PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) have been used for several decades as a tool to prevent or quickly identify any environmental damage arising from an activity. The assessments involve identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the environmental, social, and other relevant potential impacts of works, such as civil infrastructure. They are used to inform rational decision-making that understands the potential long-term impact of a project. However, the success of the methodology depends on the experience and knowledge of the technicians responsible for its application and interpretation. Environmental monitoring is a crucial stage for enabling the assessments to be made. Yet, despite the often detailed methodologies behind many of the indicators used, much of the assessment is subjective and based on previous experience. This can lead to varying quality in the standard of EIAs and thus on the ultimate environmental protection they provide.
OBJECTIVES
The VISIONTECH4LIFE project aimed to provide a more objective system of conducting environmental impact assessments. It specifically targeted automation and integrated control of the range of environmental monitoring elements. This would act as a key supporting tool for environmental monitoring plans and help efficiently prevent and control the direct and indirect environmental impacts of civil works.
VISIONTECH4LIFE aimed to apply technological advances in GIS to enable the integration and remote control of the monitoring and measuring systems. It would cover the site of any works and also the surrounding areas, including rivers, protected areas, urban areas and so on. The aim was that this GIS tool would be easy-to-use in any civil works project, enabling monitoring of every relevant environmental impact according to the particular characteristics of each project.
Finally, the project planned to develop a software platform to provide decision-makers with access to the tracking information and environmental sustainability indicators. This would aim to reduce actuation times from the identification of any environmental risk or damage and thus avoid the deterioration of the environment, in many cases with a high nature value. It would also avoid any costs related to necessary corrective actions or possible legal sanctions.
RESULTS
The VISIONTECH4LIFE project developed a system for the integrated control in real time and space of environmental impacts in construction works. The system thus allows for monitoring to be automated by integrating hardware and software for the monitoring and assessment of the main environmental parameters and indicators, through a combination of sensors, vision technologies and aerial vehicles (drones).
First, the project defined the most significant environmental impacts and the corresponding indicators were defined. These environmental indicators were linked to the corresponding preventive and corrective measures, in order to propose standardised methods and measures for the improvement of the current legal requirements in this area of activity.
The team then selected the technology and computing tools necessary to obtain and process the information, including remote sensors, hyperspectral vision and day cameras. The resulting system, the VT4L platform, also includes a GIS web tool that allows a holistic environmental control in time and space. A web application and a mobile app are used to check field parameters/indicators and to analyse the information through big data techniques.
The system was then tested on a range of different civil works, collecting a large amount of data. The works included the construction of a wastewater treatment plant, a bypass road and the operation of a landfill site. The environmental surveillance system deployed in the bypass road and based on the Visiontech4life system was certified according to the Ecolabel Type III of EPD. The supporting tools developed for the environmental monitoring plans of civil works tackled also the deficiencies detected in the implementation of the Directive 2011/92 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.
Although the project demonstrated good results, in did not implement cross-cutting actions, namely dissemination, monitoring and management, focusing instead on the technical development of the automated system. Without sufficient dissemination and monitoring its impact is thus limited.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
