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Scanned PDF[7.83 aedings of osium on Engineering and the Environment: Harmony or Conflict? The Institution of Water Engineers and Scientists SYMPOSIUM ON ENGINEERING AND THE ENVIRONMENT: HARMONY OR CONFLICT? i PROCEEDINGS OF SYMPOSIUM HELD IN . LONDON, ENGLAND, on 6th and 7th DECEMBER 1978 ANY CORRESPONDENCE relating to the papers appearing in this publication should be addressed to the Secretary, The Institution of Water Engineers and Scientists, 6-8 Sackville Street, London W1X 1DD, England. (Telphone: 01-734 5422.) © Copyright reserved by The Institution of Water Engineers and Scientists. The Institution is not responsible as a body for the opinions advanced in any of the papers comprising this symposium. The comments made by the authors and by the contributors to the discussions on the papers are the personal comments of the individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employing authorities. PREFACE The general theme of this Symposium is the environmental and sociological implications of major engineering works and how these influence the promotion, design, construction, and operation of such works. Within this theme an attempt is made to identify the role which is or should be played by the water services industry and to illustrate this by examples from overseas and the United Kingdom. Thereafter, an attempt is made to examine the way ahead. Problems and public concern relating to pollution of the environment are not new and it could be said that the water industry has a long history of concern for the environment. Be that as it may there have been rapid and dramatic changes in our life style in recent years and the public generally now have a greater awareness and interest in the impact of change and development on the environment which is resulting from the increasingly complex society in which we live. The authors of the papers have been widely drawn, and their deliberations have promoted an interesting and worthwhile Symposium. ENGINEERING AND THE ENVIRONMENT: HARMONY OR CONFLICT? CONTENTS Page Opening of the Symposium, by The Rev. the Lord Sandford, DSC i 1. Harmony or conflict? - a managerial view, by E.C. Reed,DFC, FICE, FIMunE, MBIM (Fellow), Director of Operations, Thames Water Authority Introduction 11 The past - a history of achievement 15 The present - a managerial view 2 7 The future - the increasing importance of environmental issues 1 12 Conclusion - harmony or conflict? 1 13 Discussion 225 2. Environmental impact analysis - setting the scene, by C.G. Thirlwall, CBE, MEng, MICE, MIStructE, Planning and Transportation Consultant Introduction 2 1 Environmental impact analysis in America 2 2 Research Report No. 11 - a proposed system of E.I.A. for the United Kingdom 2 3 Conclusion 2 11 Discussion 2 11 3. Method and methodology in social impact analysis, by M. Broady, BA, Professor of Social Policy, University College of Swansea The Drumbuie inquiry 3 2 The social implications of the Craig Goch project .. .. 3 4 Section 21 (5) of the Water Act 1973 3 7 Methodological problems in social analysis 3 9 References 3 14 Discussion 3 25 The engineer in environmental design and management, by R.W. Edwards, DSc, FIBiol, MIWPC, Professor of Applied Ecology, University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology 4 1 Discussion 4 9 ENGINEERING AND THE ENVIRONMENT: HARMONY OR CONFLICT? Page Environmental impact analysis - practical experience, by 3.B. Oldfield, BA, LLB, Director of Resource Planning, North West Water Authority Introduction 5 2 Description of study 5 2 Reflections prompted by North West's study 5 8 Conclusion 5 12 Acknowledgements .. 5 12 Discussion 5 23 6. Environmental factors in overseas situations, by D.G. Lloyd, BSc, DIC, FICE (Member), Associate, and 3.L. Beaver, MICE (Member), Principal Engineer, Sir William Halcrow and Partners Introduction 6 1 Environmental impact 6 2 Muda irrigation project - West Malaysia 6 3 Environmental considerations in reservoir development 6 11 Conclusions 6 23 Reference 6 14 Discussion 6 14 Effects of National Environmental Policy Act on water resources projects in the USA, by Dr. C. Grant Ash, BSc, MSc, Chief Environmental Policy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Introduction 72 Background and information 7 2 Environmental mission 7 2 Environmental decisions 7 2 Environmental impact statements 7 4 Public participation 7 6 Environmental litigation 7 7 Summary 7 9 References 7 11 Discussion 7 22 Summing-up the Symposium, by A.S. Robertson, BSc, IIEng, FICE, Chief Executive, Northumbrian Water Authority .. .. 