ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT ASSESSMENT
(EIA)
Lecture 14
 What is EIA?
“An important procedure for ensuring that the likely
effects of new development on the environment are
fully understood and taken into account before the
development is allowed to go ahead”
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.

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 Purpose Of EIA
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an
assessment of the likely positive and/or negative influence a
project may have on the environment.

The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-

makers consider environmental impacts before deciding
whether to proceed with new projects.

EIA is intended to identify the Environmental, Social and

Economic impacts of a proposed development prior to
decision making.

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Origins and history of
EIA

First formal system of EIA established in the

US following the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969

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Environmental Impact Statement

The Environmental Statement must include:

A description of the project: location, design, size etc.

Description of significant effects.
Mitigating Measures
Assessment of no development conditions
Assessment of conditions with development
A Non-Technical summary.

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 The EIA Process
There are two steps in EIA. The two stages are:

Preliminary Assessment: Carried out in the early

stages of planning

Detailed Assessment: Carried out during project

planning until the project plan is completed and are
reported formally as an Environmental Statement

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7
 Steps Involved In EIA
1. Preliminary Activities and Decision of Terms of
Reference ( TOR )
2. Scoping
3. Baseline Study
4. Environmental Impact Evaluation
5. Mitigation Measures
6. Assessment of Alternative Measures
7. Preparation of Final Document
8. Decision-making
9. Monitoring of Project Implementation and Its
Environmental Impacts
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Step 1: Preliminary Activities and Decision of
Terms of Reference ( TOR )

Preliminary activities include the defining of the Terms of

Reference ( TOR ) for the project and also the determining of
the personnel required for the assessment. A brief summary of
the project is extremely helpful at this stage. The summary
should be clear and explicit.
The existing laws and regulations that are applicable to the
project should also be reviewed along with the regulating
authorities.
An EIA team might include an engineer, an economist, a
physical geographer and a sociologist, with a senior
government official to play the role of a coordinator. All these
need to be identified and declared before the actual EIA process
may begin.

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 Step 2: Scoping

Scoping is a process for identifying environmental impacts of

the project. At a very early stage in the preparation of an EIA,
the impacts of the project on the environment are identified.
When the list of the impacts is very large, only the most
significant impacts are selected. This process, therefore,
determines the limits and the scope of the environmental
degradation involved with the project. Scoping actually controls
the cost and time of the assessment in deciding the scope of the
EIA and therefore is a very important step both in identifying the
impacts and controlling the size of the EIA.

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 Step 2: Scoping

Potential issues Impacts on the environment

Transport Traffic generated during construction, operation
Noise and vibration Increased noise levels during construction, traffic noise
including reversing alarms
Ecology Loss of habitat and protected species from restoration of
minerals workings
Land and soils Land contamination, temporary loss of agricultural land
Water Pollution of surface or groundwaters
Air and climate Landfill gas, odour, dust and particulates, pollutants from
incomplete combustion
Cultural heritage Loss of heritage features
Landscape Change or loss of valued landscape

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 Step 3: Baseline Studies

A baseline study is the study of the original status of the

environment in the area before the development work of the
project is started. This study serves the purpose of a base
reference against which the changes due to implementation of
the project are measured. Baseline studies are based on the
experience with respect to environmental aspects and cover
everything important about the environmental impacts of the
project. On the other hand, a proper scoping highlights the
significant environmental issues of the project with respect to its
locality and regional environment. Hence, scoping and baseline
studies often run into each other.

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Step 4: Environment Impact Evaluation

Environmental impact evaluation actually grows out of scoping and

baseline study of the project. In principle, EIA assigns various quantified
values to different levels of all the impacts affecting the project. This
step is generally considered as the most technical and controversial
part of the EIA. It is difficult because not every impact, especially
natural and social impacts, can be quantified. Occasionally, it is
possible to use surrogate measures, such as the amount of money
required to mitigate the damage or the amount of money local
inhabitants are willing to pay to clean up the river. However, the
accuracy and appropriateness of such techniques can be questioned.

Impact evaluation actually calls for very careful considerations of the

most important impacts and their accurate numerical representation.
This has to be done not only for the proposed project but also for all
possible alternatives, so that a well-balanced final decision can be
reached regarding the fate of the project.

