Environmental management

FCE572 - Njeri 1
 Traditionallymany construction
projects e.g. water supply systems were
deemed to have such overwhelming
benefits that only costs were basis of
determining various alternative. Today
however, it is recognised that all
projects will result in unquantifiable
costs and impacts hence other impacts
including environmental impact
analysis and assessment are important
though they are measured qualitatively.

FCE572 - Njeri 2
 Environment includes all the physical,
chemical, biological and socio-economic
factors that influence individuals or
communities including air, water, land, all
living species of plants, animals, birds,
insects and microorganisms, man-made
artefacts and structures, and factors of
importance to the social, cultural and
economic aspects of human existence. In
this context therefore all projects have an
effect or impact on the environment and it
could be argued that unless they did there
would be not point of implementing them.
FCE572 - Njeri 3
 Some impacts are positive – benefits –
while others have detrimental effect –
costs. The purpose of an
Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) is to evaluate these positive and
negative effects as objectively as
possible and present the information
in a manner that it is accessible to
decision makers so that it becomes an
additional appraisal tool.

FCE572 - Njeri 4
 Engineering projects have an impact
on the whole environment spectrum
and many impacts are measured in
terms of;
 changes to specific quality

parameters e.g. dissolved oxygen

concentration in water
 the aesthetic qualities of a landscape

or a structure or the importance of

preserving a historic building

FCE572 - Njeri 5
 direct or primary impacts are
those directly attributable to the
project e.g. noise, pollution, etc
 indirect or secondary impacts

are those that affect areas

remote from the project itself
e.g. quarrying for raw materials,
pollution by cement
manufacturers
FCE572 - Njeri 6
 long term impacts are those that will
continue throughout the operating life of
the project and are thus permanent or long-
term e.g. pollution by thermal power station
 short term or temporary impacts are those

arising from the planning, design and

construction phase of the project e.g.
temporary changes in the water table, noise
and dust during construction
NB: generally the impacts may be a
combination e.g. temporary and direct and
these must be differentiated in the
environment impact statement (EIS).
FCE572 - Njeri 7
 Environmental impact assessment (EIA)
 EIA is a logical method of examining the actions of
people and the effects of projects and policies on the
environment so as to help ensure the long-term viability
of the earth as a habitable planet. It aims to identify
and classify project impacts and predict their impact on
the natural environment, human health and well-being
and communicate this information in the form of an EIS
to decision makers who appraise projects. Because the
natural environment is not steady but tends to change
naturally over time, any of the impacts of a project must
be seen in the context of what would have happened if
the project had not been implemented – occurs at a
specific period within a defined area. In many countries
EIS is incorporated into the legal requirements for
obtaining project and planning approval.
FCE572 - Njeri 8
 Screening
(Is
(Is the
the EIS
EIS required)
required)

Scoping
(define
(define issues,
issues, identify
identify major
major impacts)
impacts)

Baseline studies
(define
(define existing
existing environment
environment in
in terms
terms of
of important
important parameters
parameters identified
identified in
in scoopin
scoopin

Impact preditions
(using
(using models,
models, simulation,
simulation, predictive
predictive techniques)
techniques)

Prepare EIS
Monitoring and audit
FCE572 - Njeri 9
 screening
 done at the early stages of a project to
determine whether or not a detailed EIA is
required or necessary. This is largely defined
by the legislative policy. The extent to which
the EIA is needed is also defined since impact
depends on the environment in which the
project is set – the same project will have
different impacts or different intensity of some
impacts in different settings i.e. for a project
EIA may be required for one set and not the
other. The extent is usually defined in the
regulations associated with the legislation.

FCE572 - Njeri 10
 scoping
a more specific form of screening that
is essentially priority setting activity
aimed at establishing the main features
and scope of the subsequent
environmental studies and analysis. It
identifies the type of data to be
collected, the methods and techniques
to be used and the way in which the
results will be presented.

FCE572 - Njeri 11
 The decision on which impacts are
significant is not always easy and
requires judgement, tact and
understanding of ;
◦ technical issues
◦ environment surrounding the project
including public opinion and perceived
impacts of those likely to be affected
NB local knowledge is a valuable source
of data
◦ social criteria – aesthetics, human
health, safety, recreation and effect on
lifestyles
FCE572 - Njeri 12
◦ economic criteria – the value of
resources, the effect on employment
and commerce
◦ ethical and moral criteria – effect on
other humans, forms of life and future
generations
◦ current state of knowledge relating to a
particular aspect of the environment as
determined by developments in science
and technology, professional
experience of the experts
◦ time and budget allowed

