Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
trust and cooperation can produce benefits throughout the analysis as well
as supporting funding for the proposed action, and also community support
during implementation. If the stakeholders and, even project opponents feel
they are part of the process, they are more likely to work toward a solution
rather than try to derail it. Scoping can also be useful to control expectations
and counteract incorrect perceptions by stakeholders early in the process
before they take on a life of their own. Finally, the scoping process can be
useful in building the alternative comparison and selection of the proposed
action as demonstrated in the example that follows.
A water supply project in south central Connecticut by the Regional Water
Authority (RWA) illustrates some of the benefits of a thorough environmental
impact analysis scoping process. The RWA and its predecessors have provided
potable water to the City of New Haven and the surrounding communities
since the 1800s. A key feature in their system is Lake Whitney, named after
the Eli Whitney family of cotton gin fame because they built the dam to power
manufacturing at the site in the 1800s. The lake was used for water supply
from the late 1800s and gradually declined in use until about 1990 when it was
finally taken completely out of service because the water treatment plant built
well over a hundred years before had reached its useful life.
In the mid 1990s, the RWA began planning the construction of a new state-
of-the-art water treatment plant to bring Lake Whitney back to full service as
a potable water supply. This created substantial concern among Lake Whitney
abutters and other stakeholder groups, such as the watershed association,
neighborhood associations, and friends of the park adjacent to the lake and Mill
River which supplies Lake Whitney. A major concern was lake level drawdown
created by withdrawing up to 5000 m
3
a day for water supply. The stakeholders
had become accustomed to the benefits of a lake unaffected by changes in aes-
thetics caused by the historic withdrawals for water supply. There was the per-
ception by many stakeholders that this drawdown would create adverse effects
such as: reduced downstream releases; aesthetics of the lake water view; odors
from exposed mud flats resulting from extreme low lake levels; and wildlife
habitat effects. There was also the feeling that the RWA should mitigate the
perceived impacts by dredging portions of the lake to eliminate unsightly and
odoriferous mud flats in compensation for the water level changes associated
with withdrawal for drinking water supply.
The RWA committed to a lake management study and associated environ-
mental impact analysis to address these concerns as part of their plans to bring
Lake Whitney back online. In preparation for the environmental analysis, the
authority instituted a scoping process and actively sought the participation
of stakeholders they had been dealing with in some cases for decades as they
operated the lake for water supply and protected the tributary watershed.
Consistent with the earlier description on scoping, a first step was to identify
the stakeholders' issues, concerns, and perceived areas of impact. This was
accomplished through a multistep process with the first being a series of meet-
ings to explain the history, purpose and need, and potential lake management
Search WWH ::
Custom Search