TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the environmental impact assessment commissioners' perspectives on the development of the seawater desalination project
AU - Liu, Ta Kang
AU - Weng, Tzu Hsun
AU - Sheu, Haw Yang
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to express sincere thanks to the officers from Water Resource Agency and the EIA commissioners for providing valuable information and assistance. The research was partially funded by Ministry of Science and Technology contract MOST 103-2221-E-006-207 . The authors are grateful for their financial support. The opinions expressed therein are of the authors only and any error remains the sole responsibility of the authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/2/15
Y1 - 2018/2/15
N2 - In recent years, extreme climate conditions have resulted in uneven precipitations in Taiwan. The development of traditional water resources frequently suffers from protests of environmental groups, potential dam sites being hard-to-find, and other factors. The development of new water sources has been increasingly difficult. Sea water desalination has the advantages of a short construction time and easy expansion flexibility, making it an important alternative as a new water resource. In this study, the current proposal of Tainan's desalination plant was used as an example. Qualitative interviews and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used to explore the environmental impact assessment (EIA) commissioner's perceptions of the impact from the development of the desalination project. The results of the qualitative interview indicate that the main concerns of the EIA commissioners are whether the development could damage the marine ecological environment and its fishery resources, which may have adverse socioeconomic consequences. The AHP results show that the commissioners' priority of environmental impact is ecological environmental impact 36.9%, social impact 29.7%, economic impact 23.7%, and physical and chemical environmental impact 9.7%. The main concerns in each impact category are, respectively, marine ecological environment, land and ocean utilisation, fisheries, and air quality.
AB - In recent years, extreme climate conditions have resulted in uneven precipitations in Taiwan. The development of traditional water resources frequently suffers from protests of environmental groups, potential dam sites being hard-to-find, and other factors. The development of new water sources has been increasingly difficult. Sea water desalination has the advantages of a short construction time and easy expansion flexibility, making it an important alternative as a new water resource. In this study, the current proposal of Tainan's desalination plant was used as an example. Qualitative interviews and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used to explore the environmental impact assessment (EIA) commissioner's perceptions of the impact from the development of the desalination project. The results of the qualitative interview indicate that the main concerns of the EIA commissioners are whether the development could damage the marine ecological environment and its fishery resources, which may have adverse socioeconomic consequences. The AHP results show that the commissioners' priority of environmental impact is ecological environmental impact 36.9%, social impact 29.7%, economic impact 23.7%, and physical and chemical environmental impact 9.7%. The main concerns in each impact category are, respectively, marine ecological environment, land and ocean utilisation, fisheries, and air quality.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.desal.2017.11.031
DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2017.11.031
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85034593932
SN - 0011-9164
VL - 428
SP - 108
EP - 115
JO - Desalination
JF - Desalination
ER -
