Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Important Aspects In The Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAS)

By Della Monroe


A new factory or industrial installation is usually a project that evokes great interest, and one which people spend enormous sums on. They also dedicate large amounts of time and attention to the project. The planning and forecasting which go into the project are copious, and part of these are the Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAS). This is an environmental assessment which is performed in order to detect the natural profile of the project area and what threats it contains, as well as its general suitability.

The consistent attitude of the developer should be that the environment matters and that pollution is not acceptable. The old-fashioned view that the environment should be taken for granted is not popular these days, and neither is a lax approach to pollution. The public and government are not going to appreciate that approach and where there is enough opposition, government can sometimes restrict or even curtail the entire project. An environmental assessment is part of a more responsible attitude.

As a general approach, then, developers should always try to maintain the attitude that the environment is to be respected. If they try to tell the public that environmental issues are not important, or that the pollution generated by their development is not significant, they may elicit opposition and criticism. Sometimes, this criticism is not unfounded and the authorities impede or prohibit the development entirely.

An ESAS examines a variety of environmental aspects in order to determine if the natural environment in the area demarcated for development is safe, and if not, what risks it presents to the developers. These aspects are all part of the natural environment and they relate to health, hygiene and the capacity of the site to support what the developers plan to do there.

One of the most important is the water in the area. Water is a good indicator of other conditions because it may contain any toxins that are present. Toxins in the soil and plants are probably also going to be present in the water.

The soil is another aspect that should be examined. This sounds strange, but soil is not as innocuous as it looks. It absorbs any chemical that it comes into contact with, especially from sources such as animal carcases or decomposing vegetation. Poisons sink into the soil and remain, where they can potentially poison anything else. Poisoned soil is not suitable for crops or animal husbandry.

The water in the site area is an important indicator of the chemicals present there. Water stores many different chemicals, and poisons are no exception to this. Where the water is poisoned, plants and animals are also poisoned by using it.

Then there is the soil. The soil may seem uninvolved in trouble such as toxins or diseases, but it is equally pollutable. Soil is polluted by toxins in water (such as rain) and the dead bodies of animals and decaying plants. Once soil is poisoned, it has the potential to poison anything else. Farming is not possible in such areas.

All of these aspects need to be assessed in order to determine whether the environment is suitable for the proposed development. Developers should not try to pre-empt or bypass this assessment.




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