Animals, Plants,…..
or Geosphere)

Lithosphere (Ancient Greek: λίθος [lithos] for "rocky", and σφαῖρα [sphaira] for "sphere") is
the rigid
Biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on
Earth, a closed system.
Ecosystem (ecology): it is the interaction between living and non-living organisms.
 Introduction
• Before the First World War, rapid
industrialization and urbanization in western
countries was causing rapid loss of natural
resources. This continued to the period after
the Second World War giving rise to concerns
for pollution, quality of life and environmental
stress.
 Introduction
In 1969 The concept of EIA has been first
introduced as part of the US National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Since then, EIA
has undergone a remarkable expansion and is
now widely used as an approach for sustainable
development planning and management.

In Egypt started in 90s (Law 4 in 1994, Amended by

Law 9/2009).
https://www.eeaa.gov.eg/en-us/laws/envlaw.aspx
 Egyptian Environmental Affairs
Agency (EEAA)
• The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) was
established in 1982, the environmental policies in Egypt have
been formulated and implemented in various ministries,
including Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Ministry
of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), and Ministry of
Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), in their perspective
areas.

• Law 4 of 1994 (the Protection of the Environment)

reorganized EEAA and gave the agency the responsibility of
such tasks as coordination among relevant legislative bodies
and draft and implement comprehensive environmental
policy, was established. 5
 The key features of law 4/1994
• It re-established EEAA under the Cabinet of Ministers
as the highest national authority in charge of
environment.
• It requires all new projects and activities to submit an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and gave
EEAA the final responsibility of approving them.
• It gave EEAA the power to inspect and enforce the law.
• It established an environmental fund and mandated
EEAA for the protection of the Environment.
• It addressed gaps in the previous laws concerning air
pollution, noise, industrial and municipal discharges to
the marine environment, hazardous wastes and
sanitary landfilling.
• It increased significantly the fines and penalties for
violations.
6
 Other laws and regulations
complementing with law 4/1994

7
8
• Application of
Environmental
Water Quality
Standards and
Effluent Standards
in Egypt

9
 EIA Process Definition
“Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA or EIA
process) is a process to improve decision-making
and to ensure that the project or programme
options under consideration are environmentally
sound and sustainable.

The EIA is concerned with identifying, predicting and

evaluating the foreseeable environmental effects,
both beneficial and adverse, of public and private
(development) activities, alternatives and
mitigating measures, aiming at eliminating or
minimising the negative, and optimising the
positive impact”
 EIA Processes
The overall EIA process can be subdivided in these
main stages:
• Submission of the proposal to the responsible
authorities; start of the process;
• Pre-Study period; during which it is decided if an EIA
is required, and if so, which regulations must be
adhered to and during which the scope of the EIA is
determined;
• EIA Study; which results in an Environmental Impact
Statement;
• Post-Study period; during which the information is
used for decision-making and the recommendations
are subject to monitoring and evaluation.
https://www.eeaa.gov.eg/en-us/services/eia.aspx
 1. Screening
• Screening is done to determine whether or
not a proposal should be subject to EIA and, if
so, at what level of detail. Guidelines for
whether or not an EIA is required are country
specific depending on the laws or norms in
operation.
• The output of the screening process is often a
document called an Initial Environmental
Examination or Evaluation (IEE)
 2. Scoping
• The aim of EIA is not to carry out exhaustive
studies on all environmental impacts for all
projects.
• Scoping is used to identify the key issues of
concern at an early stage in the planning
process.
• The results of scoping will determine the
scope, depth and terms of reference to be
addressed within the Environmental
statement.
EIA International Methodologies
used in the scoping stage
 General methodologies/tools.
• The following environmental tools can be used
in the scoping exercise:
1. Ad hoc
2. Checklist
3. Matrices
4. Battelle’s Environmental Evaluation System
5. Networks
 1. Ad Hoc Method
• Ad Hoc is a Latin phrase meaning "for this". It
generally signifies a solution designed for a
specific problem or task, non-generalizable,
and not intended to be able to be adapted to
other purposes
 1. Ad Hoc Method
• As the name indicates this method is a "do as you
go along" method, being a simple description of
the project's effects on the environment without
any cause-effect relationship and without any
sort of weighting.
• The main deficiencies of this method are:
- no assurance of inclusion of all relevant impacts.
- lack of consistency, use of different criteria.
• It has utility only when other methods can not be
used because of lack of information,
resource,data, and other means.
 2. Checklist
• Checklists are lists of environmental effects
due to the proposed action, with no particular
measurement or evaluation of impact.
Checklists for different types of undertakings
have been prepared by a variety of financial,
regulatory and professional organization (such
as ADB, WORLDBANK, lCOLD, ESCAP etc.) to
ensure competent attention is given to
environmental parameters.
 2. Checklist
• Checklists are standard lists of the types of
impacts associated with a particular type of
project. Checklists methods are primarily for
organizing information or ensuring that no
potential impact is overlooked. They comprise
list questions on features the project and
environments impacts.
• Egyptian
Environmental
Affairs Agency:
• https://www.eeaa.
gov.eg/en-
us/services/eia.asp
x
 3. Matrix methods
• Matrices - Matrix methods identify
interactions between various project actions
and environmental parameters and
components.
• They should preferably cover both the
construction and the operation phases of the
project, because sometimes, the former
causes greater impacts than the latter.
 Matrix method
• The E.I. Index is determined using the following
formula:
1
E.I =   ( I ij + Aij )
2 5 n  p

