SUBMITTED BY,

S. INDRAKUMAR SINGH
M.SC ENV.SCIENCE

PANJAB UNIVERSITY,
CHANDIGARH
 Methodology means the structural approaches for
doing one or more activities of EIA.
 There are some specific characteristic which an EIA
methodology should depict.
 These are:-(1)It should be appropriate to the
necessary task of EIA process such as impact
identification/comparison of alternatives.
 (2)It should be significantly free from assessors
bias
 (3)It should be economical in terms of costs, and its
requirement of data ,investigating time ,
personnel, equipment and facilities.
 This stage of EIA identifies and
predicts the likely Environmental and
social impact of the proposed project and
evaluates the significance
1. IMPACT IDENTIFICATION

2. IMPACT PREDICTION

3. IMPACT EVALUATION
 Proposal
identificat ion

EIA required Screening No EIA

Initial
Scoping environmental
examination

Impact analysis

Mitigation
and impact
management
*P ublic involvement
Resubmit EIA report
*P ublic involvement typically
occurs at t hese point s.
It may also occur at any
Redesign Review ot her st age of t he EIA Process

Not approved Decision-making

Approved
Information from t his process
cont ributes to effective EIA in t he fut ure
Implementation
and post -EIA
monit oring
 Impact Identification attempts to answer the
question, “what will happen when a project
enters its operational stage?”
 A List of important impacts such as changes in
ambient air quality, changes in water and soil
qualities, noise levels, wildlife habitats, species
diversity, social and cultural systems,
employment levels etc may be prepared.
 The important sources of impact like smoke
emission, consumption of water, discharge of
effluents etc are identified.
 Ad hoc method
 Checklists
 Matrices
 Overlays
 Networks
 Simple method based on subjective environment
impacts on broad aspects.

 Ad hoc method is useful when time constraints and

lack of information require that the EIA must rely
exclusively on expert opinion.

 It provides minimal guidance for total impact

assessment while suggesting the broad areas of
possible impacts and the general nature of these
possible impacts.

 When more scientific methods are available, it is not

recommended.
 Opinion polls.

 Experts opinion.

 Delphi methods etc.

ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE

 Specialists on a  It require expert.

particular area will  Short/long term
provide guidance. impact are merely
examined on guess
basis.
 Identification ,
prediction and
interpretation of
impacts are quite
poor
 Checklist means a listing of potential
Environmental Impacts.

 This method is done to assess the nature of the

impacts i.e. its type such as adverse /beneficial
, short term or long term , no effect or
significant impact , reversible or irreversible etc
 Simple Lists.

 Descriptive Checklists.

 Scaling Checklists.

 Questionnaire Checklists.
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 Simple to  Do not distinguish
understand and between direct and
use. indirect impacts.
 Good for site  Do not link action
selection and and impact.
priority setting.
 Sometime it is a
cumbersome task.
 Matrix and its variants provide us a
framework of interaction of different actions
/activities of a project with potential EI caused
by them.
 A simple interaction matrix is formed where
project actions are listed along one axis i.e.
vertically and EI are listed along the other side
i.e. horizontally.
 It was pioneer by Leopold et al(1971).
 It lists about 100 project actions and about 88
environmental characteristic and condition.
 Valued Env.
Component
(VEC)

Development
Projects

Ports and Harbours

Airports

Rapid Transit

Highways

Oil/Gas Pipelines

Significant Impact Moderate - Significant Impact Insignificant Impact

 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 Link action to  Difficult to
impact distinguish direct
and indirect
 Good method for impacts
displaying EIA
results  Significant
potential for
double-counting
of impacts
 Qualitative
 It uses the matrix approach by extending it
take into account primary as well the
secondary impacts.
 Shown in the form of tree called as
Relevance/Impact tree/Sequence diagram.
 Identification of direct ,indirect /short and long
term environment impact is a crucial and intact
basic step of making Impact tree.
 Used to identify cause-effect linkages
 Visual description of linkages
 Salmonoid
populations

Fishing Spawning

Temperature Flow Water Quality

(Suspended Matter)

