Environmental Monitoring
Keeping Tabs On the Centre
Environmental monitoring is a required part of developing a project. The environmental program is established to track the commitment of the centre to its environmental responsibilities. The environmental impact assessment is to ensure that the centre meets all the requisite demands of the environment while the environmental monitoring program is to track the progress.
That is, the project to be embarked on must not be dangerous to the environment. This is crucial and it is a necessity that all projects must go through before they are assented to. The community cannot withstand any more environmental pollution or degradation arising from projects that do not regard the environment.
Before a project can kickstart, there must have been some sort of assessment to determine the value of the project and the purpose it intends to serve. One of the key assessments for projects of this nature is environmental assessment.
Processing wood requires the use of machines and various kinds of technology to achieve excellent results. Wood also is a material that has a lot to do with the environment. As such, for this kind of project, environmental assessment is non-negotiable.
There must be adequate assessment of the environment to ensure that the project doesn’t have adverse effects on the environment. Without such an assessment, a project of this nature cannot start, because its impacts will still be uncertain.
There have been assessments for this project and the assessments conclude that the project is viable. Some of the things considered during an assessment are the value that the project aims to offer
Overall, it is essential to assess the possible implications of a project on the environment. This will help set the pace for the project in terms of safety and standards of service offering.
However, environmental assessment comes before the program starts. It doesn’t affect the subsequent activities of the project. This makes it essential to develop the environmental monitoring program, which is designed to track the impacts of a project on the environment.
Although there would have been an environmental assessment before the project, environmental impact is a key thing that needs to be examined. Over a period of time, there will be an assessment of how much environmental impact the facility has had on the community.
This is to ensure whether the project is truly in line with the results of the initial environmental assessments or it has become dangerous by polluting the environment. The results of the latter assessment will go a long way in deciding whether the facility will continue to run without hassles.
This way, the authorities can determine whether the centre has been true to the environmental obligations. The program also includes monitoring the operational standards of the centre. Whether there’ll be a violation of environmental standards depends on the way a company operates. As such, the monitoring program makes provisions for this by monitoring the way the companies operate.
To this end, the centre has certain operational standards it follows. To start with, the centre has a code of conduct that guides its activities. The code of conduct was created with environmental standards in mind.
This way, the code reflects all the necessary rules and applicable principles that should be followed in ensuring that the centre is not in violation of environmental standards at any point in time.
The worker and every company are expected to abide by the code of conduct and carry out their wood processing activities in line with the code. This saves the centre from violating the standards.
The primary essence of the monitoring is to gather relevant data on the operational standards of the monitoring. This will afford the authorities the opportunity to make data-driven decisions. As such, there have been various positions established to do this.
There is a designated officer that will examine the standards of the centre and the companies and collect all the needed data. The date will then be processed and analysed to determine the compliance level of the centre.
Water Sampling
One of the major monitoring means is water sampling. Water sampling is an effective way of determining whether the centre violates environmental standards or not. It has been an effective way to monitor environmental monitoring, as it’s a fundamental monitoring mechanism.
Over time, there have been various water sampling sites established mainly to collect water samples. The water that comes in contact with the centre and which serves the community is the relevant one from which a sample will be collected.
There is an officer designated for this purpose. The officer also collects the data on the centre alongside the water samples. After the collection, the samples will be sent to an independent laboratory to assess them.
An independent laboratory is a third party company that has no affiliation with the centre. Such a company can give expert results that aren’t influenced by the centre. The laboratory will run tests on the water samples to determine whether the water contains adverse elements that put the water at risk.
This is because such elements prove risky to the health of the community members, which will be against the standards the centre agreed to and the consultation agreement the centre had with the community members and stakeholders.
The sampling may take some days depending on the task before the laboratory. Once the results are ready, the laboratory will notify the established water sampling site of the status of the results.
The water sampling site has a water webpage for keeping the public updated on the proceedings of the water sampling and the environmental compliance of the centre. Once the result is ready, it will be published on the web page to ensure accountability.
Accountability is a crucial part of this process because the community members and stakeholders have to understand what’s going on with their environment and whether the centre is conforming to the necessary standards. Anyone can access the result on the webpage.
All you need to do is visit the site and locate the tab for the results. By being updated, any member of the community can raise alarm as to when there’s a discord in the results. That is, when the results no longer conform to the applicable standards, members of the community can raise queries.
Water sampling has been done in certain communities and the results are already being analysed. The communities include Kings Creek and Benethic Communities. For each community that has been analysed, there is a report detailing all the activities so far.
The report is carefully designed to reflect the communities and the processes that have been involved in analysing and sampling the communities. The report is also easily accessible on the webpage.
It provides you with all the insights you need to stay updated with the sampling process and the period in which it will occur. This way, you can be a part of the community by knowing the proceedings of all activities impacting the environment.
Air Monitoring
Weather stations have been established for collecting data on climate and air condition. This goes a long way in determining the safety of the air and the status of air pollution. One of the key standards that the centre has to conform to is the safety of the air.
It is essential that the centre must guard against air pollution and ensure that its emissions do not make the air risky for the communities. This is because air pollution is generally one of the major problems that come with wood processing companies. As such, the authorities have installed air stations that will analyse and publish results on the state of the air from time to time.
The weather stations are located in different places to keep a regular and strategic check on the centre. The stations have sampling instruments through which they can automatically collect air data and keep the data till the officer will collect them for processing.
Following the processing, the results will be made available on the page. Once available, anyone can check the results to stay updated about the environmental condition of the community.
Benefits Of The Environmental Monitoring
The environmental program has spurred the centre to ensure it stays true to its commitment. The centre doesn’t want to be in the bad books of the community or the regulatory authorities. Due to the constant check, the standard is kept excellent. So, essentially, the regulations work both for the centre and the community.
For the centre, it ensures that the companies remain the best since their efficiency is at a high level. This makes them serve more people and also ensures that they make the most of more resources. This way, the centre stays atop and continues to make more while being relevant to the community.
For the community, the constant regulation ensures that the community is free from pollution. Water and air pollution have been problems in the community and there is a need to address these.
As such, with the checks and sampling, the committee is assured of the best standards. Also, the monitoring makes for accountability and transparency since the results will be published and members of the community can access the webpage to check.