Identify the risks and be prepared

After reading reports in your newspaper about the Air Force base bombing, coal power plants, Hambantota airport and floods, we thought of sharing some of our experiences with concerned readers in Sri Lanka. Every human activity of recognizable scale takes risks, exposes to hazards and brings about impacts on the environment. Therefore, an identification of hazards and assessment of risks and impacts are necessary to place mitigating measures in safety plans and safety procedures, thereby ensuring intra and inter-generational equity in sharing national resources. Safety is a broad concept ranging from individual safety at work to safety of installations and the environment.

HIDRA (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment) is a standard procedure to identify the likelihood, scale and frequency of hazards and the consequences, and hence to plan mitigating measures. The concept of HIDRA has wide applications in military operations, safety of military installations, safety at work and even in business.

Sustainable Development takes into account the economic, social and environmental benefits (Triple Bottom Line). Diverse forms of Environmental Acts in different countries address this issue. In Australia the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 requires a Development Application (DA) if the development is major or a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) if it is minor.

DA can take the form of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or a Statement of Environmental Effects (SEE). These reports are provided by the developer and assessed by the appropriate regulatory authority. All of them have three parts, the first being the current state, the second the impacts from development works and third the mitigating measures. The impacts recognized in these documents are on water quality, land, soil, air, noise, heritage, flora and fauna, transport, legislation, visual amenity, residents, etc.

Large scale projects such as the Hambantota airport development should take into account the RAMSAR site (Ref: A Directory of Asian Wetlands - Sri Lanka by S. Kotagama, L. Pinto and J. Samarakoon, Edt. D.A. Scott) at Bundala sanctuary. Similarly, the EIS of the coal power plant in the Kalpitiya peninsula should take into account the heritage item, St. Anne's Church and place mitigating measures to reduce impacts. Australian coal power plants reduce emissions significantly to recycle coal dust as asphalt, and water vapour from cooling towers is recycled. The REFs recognize potential impacts from minor developments and maintenance works and suggest methods to avoid them, such as timing the work, covering valuable objects and providing pedestrian footpaths etc. Sri Lanka needs to provide REFs for all minor projects to avoid mishaps. The idea is to think about potential hazards ahead, and take necessary precautions.

Local floods are often caused by unplanned development. Although Councils in Sri Lanka insist on access roads in subdivision development, they allow the builders to look after drainage facilities individually. In the Australian context, local Councils require the developer to provide all drainage infrastructures. In order to do this, the developer needs to carry out a drainage study to determine the impact of development on the capacity of the existing drainage system. The pre-development and post-development discharges to the existing system must be similar. If not storm water retarding systems, such as detention basins, wetlands, grass swales etc., are included in the development. Alternatively the existing drainage system can be upgraded. This concept also can be considered by the Sri Lankan local Councils.

Finally, it is important that engineers, town planners, environmental scientists and the local community work together to come to a compromise in the common endeavour of national development. Confidence, trust and transparency are essential. It is best for politicians to stick to party policies and general guidelines, while engineers, planners, scientists and financiers work on the final outcome, exploring their fields of expertise.

By Dr. Leonard Pinto (Ecologist), Benedicta Pinto (Hydraulics Engineer) Australia