Good morning avid Environ-Metalist Readers.
This morning i have chosen the topic of discussion to be.... Environmental Impacts!
I first though what I'll do here today is list my personal way of completeing a basic Impact/Risk Assessment and what topics I look out for. I personally like to call it a Cumilative Imapact/Risk assessment as it takes all the aspects associated with impacts and combines them into one easy to read document.
I divide my CIA (Cummulative imppact assessment) Into three defining catagories:
1. Physical Impacts
2. Biological Impacts
3. Social Impacts
These then get divied into main topics; depending on the project at hand.
1. Physical
a. Surface water.
b. Ground water
c. Air quality
d. Climate
e. Geology
f. Land Use
2. Biological
a. Fauna
b. Flora
c. Pedology
d. Biodiversity
e. Aquatic Health
3. Social
a. Occupational Health and Safety
b. Hazardous Substances
c. Waste Management
d. Socio-Economics
e. Noise
f. Visual
g. Archealogical
h. Traffic
These are then Sub divided into more catagories depending on the factors influencing the project. If this is a life cycle CIA then it usually completed repeatedly for the following phases:
Construction/Planning
Operation Phase
Shut Down
Rehabilitation Phase
All of which are important to take into consideration as the aspects and impacts if each phhase differ significantly. I find that a personal wieghting score in regards to the CIA is essencial. Your own pernal formula for weighting needs to be justified and scientifically correct.
Many Weighting systems are objective/subjective and are not replicatable as the environment is continuously changing and is difficult to wieght. Although it is not impossible if you take a little time to come up with a scientifically acceptiable and repriducable system.
For more information regarding Environmental Impacts and the assessment there of; Check out:
http://www.iaia.org/default.aspx
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