8 1 OPENING OF THE SYMPOSIUM The Rev. the Lord Sandford, DSC. The President, Mr. K.J.H.Saxton, introduced Lord Sandford as President of the Council for Environmental Education, a former Minister in the Department of the Environment, and one who was keenly interested in all environmental issues. Lord Sandford acknowledged his introduction; he had been responsible for the passage of the Water Act 1975 in the House of Lords and he had felt a parental interest in the water industry ever since. He believed that this Act had given members of the Institution in England and Wales the best and most comprehensive structure for managing water of any country in the world. Whether they had yet made it the best structure for satisfying customers was another question. Before he turned to the impact of the water industry on the environment, he wished to speak as a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Europe, and on Europe's environment in particular. He thanked those many members of the water industry who had helped the Select Committee to deal first with the less well conceived suggestions from Brussels about water pollution control and then to start the long term process of educating the Commission and the other eight members of the EEC in the virtues of dealing with pollution "by the best practicable means". Lord Sandford then turned to the main topic of the symposium. Between 1970 and 1973 he had been the Minister responsible for dealing with planning cases in the Department of the Environment. He mentioned a number of the cases with which he had been concerned; these included the Third London Airport (whose enquiry alone cost £1.Jm.) and proposals for reservoirs at Swincombe and Empingham. He recalled no case in which he or his advisers in the Department were in doubt that sufficient relevant data had been assembled to enable an informed judgment to be made. In the case of the Third London Airport, what had been much more apparent was the ludicrous waste of money spent on spurious cost benefit analyses in areas quite inappropriate for such treatment. The British planning system was not of course perfect but it had been grossly abused of late by those who should have known bett?r. Mr. Thirlwall had rightly said in his paper that the first question to be asked was whether there was a case for introducing Environmental Impact Analysis in the United Kingdom. Lord Sandford was against it, unless the object was to find lucrative employment for more planning barristers and academic consultants. The House of Lords Select Committee on Europe was now retraining its guns from pollution directives on to that part of the horizon over which the EEC directive on EIA was expected to emerge; it would save a lot of trouble if the directive could be sunk with the first few salvoes. He hoped that those in the water industry would demonstrate clearly their ability to provide acceptable proposals fron the outset, as Mr. Oldfiald had indicated in his ENGINEERING AND THE ENVIRONMENT: HARMONY OR CONFLICT? "POUT Site Saga". It was important always to seek the largest amount of common ground with potential opponents. In the St. Katherine's Docks case, a director of the contracting firm had worked to this end full time for nearly a year and the effort had been well worth while. The point was clearly made in St. Matthew's Gospel in chapter 5, verses 25 and 26: "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." Instead of EIA, it would be far better to encourage a breed of imaginative, sensitive, responsive designers, engineers and managers. They could make EIA redundant in the United Kingdom. If EIA were imposed, it would not be for lack of any such managers - it would be because they had failed to make their influence felt soon enough. He hoped that the symposium would promote that influencing process. 1. HARMONY OR CONFLICT? - A MANAGERIAL VIEW E.C. Reed, D.F.C., F.I.C.E., F.I.Mun.E., F.I.W.E.S., M.B.I.M.* INTRODUCTION Public Perception of Environmental Issues Problems and public concern relating to pollution of the environment are not new. As long ago as A.D. 61 the Roman poet Seneca virote "As soon as I had got out of the heavy air of Rome and from the stink of the smokey chimneys thereof, which, being stirred, poured forth whatever pestilent vapours and soot held enclosed in them, I felt an alteration to my disposition". In 1357 King Edward III observed as he rode along the Thames "that dung and other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river and that fumes and other abominable stench- es arose therefrom". In more recent times expressions of environ- mental concern have been numerous, covering all aspects of what has become a common subject of interest amongst all kinds of people.
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