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 Step 5: Mitigation Measures

Mitigation measures are taken after the impact evaluation.

These measures are taken to reduce the magnitude or intensity
of the impacts affecting the environment. This of course will
incur some costs, but it is expected that such measures will, in
the long run, mitigate the impacts so as to make the project both
economically and environmentally viable. The EIA team has to
decide between two alternatives, either having a high cost and
low pollution program or having a low cost but a high pollution
situation.

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Step 6: Assessment of alternative measures

The proposed project and all other relevant versions have been
examined for environmental impacts by now. They have also been
corrected by applying the mitigation measures to minimize the adverse
effects on the environment. The next step is to assess the alternative
measures by measuring environmental degradation and improvement
in terms of economic losses and gains. In standard EIAs, a summary
for each version of the project is given together with the comparative
assessment using benefit-cost analysis (BCA); a method for evaluating
development projects. However, there is a difficulty in the assessment
as not everything is quantifiable. Although attempts have been made to
describe such situations numerically. Therefore, not all assessments
use net benefit criteria. The benefit-cost analysis, when used, is equally
applied to all options to make the comparative assessment easy. For
instance, it is more desirable to put up with limited pollution at a lower
cost of mitigation than to remove the pollution completely at a much
higher cost.

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 Step 7: Preparation of the final document

Preparation of the final document should meet the following two objectives:

The detailed document is usually called as the reference document.

This document is used by the technical personnel that is associated
with the project. It is also referred for preparing future EIAs in the same
geographical area, or for the same type of project in a different area.
The referred part usually contains the technical calculations, graphs,
and the results of field and laboratory measurements.

The summarized non-technical account is usually called as the working

document, which is written clearly without using technical language to
communicate to the decision-maker the findings of the EIA team. Main
objective of this document is that the non-technical decision-makers
must properly understand the findings and recommendations of the EIA
team so that they can take a well-informed and correct decision
promptly

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 Step 8: Decision Making

Decision-making is the process which starts after the above-

mentioned steps of EIA are completed. Usually the decision is
taken by a manager or a committee, or personnel from the
concerned ministry who had not been associated with the EIA
during its preparation. Technical and economic aspects of
project alternatives are thoroughly considered. In general, a
decision-maker has three choices: i) accepting one of the
project alternatives, ii) returning the EIA with a request for
further study in certain specific areas, iii) totally rejecting the
proposed project along with alternative versions.

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 Step 9: Monitoring

Monitoring of project implementation and its environmental

impacts is usually carried out while the selected project is under
actual implementation. The monitoring is basically the process
of inspection to make sure that the proper guidelines and
recommendations stated in the EIA are faithfully followed. Such
inspections may also be carried out after the completion of the
project to determine as to what accuracy the environmental
impacts have been predicted by the EIA. This could be a very
valuable exercise for the environmental impact assessors.

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Impacts studied under
EIA Development

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 Air Quality Impacts
Discuss the types, sources and rates of emissions expected for
construction and operation of the project. This may include:

Emissions, road and construction dust, as well as: Visible and smelly
substances from the project
Greenhouse gases (GHG) expected from the project (include all
stages).
Determine the nature and quantity of Criteria Air Contaminants
(which cause health hazards, smog or acid rain) to be released.
How much acidifying substances will be emitted?
What technologies will be used to control air emissions?
How will leaks be detected, measured and repaired? These leaks
can lead to significant odors if left unchecked.

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 Air Quality Impact
Looking for
 Oxides of nitrogen (NOx)

 Oxides of sulphur (SOx)

 Ozone O3
 Particulates PM10 and
PM2.5
 Odour

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 Water Quality Impact
Contamination of rivers & streams
Hazard assessment from spills etc
During the course of the construction works, monitoring shall be
undertaken of the following parameters, their frequencies, and
duration
DO/pH/Temperature/Turbidity/SS/ pollution causing chemical
compounds

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 Heritage and
construction Impact

Improperly designed development

projects can damage cultural
heritage and diminish its value.
Traffic movements
Dust
Spoil heaps
Noise

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 Geology and Soils
Impact
Assessment of geological value
Soil characterisation

Site protection

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