about application of GIS IN EIA, Teesta V project, etc

1. Presentation
On
IHA, SAP, Methods and Models of EIA
Prepared By:-
ANIRUDDHA SINGHA (184104602)
Water Resource and Management Engineering
Indian Institute ofTechnology Guwahati

2. INTERNATIONAL HYDROPOWER
ASSOCIATION (IHA)
• The IHA is a non-profit membership organization committed to
advancing sustainable hydropower;
• Formed under the guidance of UNESCO in 1995 as a forum to
promote and disseminate good practice about hydropower;
• The membership of IHA today includes more than 100
organizations as well as individual members;
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3. SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT
PROTOCOL (SAP)
• In order to provide guidance and assessment tools for hydropower
sector, IHA released Hydropower Sustainability Guidelines and
Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol in 2004 and 2006
respectively.
• It is a tool for assessing projects across a range of social,
environmental, technical and economic criteria;
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4. PROTOCOL STRUCTURE
• The Protocol comprises five documents –the Background document and
four assessment tools for the different stages of the project life cycle.
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5. APPLICATION OF SAP
• SAP has been developed for a broad range of potential applications all in the interests of
lifting sustainability performance for hydropower developments and operations.
• Now the SAP has been applied in India.The 510 MW TeestaV hydroelectric project was
constructed in the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim in India between the year 2000 and
2008;
• The report gave theTeestaV project mostly 4 and 5 scores in the Operation Stage
guideline categories
Fig:- Construction of TeestaV
Dam, Sikkim, India, 2008
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6. WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT (EIA)?
• Tool to identify environmental, social and economic impacts
of a project prior to decision making – UNEP;
• In India, started in 1978-79 by river valley project.
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7. PREDICTION OF IMPACTS -
MODELS
• Physical models – representation of the reality in a reduced scale, simulating
processes. (E.g..Wind tunnels on coastal area physical models that simulate waves);
• Visual models – elaboration of images that represent the environment before and
after the development of a project and its alternatives. It can also address the timing
dimension (e.g., seasonal changes, vegetation growth);
• Mathematical models- Maths or statistic simulations applied to the deterministic
or probabilistic calculation, based on quantitative values;
• Cartographic models- representation of reality that will be affected by the project
through maps or charts. Cartographic overlaps enable impact predictions.
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8. METHODS OF EIA
• Ad hoc method
• Checklists Method
• Matrix Method
• Network Method
• Overlays Methods
• GIS Method
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9. AD HOC METHOD
• 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.
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10. CHECKLIST METHOD
• 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.
• It doesn’t distinguish between direct and indirect impacts.
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11. MATRIX METHOD
• 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
are listed along one axis i.e. vertically and EI are listed along the
other side i.e. horizontally.
• It is difficult to distinguish between direct and indirect impacts.
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12. IMPACT IDENTIFICATION MATRIX (EXAMPLE)
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13. NETWORK METHOD
• Network Method identifies the pathway of an impact using a series of networks
between a proposed action and the receptor of an impact;
• It attempts to recognize a series of impacts that may be triggered by a project
action.
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14. OVERLAYS METHOD
• 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;
• NewerTechnique: Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
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15. GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
SYSTEM (GIS)
• Geographical Information System (GIS) are computer systems that can store,
integrate, analyze and display spatial data;
• The results of EIA correspond to compressed information to synthesize in a
small number of descriptors the complex and diversified universe that has been
analyzed. In a GIS, the improvements in the communicability of the results are
associated with the use of images, which represent information in a compact way,
of easier comprehension.
• GIS uses layers called “themes”, to overlay different types of information and
each theme represents a category of information such as roads, vegetation,
settlements, forest cover, etc. 14

16. FIG:- OVERLAPPING OF SEVERAL LAYERS OF GIS 15

17. CONCLUSION
• The Hydropower Sustainability Guide and Hydropower Sustainability Assessment
Protocol proposed by IHA represent the latest knowledge and understanding of
the international hydropower sector in sustainable hydropower development;
• The 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 changes in environmental inventory.
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18. REFERENCES
1. https://www.hydropower.org/our-vision ;
2. http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/environment/role-of-remote-sensing-and-gis-in-
environmental-impact-assessment-eia/27476 ;
3. The HSAP:Weakening Global Dam Standards;
https://www.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/hsapfactsheetfinal.pdf
4. Sahzabi H.Y. (2004),“Application of GIS in the Environmental Impact Assessment of
Sabalan Geothermal Field”, Iran Energy Efficiency Organization (SABA),Tehran, Iran;
5. Wang Q. andYangT. (2011),“Sustainable hydropower development : International
perspective and challenges for China”, IEEE, Hangzhou, China.
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