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Environment assessment and site selection

In broad terms, Environmental Impact Assessment Process for CHWMF undergoes four stages :
(i) Project Definition; Project definition includes basic designing of the project and identification of project
alternatives, screening and scoping of the project.
(ii) Preliminary Impact Assessment : Based on the project activities and project type, candidate sites
would be identified and subject to preliminary assessment keeping in view the present usage of site
and it’s surroundings and prominent features in order to single out potential sites for development of
CHWMF.
(iii) Environment Impact Assessment : All Potential sites would be subjected to detailed environmental
assessment which would consist of baseline data collection, prediction of environmental impacts
and their evaluation, identification of mitigation measures and finally preparation of Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP).
(iv) Decision Making & Implementation : Based on the findings of EIA, final site would be recommended
with appropriate Environment Management Plan comprising of different technical measures to mitigate
the adverse environmental impacts. This site would be notified by the state government and
construction of CHWMF would be taken up.
All the stages are connected to each other in a cyclic form and the whole process is of iterative nature as
indicated in above figure. The two main components, which interlink with the main stages are: (i) consideration
of the need to mitigate the impacts by changes to the proposal and (ii) consultation, both informal and formal,
with interested parties. These two components provide a common thread throughout the process, allowing at
any time for the assessor to revise previous judgements, measurements and decisions.
4.0 Project Definition
The first step in Project Definition is defining the objective or purpose of the project. Once the purpose of the
project is understood, the various alternatives to achieve the objective have to be listed out. These alternatives
are then compared with respect to their techno-economic feasibility. This helps in screening of the best fitting
alternative. Once the alternative is decided, scoping of the project is to be finalised. Scoping helps in minimising
the potential for disputes over the adequacy of the Environmental assessment statements later in the