Environmental Impact Assessments
Identifying and managing environmental impact
Environmental impact assessment involves evaluating potential impacts of a development on the environment, identifying management measures and reporting to regulators. This process is often required as part of larger mining or industrial development projects with ground disturbance.
Input from a wide range of specialist disciplines, including surface water, is often required as part of the assessment. For the surface water aspects, consideration may be required of:
- Changed stormwater flows on the site and downstream;
- Impacts on water quality for streamflow, groundwater and any receiving lakes or wetlands; and
- Interaction with local shallow groundwater conditions.
Often monitoring is required before and during the project operation, and this helps inform detailed technical studies.
Proposed impact mitigation measures may need to be developed and documented. This may require more detailed studies and implementation of monitoring and management plans.
What we do
We assist with the surface water aspects of environmental impact assessments. This typically includes:
- Describing of the existing environment;
- Identifying potential impacts of the development on the environment; and
- Quantification of impact mitigation measures, including engineered structures and management and monitoring systems.
We use a range of tools for this, including hydrology and hydraulic modelling and interpretation of monitoring results.