How is an environmental impact assessment done?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Among the most important challenges of the 21st century is the issue of protecting the environment. The emergence and maintenance of the ecological crisis is facilitated by the pollution of irreplaceable natural resources - soil, air and water - through the introduction of industrial waste, agricultural production, and the transport network.

Emissions from industrial scale plants and transport systems (for which environmental impact assessments have not been made) to air, water and soil have now reached unacceptable levels. In a number of areas, for example, in large industrial centers, the degree of pollution significantly exceeds sanitary standards. The primary role in the processes of environmental pollution is played by the activities of enterprises of the chemical and fuel industries, the metallurgical complex, and electricity.

Let's take an example. The vast majority of modern plants produce liquid toxic waste that cannot be satisfactorily cleaned and, as a result, long-term isolation is required until it naturally decays or decomposes. Such pollutants are placed in storage ponds and similar structures; it is almost impossible to ensure their complete isolation. As a result, such structures automatically become sources of penetration of substances into surface or underground drinking aquifers. An environmental impact assessment is mandatory for the above-mentioned enterprises.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) consists of methods and procedures for taking into account the environmental requirements of current legislation in the system of preliminary preparation of economic, design and other decisions. They are aimed at preventing and identifying the consequences of their implementation harmful to nature and society in the planes of ecology, social institutions, and the economy. Environmental impact assessment aims to determine the assessment of investment costs for environmental protection measures.

Preparation of an EIA must necessarily be built on the existing systems of official state standards in matters of nature protection (GOST from 17.1 to 17.8), adopted standards that determine the quality of the environment, including construction and sanitary.

Environmental Impact Assessment -this is a multilateral interdisciplinary work, which reflects knowledge from a number of branches of science. It is based on facts and information about the state of nature, about the effect of the designed object on it. When preparing an EIA, only experienced specialists are invited as executors who are fluent in the methods in the field of knowledge they represent. On their account, there should be significant developments and materials for the required region for the construction of a pre-planned facility.

The meaning of assessing the impact of objects on the environment is to prevent the possibility of environmental degradation under the influence of possible economic activity, ensure the environmental stability of the area where the object is located, and create appropriate normal living conditions for the population. It should precede the planned decision on financial investments in the implementation of the project. In short, environmental impact assessment is defined as an applied field of natural science combined with environmental and social practice.