What are the key environmental monitoring areas?Upon undertaking any general monitoring such as that related to the impact measures listed below, it is necessary to look at the checks and balances that are specific to each measure. A system of checks and balances such as that below could be utilised: Specification: a means by which the inputs to an operation may be pre-determined or set, eg % of recycled plastics, chlorine free Calibration: a means by which the " operational environment " may be set/controlled with respect to reference standards. Equipment such as monitoring equipment, gas analysers, real-time effluent discharge analysers. Maintenance: a means by which the operational parameters of a given activity are maintained through preventative or routine intervention. For example, this may involve the maintenance work carried out to ensure a chimney is structurally sound etc. Checking: a means by which a cursory or simple evaluation may be made of any given function, eg observing work practices for segregating wastes. Monitoring: a means by which the status of a specific activity may be determined at any given point in time, eg noise levels at particular places at given times. Sampling: a means by which a representative " sample " of any particular product, by-product or any other intermediary element may be obtained. For example, samples may be required of groundwater or contaminated land. Inspection: a means by which a representative sample may be examined to determine conformance to a pre determined set of standards, eg random verification of product performance to ecolabel criteria. Source: Croner (95:583) |