FCE572 - Njeri 13
 Seeking public opinion involves
identifying the affected population/target
groups and getting their opinions – this
includes local political and environmental
concern groups (to avoid unnecessary
confrontation later). Public consultations
involves schedule of meetings with the
affected target populations and interest
groups where the objectives, possible
impacts and associated activities of the
project are explained and participants
encouraged to identify other impacts and
suggest mitigations. FCE572 - Njeri 14
 Such meetings must be allowed sufficient
time and minutes taken and made public.
It requires patience and diplomacy and it
is time and money consuming.
Alternatively questionnaire or telephone
surveys may be used to solicit public
opinions and results analysed
statistically.
 Scoping helps obtain advance agreement

on the important environmental issues

hence scarce resources are used more
efficiently.
FCE572 - Njeri 15
 baseline study
 the collection of background information of
the ecosystem and the socio-economic
setting of a proposed development project. It
involves field examination and collection of
samples and it is the most expensive step
because it requires a large number of
experts. If scoping is not efficient then alot
time and money is wasted collecting
unnecessary and irrelevant data. Sources of
data include previous studies, monitoring
and audit results, other sources which should
be vetted for accuracy and thoroughness.
FCE572 - Njeri 16
 impact prediction
 the baseline study and the project proposal are
then used to predict how environmental
parameters will change during both the
construction and operation of the project. It
requires environmental and social scientist and
utilises sophisticated equations, modelling and
simulation techniques. For each impact the most
appropriate method should be used and the
prediction should encompass all project activities
and differentiate primary, secondary, short- and
long-term effects. The predictions should be
grouped into various categories e.g. biological,
physical, social, economic and cultural and should
use quantitative prediction where possible.
FCE572 - Njeri 17
 prepare an EIS
 the predictions and baseline study are
then used to prepare the EIS which is
used to in the appraisal and approval
process. It usually includes;
◦ the need for the project – aims and
objectives
◦ baseline report
◦ list and description of all reasonable
and possible project alternatives
including the ‘do-nothing’ option

FCE572 - Njeri 18
For all alternative the following should be detailed
 clear description of the project during
construction and operation – details of use of
land, materials, energy, estimates of levels of
pollution and emissions
 clear estimate of environmental consequences
of each alternative – predictions of the effects
of all the significant impacts drawing attention
to serious adverse impacts that cannot be
avoided or mitigated as well as irreversible
environmental consequences and irretrievable
use of natural resources
 the severity of each impact including method
used to measure and predict it

FCE572 - Njeri 19
◦comparison of the
environmental consequence of
each alternative
◦statement conclusions
indicating the preferred option
and any mitigation measures
that may be required
◦non-technical summary
◦index and appendices
FCE572 - Njeri 20
To ensure that the EIS is comprehensive
yet readily understood by decision-makers
the following methods have been adopted;
 checklists – list of environmental

features affected by project activities e.g.

simple, descriptive, scaling, scaling-
weighting, questionnaire
 overlay mapping – transparent maps

showing environmental characteristics of

the proposed project area with shading
intensity representing different intensity
of impacts

FCE572 - Njeri 21
 network and system diagrams – attempts to
recognise a series of impacts by listing
project activities to establish cause-
condition-effect relationships. It shows the
interdependence of parameters
 multi-attribute utility theory – provides basis

for comparing the impacts of alternatives

 matrices – simple interaction matrix which is

two dimensional showing project activities on

one axis and environmental parameters on
the other and placing an X in the relevant
intersecting cell. Quantified and graded
matrix may also be used

FCE572 - Njeri 22
 monitoring and audit
 because of the uncertainty associated with
environmental impact predictions, it is
important that major parameters are monitored
throughout the implementation of the project
to assess the validity and accuracy of
predictions and to act as an early warning sign
of harmful impacts allowing timely mitigations.
This provides valuable information for future
EIAs and generally improves the accuracy of
forecasting models and methods. Monitoring
detects whether the impact occurred or not, its
severity or magnitude, and whether it is a result
of the project.

FCE572 - Njeri 23
 It requires the identification of a control site
that should be as similar to the project site
as possible except it is not affected by the
impacts. Monitoring begins at the baseline
study and continues through the
construction and operation of the project.
During scoping the parameters to be
monitored, the frequency, change that is
statistically significant and probability of
natural changes should be outlined – the
monitoring framework which saves time and
money by avoiding irrelevant data collection

FCE572 - Njeri 24
 The process of comparing the impacts
predicted in an EIA with those that
actually occur after implementation of the
project is referred to as auditing. It is
often ignored due to the perception that
EIA is just a hurdle in the approval
process. Auditing not only vets the
accuracy of predictions but also
highlights best practise in EIS. Auditing
may be hampered by;
 inappropriate forms of predictions
 design changes after EIS
 inadequate or non-existent monitoring
FCE572 - Njeri 25