IMPACTS OF LARGE ENGINEERING PROJECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Environment..
Environment refers to the surroundings and their characteristics which affect human and other life forms that exist within these surroundings. All things, living or non-living, exist surrounded by other things, and therefore all have an environment. People, flora and fauna thrive or wither according to available physical means of survival, i.e. the resources which make up the environment.

A key characteristic of the environment is its compromise between evolution and balance.
Our actions have consequences not only for our immediate environment, but for us as well; anything we do to degrade our environment will generally affect our well-being later on.

Construction In A Fragile World

 Construction is fitting parts or materials together to make something such as a structure to provide shelter, a bridge or foundation to carry loads, an embankment to support a raised way or a dam wall to impound water. Civil engineering construction implies the process of design ad building. Environmental impacts arise from the physical existence and operation of the completed structure as well as from the processes in making it .

Environmental Impacts
The main environmental impacts can described as follows: Socio-economic impact like Loss of lands and private properties, Loss of community infrastructure, Impacts on archaeological and cultural monuments, Impacts on mineral reserves etc. Impacts on climate, air and noise environment, water, geomorphologic, flora and fauna, human environment.

Loss Of Lands And Private Properties

Permanent change in land use shall be due to construction/creation of various permanent features on the ground. Agricultural lands, houses and other private properties are lost.

Loss Of Community Infrastructure

Community infrastructure comprises of schools, hospitals, establishments, communication, post offices, community resources, etc. These community structures may come under the project location..

Impacts On Archaeological And Cultural Monuments

Important archaeological and cultural monuments have to destroyed if they come under project location.

Andaw Thein

Impacts On Mineral Reserves

Mineral resources may get depleted as they are extensively used for the purpose of construction.

Climate
The replacement of forest, agricultural lands and grasslands may result in some changes to the air temperature and relative humidity. Haze and fog pattern may change significantly in the area due the presence of pollutants. Emission of green house gases contribute to global warming.
e.g. reservoirs

Air and Noise Environment

Impact on air environment can be divided into three classes:
Local: smoke and gas from combustion and chemical processes. Regional: Running of diesel generators, heavy machineries, dumpers etc. increases the NOx and SO2 levels. Global: emission of green house gases like CO2, CH4, N2O etc.

Noise pollution made by the workers as well the vehicles and machineries running during construction.

Water
Impacts arise from inappropriate disposal of muck, effluents from crushers and other sources and sewage from labour camps and colonies. Increase in turbidity of nearby receiving water bodies. Disruption of hydraulic regime. Sedimentation and siltation risks.

Geomorphology
River course may change due to siltation effect. Siltation and sedimentation of rivers will cause a reduction in channel capacity leading to greater frequency of floods. Loss of top soil and soil fertility. Soil erosion may occur due to deforestation and improper geological investigation before construction.

Flora And Fauna

The threats of loss and disappearance of species and population generally arise from deforestation, habitat destruction, and fragmentation, direct removal and/or killing. The construction activities like drilling, blasting, movement of vehicles and men will disturb the animal behaviour like breeding and feeding. The project area may function as a corridor for movement of wildlife.

Human Environment
Increase of population on the project area due to influx of people from outside. The migrant workers would lead to demographic changes, cultural invasion and cultural conflicts. Homestead of many families get displaced. People may get affected due to pollution.