• where: n is the number of columns containing the

causes of environmental impact, p is the number of
rows containing the environmental-effects.
• I is the intensity of impact and A is the influenced
area.
 Practical Application
Environmental Evaluation for
THE LOWER HAI PROJECT
(TANZANIA)
Project Area
 EIA MATRIX
Actions (affecting parameters)
Reactions (affected parameters)

107

Environmental Impact Index for adverse impacts = 107/10/(16*7) = 0.096

 EIA MATRIX
Actions (affecting parameters)
Reactions (affected parameters)

11
22
33
44

55
152
Environmental Impact Index for beneficial impacts = 152/10/(16*5) = 0.19

Conclusions: Since that, the beneficial impacts are higher than the adverse impacts,
then it can be implemented with mitigation measures
 4. Battelle’s Environmental Evaluation
System (EES)
• This environmental evaluation system (EES) for water
resources projects was developed by Battelle Northwest
Laboratories for the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

• The environmental evaluation system is used to evaluate

the expected future condition of the environmental
quality, both 'with' and 'without' the project. A difference
in environmental impact units (EIUs) between those two
conditions constitute either an adverse impact, which
corresponds to a loss of EIUs, or a beneficial impact, which
corresponds to a gain in EIU.
 Battelle’s Impact Evaluation
• In this method, Environmental Impact (E.I.) is
determined with the following formula:
m m
EI =  (Vi )1  Wi −  (Vi )2  Wi
• Where, i =1 i =1

• (Vi)1 = Value of ith Environmental Quality with

Project
• Wi = Parameter Importance unit/ Weightage
unit
• (Vi)2 = Value of ith Environmental Quality without
Project
• m = Number of Impacts
 Battelle’s Impact Evaluation 1
Weight of Effect Environmental Quality Impact Units
No. Effect without with Net Change
with project without
(Wi) project project
(Vi,1) project (EIU)
(Vi,2) (EIU)
1 Water table modification 60 0.2 0.8 12 48 -36
2 Salinisation of soil 65 0.1 0.8 6.5 52 -45.5

3 Reduction of discharge
downstream 75 0.2 0.7 15 52.5 -37.5
4 Soil fertility 90 0.3 0.8 27 72 -45
5 Land loss 70 0.3 0.9 21 63 -42
6 Agricultural production 200 0.7 0.1 140 20 120
7 Employment 130 0.6 0.2 78 26 52
8 Flood Reduction 115 0.8 0.1 92 11.5 80.5
9 Domestic water supply 125 0.7 0.3 87.5 37.5 50
10 Commercial fishing 70 0.6 0.3 42 21 21
TOTAL 1000 521 403.5 117.5
 Battelle Evaluation System

No. Effect Net Change Comment

1 Water table modification -36 Adverse

2 Salinisation of soil -45.5 Adverse
3 Reduction of discharge downstream -37.5 Adverse
4 Soil fertility -45 Adverse
5 Land loss -42 Adverse
6 Agricultural production 120 beneficial
7 Employment 52 beneficial
8 Flood Reduction 80.5 beneficial
9 Domestic water supply 50 beneficial
10 Commercial fishing 21 beneficial
Mitigation Measures
 Impacts Affected areas/Impact by Mitigation measures
Compensation to PAF a the
Boloti Reservoir area
inundation area
Ground water extraction at
Water Table Control Extraction rate
1 Sanya plain
modification Monitoring Extraction
Some springs
Recharge area
Provide jobs to affected peoples
Fulfill Leaching water requirement
Salinization of Due to extracted Ground water Control Application
2
Soils irrgation in Sanya Plain Promote to farm low water required
crop
Diversion at Sanya River
Reduction of Diversion at Lawati River Maintain duty flow
3 River Extraction of water ground Control Extraction
Discharges water causes less water in Recharge area
springs
Intermittent system
Composting & use of organic
Continuous irrigation
fertilizers
Agrochemical
4 Soils Fertility Control Pesticides and chemicals
Same crop
Promote Crop Rotation
Flood plain fertility
Sediment release
Improve farming practice
Direct Compensation
Infrastructures Priority in job
5 Land Loss
Pondage of reservoir Micro financing with subsidized
loan
 POPULATION INTERESTS
• Ensure that the project is beneficial to the
people (local economy and social welfare).
• Guarantee that affected people will be
adequately compensated.
• Protect the environment by avoiding “serious”
damage which could endanger quality of life.
 CONCLUSIONS
• The project has benefits to the people
although there are slight negative impacts.
• The community needs guarantee that affected
people will be adequately compensated.
• The project should be implemented in parallel
with the environmental measures.
 5. Networks
• Networks – these are cause effect flow
diagrams used to help in tracing the web
relationships that exist between different
activities associated with action and
environmental system with which they
interact. They are also important in identifying
direct and cumulative impacts. They are more
complex and need expertise for their effective
use.
 EIA Softwares
1. DR EIA (Document Retrieval and Expert
System for Environmental Impact
Assessment)
2. The Rapid Appraisal Program
1. DR EIA Software
Screening Criteria
Screening Report
GIS Tools
2. The Rapid Appraisal Program
Relational Matrix in RAP
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