Environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring is the systematic observation and measurement of variable in time and space. Before the actual impact of a project on the environment can be determined, there is need to monitor selected variables.

To ascertain the health impact of a project like power station, the concentration of air pollutant in area of habitation and incidence of mobility needs careful attention to design monitoring programme which is likely to be long lasting and it require considerable technical manpower and cash. Some programme could be cheap to implement, for instance noise levels at a nearby village during project construction.

Environmental impact monitoring

Environmental Impact Monitoring is said to be designed for monitoring the Environmental Management Plan, and project operations process. It’s also designed for assessing the extent to which commitments contained in EIA reports are achieved during the various project development and operations phases. Impact Mitigation Monitoring exercises are carried out to assess the degree and effectiveness of the mitigation measures proffered in an EIA report.

In a typical Impact Mitigation Monitoring (IMM) exercise, the following statutory actions are carried out:

1. Facility inspection
2. Interactive session with project managers on the Mitigation Checklist for the EIA of that project.
3. Interview and interaction with the action party responsible for ensuring full implementation of a particular action.
4. Inspection and Verification of the parameters that shall be monitored to ensure effective implementation of that action.
5. Check the timing for the implementation of the action to ensure that the objectives of mitigation are fully met.
6. Interact with project Engineers and Technicians on mitigation measures that are not applicable, or not enforceable or still not practicable in line with good environmental principles with a view to finding out practical alternatives.