RAPID

ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
ASSESMENT
BY

M.ANGELIN MARY (10EN01)

MTech Environmental Engg.

EIA
Environmental impact assessment of
a project attempts to bring about
compatibility between ecology and
economics.

REIA
The method was developed by Cristopher
Pastakia at the end of the 1990s,
REIA discuss about the..,
physical and chemical issues
biological and ecological issues
sociological and cultural issues
economic and operational issues
According to the negative or positive
impacts solutions are presented in
graphical formats

Contd..,
REIA is the ideal mechanism that
guarantees a fast and clear
evaluation of main impacts.
All the components and
parameters can easily be
integrated into one platform

Methods of evaluating the

REIA
Matrix Method
Computer Aided Assesment

Matrix Method
Criteria relative to the degree of the
relevance of the condition, and that
individually can alter the resulting
classification (A)
Criteria relative to the development of the
condition but individually is not capable of
altering the obtained classification (B)

Data to be collected
Construction phase
Exploration Phase

Process
Identify the components that are
going to cause impacts
Physical and chemical (PC)
Biological and Ecological (BE)
Sociological and Cultural (SC)
Economic and Operational (EO)

(A1) interest of the man that will be

affected.
0 - irrelevant
1 - relevant just to the local condition
2 - relevant to the areas immediately
out of the local condition
3 - relevant to the Regional / National
interest
4 - relevant to the National /
International interest

(A2) is defined as a measure of the

scale of benefit / damage of an impact
or condition
3 - extremely positive benefit
2 - moderately positive benefit
1 - lightly positive benefit
0 - no alteration / actual state
-1 - lightly negative damage
-2 - moderately negative damage
-3 - extremely negative damage

(B1) defines if a condition is temporary

or permanent
1 no alteration / actual state
2 - temporary
3 - permanent

(B2) defines if a condition can be

changed

1 - no alteration / actual state

2 - reversible
3 - irreversible

Cumulative criterion (B3)

1 - no alteration / not applicable
2 - non cumulative / of direct effect /
singular
3 - cumulative / of indirect effect /

A sample data for the exploration phase of the

project:
Component

A1

A2

B1

B2

B3

PC1: Geophysics

-1

PC2: Soil

-2

PC3: Water
quality and
water resources

-1

PC4: Climate

PC5: Air quality

PC6:
Environmental
noise

-1

 The process can be expressed:

(A1) x (A2) = AT
(B1) + (B2) + (B3) = BT
(AT) x (BT) = ES
Eg: -2 X 6 =-12

Table 1 Environmental
classifications according to RIAM
Environmental Value of the Value of the
class
class
classification
(ES)
(numerical)

Description
of the class

72-108

Extremely
positive
impact

36-71

Significantly
positive
impact

19-35

Moderately
positive
impact

10-18

Less positive
impact

1-9

Reduced
positive
impact

Table 1 Environmental
classifications according to RIAM
Environmenta Value of the
l
class
classification
(ES)
0

Value of the
class
(numerical)

Description
of the class

No alteration

-A

-1

Reduced
negative impact

-10 to -18

-B

-2

Less negative
impact

-19 to -35

-C

-3

Moderately
negative impact

-36 to -71

-D

-4

Significantly
negative impact

-E

-5

Extremely
negative impact

-1 to -9

-72 to -108

Discrimination of the results

for the Phase of Construction

Discrimination of the results

for the Phase of Exploration

Phase of Construction

Phase of Construction

Phase of Exploration

Phase of Exploration

Evaluation
There are five types of impacts:
reduced negative impact for the
environment
less negative impact for the hydraulic
resources geophysical and water quality
parameters
moderately negative impacts for ground;
neutral impact for air quality
reduced positive impact for climate.

Computer Aided Assesment

Quantitative and rapid methodology
for environmental impact assessment
Methodology identification,
prediction, and evaluation

Identification information used

as input
AIR - Existing air quality, meteorology,
topography, emission rates of different
pollutants, some physical parameters of
the project components, etc.
WATER - Existing water quality, aquatic
ecosystem of receiving body, water
temperature, water flow and chemical
composition of effluent,physical
parameters of the receiving body, etc.

Contd..,
LAND - Present state of the soil, porosity of
the soil, other physical and chemical
properties of the soil, etc.
BIOLOGICAL - Existing state of the
biological environment (flora and fauna) of
the area, population and its distribution, etc.
SOCIO ECONOMIC - Demography, ethnic
composition of the area, age distribution of
the people, etc.
NOISE -Type of noise sources (vis-a-vis
point, line, etc.) and their relative intensity,
etc.

Prediction
Prediction is essentially the quantification step.
The impacts of project activities are predicted
through mathematical models and other
predictors of environmental quality.
It should be noted that a model should be
calibrated, verified, and validated before use.
Unfortunately, in developing countries,
nonavailability of sufficient data hampers the
efforts to calibrate, verify, and validate the
models.

Evaluation
In the evaluation step, impacts are converted into
environmental quality predictors with value
function graphs.
Value function graphs have been prepared for
different environmental components based on the
aesthetic, environmental, and health risks of
different pollutants and their standards.

Contd..,
The mathematical forms of value function curves
have been formulated in the computer program.
Sub indices are converted into a single index by
taking their weighted sum.
The weights given to different environmental
risks and costs for various environmental
components depend on the type of project under
assessment.

Process done

Overall INDEX I
Overall index I = Xijk Fijk

i = number of environmental components (max. i =

6)
j = number of environmental risks (max. j = 4)
k = number of pollutants or predictors for ith
component and jth risks (max. k = 6)
X = quality subindex of a particular element, i, j,
and k
F = maximum score or weight given to a particular
element, i, j, and k

Conclusion
Thus REIA is an effective method
and time consuming process to
identify the impacts