Access Dredging Clearing

 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 Link action to  Can become
impact overly complex if
 Useful in used beyond
simplified form in simplified version
checking for  Qualitative
second order
impacts
 Handles direct
and indirect
impacts
 Rely on a set of maps of a project area’s
environmental characteristics covering physical ,
social, ecological, aesthetic aspects.
 Separate mapping of critical environmental features
at the same scale as project's site plan
e.g. wetlands, steep slopes, soils, floodplains, bedrock
outcrops, wildlife habitats, vegetative communities, and
cultural resources...
 Older Technique: environmental features are
mapped on transparent plastic in different colors.
 Newer Technique: Geographic Information Systems
(GIS).
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGE
 Easy to  Address only
understand and direct impacts
use  Do not address
 Good display impact duration
method or probability
 Good for site
selection setting
A. Biological and Physio -chemical impacts.

B. Social impacts.

C. Health impacts.

D. Economic impacts.
 It relate to effects on biological resources such
as vegetation ,wildlife , crops and aquatic life.

 Interaction with Physical elements like air

,water , soil, rocks and solar radiation.

 Chemical impacts like chemical change in air ,

water , soil quality etc.
Demographic – Displacement and
relocation effects and changes in
population characteristics.
Cultural – Traditional patterns , family
structure ,religious, archaeological
features , social networks.
Gender – implication of projects on
roles of women in society ,
employment opportunity and equity
Institutional– Housing , schools,
Criminal justice , Health, welfare
Examples of health impacts by sector
Communicable Non Nutrition Injury Psychosocial
disease communicable disorder and
disease loss of well-
being
Mining Tuberculosis Dust induced Crushing Labour migration
lung disease

Agriculture Parasitic Pesticide Loss of

infections poisoning subsistence
Industry Poisoning by Occupational Disempowerment
pollutants injury
Forestry Loss of food Occupational
production injury
Dams and Water borne Poisoning by Increased food Drowning Involuntary
irrigation diseases pollutants production displacement
schemes
Transportation HIV/Aids Heart disease Traffic injury Noise and
induced stress

Energy Indoor air Electromagnetic Community

pollution radiation displacement
 Duration of construction and operation
 Workforce requirements for each period
 Skill requirements (local availability)
 Earning
 Raw material and other input purchases
 Capital investment
 Outputs
 The characteristics of the local economy
 The accumulated knowledge of the findings of
the environmental investigations form the basis
for the prediction of impacts.
 Once a potential impact has been determined
during scoping process ,it is necessary to
identify which project activity will cause
impact , and its magnitude and extent.
 Best estimate professional judgement .
Quantitative mathematical models .
Experiments and physical models .
Case studies as analogues or
references .
1. Baseline condition
2. Un certainty
3. Spatial limits
4. Temporary boundaries
5. Incremental condition
6. Quantitative and Qualitative methods
 Its purpose is to assign relative significance to
predicted impacts associated with the projects
and to determine the order in which impacts
are to be avoided , mitigated or compensated
 Importance of affected resource
 Magnitude and extent of disturbance
 Duration and frequency
 Risk/likelihood of occurrence
 Reversibility
 Contribution to cumulative impacts
  Be considered effective if
 Information generated in the EIA contributed to
decision making.
 Predictions were accurate
 Proposed mitigatory and compensatory measure
achieved approved management objectives
 Efficiency criteria are satisfied if
 EIA decisions are timely relative to economic and
other factors determine project decisions
 Costs of conducting EIA can be determined and are
reasonable.
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 The area in which the effects of the proposed
action will occur
 The impacts that are expected in that area
from the proposed action
 Other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable actions that have or are expected
to have impacts in the area
 The impacts or expected impacts from those
other actions
 The overall impact that can be expected if the
individual impacts are allowed to accumulate
 Evaluate Review Applicable
Environmental Standards
Impacts

Design Environmental
Protection Measures
 Develop Alternative
Environmental Protection
Measures

Evaluate Assess Environmental

Implementation Effectiveness
Costs

Select Final Environmental

Protection Measures
 The above simple techniques of EIA such as
impact identification ,prediction ,evaluation are
used for measuring environment variables and
construction of a number of indices to describe
the changes in environmental inventory.
 http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/orientati
on/M8_4.htm
 http://www.scopenvironment.org/download
pubs/scope5/chapter04.html
 Class notes
 Wikipedia
 EIA Books
YOU