Strategic Environmental Assessment For Watershed Water Pollution Control Planning

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of planning is one category of SEA. Planning SEA is a formal, synthetic and systematic process to appraisal the environmental impacts of planning and its alternatives. The ultimately object of carrying out planning SEA is to ensure the assessing conclusions and environmental consequences are integrated into strategic decision-making process. Some European and North American countries have made a lot of case studies of SEA and accumulated much experience, which requires further research on SEA related theory and methodology. The "Environmental Impact Assessment Law of People's Republic of China" which was announced in September 1, 2003 has provided a legislation required for planning assessment. But the study on the theories system, technique method and application of planning SEA in China is just at beginning. According to the development demand of planning SEA in China, Watershed Water Pollution Control Plan (WWPCP) is selected as study object in this study. The WWPCP SEA is mainly aim at the environment impact of planning and to carry out the environmental pollution control from source and processes at present by put forward the measure of prevention or deceleration of environment impact based on the analysis, predict and evaluate of the carrying ability of resources and environment. On the basis of analyzing and knowing progress of SEA domestic and overseas and in order to perfect theories system of plan SEA and provide some experience for implementing and researching plan environmental impact assessment in China, such as one land use plan, three area plans, and ten special plans, theories system, technique methods and examples are studied exploring.The main contents of this thesis are as follows:1. Background and sense of thesis selection are summarized. Domestic-and-oversea study progress of SEA is reviewed and concluded. And development character is introduced. Put forward the key problems on technique method that existing in Chinese SEA. And analyzed the necessity and practicable of implement watershed water pollution control planning SEA in China.2. The theories system of watershed water pollution control planning are analyzed and discussed, including integration and intersection of the theory system, such as sustainable development theory, systematic engineering theory, eco-system theory, watershed ecology theory and environmental bearing capacity theory, and guidance to SEA from some important idea and essential.3. The general principle and procedures for watershed water pollution control planning are studied and presented in this thesis. And main contents including background investigation, the strategic analysis, the environmental issues scope, preliminarily identification of environmental indicators, the screening and complement of SEA indicator, establishing assessment criteria and indicator system, predicting and assessing strategic environmental impacts, sifting of assessed strategies and mitigation measures if strategies modification is necessary.4. Mapping and analyzing project EIA and economic technique and method, this paper believes that some EIA methods, such as checklists, matrices, or mathematic mode can be applied to planning SEA. And some economics method such as input-output analysis, investment and benefit analysis can also be used to planning SEA. And new approaches such as expert and GIS should be applied in planning SEA. And technique and method in planning SEA environmental issues scope, predicting and assessing strategic environmental impacts are classified and analyzed.5. Chapter 5 and chapter 6, the author makes a case study of SEA on watershed water pollution control planning of Chaohu Lake. In accordance with the theory, method procedure and principles above, in chapter 5 the author assessing the Ninth-Five,Year and Tenth-Five-Year watershed water pollution control planning of Chaohu Lake by means of these indicators. And the actual stratigic results of the two plans are given. In chapter 6 the Eleventh-Five-Year watershed water pollution control planning of Chaohu Lake was assessed during the process of the planning preparing. Three designed projects programme and three alternative projects programme were evaluated. The assessment result shows that alternative 3 is the appropriate solution. To guarantee the implementation of the alternative projects programme, the support measures are also brought forward.6. Finally, summarizing the above chapter and give brief conclusion.