EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment

Legislation... financial institutions... capital investors... all demand an environmental impact assessment to be made before any project is undertaken.

Hydroconsult's experience in this field dates back to 1962, the year the company was established. At this time the purpose of the work was to assess river regulation effects on land use practices and potentials, as a basis for water court decisions. Later, the concept of EIA appeared, expanding teh scope of investigations to present levels.

We Offer...

	Complete environmental impact assessments
	Studies in our core disciplines as part of an EIA
	Special expertise in water, sediments, and river regulation
	Small as well as large projects are considered

Proposed intake for Qattara hydrosolar power project

El Alamein, Egypt

State-of-the-Art Tools and Methods

	GIS technique for data handling		Advisory panels for larger projects
	Drainage area studies		Coastal zone studies
	Under water studies		Reservoir studies
	Sediment spill studies		Geomorphologic maping

Geographic Information System

There is a large amount of data of various kinds that needs to be handled in an EIA. Much of it is georeferenced, and thus best handled in a GIS. We have several GIS systems, and a long experience of using the tool in environmental projects. Although a very high degree of automatisation is possible today, it is not always economical. Together with the client, and based on the conditions in each sinlgle case, we can select the best approach. We can of course also offer training as part of a project.

Advisory panel

In projects where the environmental impact is complex, it is often desirable to create an "expert panel", with representatives from a wide range of scientific fields. The panel will be the quality guarantee, that no aspect is overlooked. We have the necessary contacts to recruit a scientific panel of well-renowned researchers from Swedish and foreign universities.

Example 1: Teusadalen Hydropower Project, Sweden

This was a project in which the effects of a hydropower station, and the regulation of the river, were analysed. There have been quite a few of this kind.

The people and businesses potentially affected by the project are those owning land next to the river, upstream and downstream from the dam, and those using the river's water in one way or another. In this study, all values worth protection have to be considered, and the way in which these values may be threatened by the project.

The report from Hydroconsult is an independent expert evaluation, not an evaluation trying to support the client's case in the water court. The client himself has to argue, based on the expert report. This division of roles greatly fascilitates the proceedings, saving time and money for the applicant.

Example 2: Qattara Hydrosolar Power Project, Egypt

The "Qattara Hydrosolar Power Project Environmental Assessment", edited by Åke Sundborg and Bengt Nilsson, is the final report after a large joint study between Swedish experts and Egyptian authorities.

The project itself involves excavating a channel and tunnel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Qattara depression in the Sahara desert, letting the sea water into the desert, and a hydropower plant of 1800 MW. Since the evaporation is large in Sahara, a steady stage is reached with a new lake at about -50 m a s l with an area of about 13 500 km² and a water discharge of 700 m³/s. So apart from the obvious creation of a brine lake, what would the environmental effects be?

The study included sand transport along the coast where the intake would be built; groundwater effects in the Nile valley and in the archelogically interesting Siwa Oasis; seismic effects; aeolian sand drift effects; and of course biological and ecological effects.

Regardless of the EIA results, the project is not economically feasible with the present low energy prices. The EIA, which was conducted in the auspices of Uppsala University, did, however, lead to some interesting scientific results, that has warranted further investigations and research.