APPLICATION OF GIS IN IMPROVING

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

PREPARED BY: RASHMI AYACHIT

 INTRODUCTION:

Environment :
Its everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our
ability to live on the earth
Whats impacting to environment
Pollution
Deforestation
Acid Rain
Mining
Construction activities
What is Assessment
How it is deteriorating
Condition of our area, region, planet, or how healthy it is.
 WHAT IS EIA
It is the assessment of the environmental consequences(positive and negative) of
a plan
policy
program
actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action.
PURPOSE OF EIA
Any developmental project requires a consideration and assessment
of the effect of a proposed development on accounts of
environmental
social
cultural
aesthetic considerations

Most of the infrastructural developments are leading to deterioration

of environment in the adjoining area and surroundings
It is a precautionary measure for preventing the possible harms of a
development project for maintaining the balance between
environment and development
 SOME PROJECTS WHERE EIA IS NECESSARY
1. Nuclear Power such as Heavy Water Plants, nuclear fuel
complex.
2. River Valley projects

3. Ports, Airports
4. Petroleum Refineries.
5. Chemical Fertilizers

6. Petrochemical complexes Bulk drugs and pharmaceuticals.

7. Exploration for oil and gas
8. Synthetic Rubber.

9. Asbestos products.
10. Primary metallurgical industries
11. All tourism projects between 200m500 meters
 EIA PROCESS IN INDIA

EIA was formally recognized at Rio conference in 1992.

Rio declaration states that EIA as a national instrument shall
be undertaken for the proposed activities that are likely to
have significant adverse impact on the environment and are
subject to a decision of a competent national authority.
In India the developmental projects as recently as the 1980s
were implemented with very little or no environmental
concerns.
The MOEF has brought out several notifications restricting the
development of industries in specified ecologically sensitive
areas. In addition there are also draft rules framed for the
sitting of industries.
 TYPES OF EIA
The following are well recognized Types:
Social Impact Assessment
Risk Assessment
Life Cycle Analysis
4. Energy Analysis
5. Species Impact Assessment
6. Strategic Environmental Assessment
7. Climate Impact Assessment
8. Ecological Impact Assessment
9. Environmental Auditing
10. Environmental Management Systems
CHALLENGES IN PERFORMING EIA

Vast area under consideration

Duration of project
Multiple variables
Huge Data
Interlinked variables
Maintenance of Maps & Photos
Difficulties in regular field surveying
 OVERVIEW OF THE POTENTIAL OF
USING GIS FOR EIA

An assessment of a particular impact can be

divided into three main stages of spatial data
handling
Data preparation
Data modeling
Result presentation
 DATA PREPARATION
Documentation of baseline conditions such as
Biophysical inventories (for example, vegetation, habitat, land use, etc.)
hydrology,
soils,
archaeological and historical resources,
land ownership,
topography,
roads,

utilities, and others .

 Data modeling

GIS can be powerful spatial analysis machines for use in EIA.

There are two main ways of using GIS for environmental modeling or
analysis:
Carrying analysis within the GIS
Linking GIS to computer model

EIA considers many different variables and phenomena, which often

have complex interrelationships that vary in space and time, and GIS
can be important tools in modeling such variables
 HOW GIS CAN BE USED FOR EIA?

GIS can be used all stages in EIA.

GIS can help in
data gathering,
spatial modeling,
impact assessment, and calculation of impact magnitude.
 For the EIA stage of impact mitigation and control, GIS are being
applied to model and map distribution of pollutants.
The result can then be used to direct human power and equipment
to the most effective clean-up location.
GIS are also being utilized to show the geographical location and the
extent of mitigation activities over time. For public consultation and
participation, GIS are used for preparing presentation material, to
explain the project to the public, and also to allow a quick response
to necessary changes.
Finally, for monitoring and auditing, GIS are appropriate for preparing
designs of monitoring programs, for processing and storage of
monitoring data, for the comparison of actual outcomes with
predicted outcomes, and for data presentation showing the variation
of the location of pollutants with time.
Some images of EIA process in ArcGis
 ADVANTAGES AND BENEFITS IN USING GIS FOR EIA

The advantage considered by the EIA practitioners to be the most

important was the ability of GIS to perform spatial analysis and modeling-
such as spatial queries, spatial analysis of resources and pollution, constraint
analysis, overlay operations, etc.
Not only can GIS make some type of analysis easier to perform (e.g.,
overlay), but they can also allow some new analysis or modeling that would
not be possible or practical to perform otherwise (e.g., viewshed analysis).
The second most frequently quoted advantage was the usefulness of GIS to
provide clearer (or more attractive) presentation of results, which is linked
to the capability of GIS to display spatial data (from traditional digital
thematic mapping to more advanced and complex 3-D visualization).
 The power of GIS for storing, management and organization of
spatial data (even for very large data sets), as well as the ability
to integrate and manipulate different kinds of spatial
information previously unrelated, are the next most preferred
advantages suggested by the EIA professionals.
Another important advantage is the easy way in which GIS
allow updating and changing of information, and obtaining new
results for changing conditions- crucial for the generation of
alternative scenarios so essential for EIA studies.
Other advantages were also mentioned, although less
frequently, such as flexibility and speed, and the precision,
accuracy, and reliability of GIs.
THANK YOU