Developing Tools for Health Impact Assessment in Environmental Impact Assessment in Thailand

The purpose of this research was to develop tools applicable to the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in a Thai context. The relevant documents and articles were extensively reviewed, analyzed, and drafted. The first draft was presented to a research advisory committee for their review, and the recommended changes were subsequently made. The second draft was then presented to respondents from 6 groups of key stakeholders-expert review committees under the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONREPP), EIA registered consulting firms, non-government organizations, members of the ONREPP, local government organizations, and government organizations responsible for issuing permission to the proposed projects. Their commentary and recommendation were considered, and modifications were made as necessary. The third draft was finally reviewed by the research advisory committee before the tryout step. The final revised version is presented in this paper

Assessing health impacts within environmental impact assessments: An opportunity for public health globally which must not remain missed

Within the member states of the United Nations 190 of 193 have regulated Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) which is a systematic process to prevent and mitigate the potential environmental impacts of industry development projects before these occur. However, the routine and comprehensive assessment of health impacts within EIAs remains underdeveloped. Focusing, as an example, on the risks to global health from the global shift in the mining industry towards Low and Middle Income Countries LMIC), this viewpoint details why connecting with EIA is an essential task for the health system. Although existing knowledge is out of date in relation to global practice we identify how health has been included, to some extent, in High Income Country EIAs and the institutional requirements for doing so. Using arguments identified by industry themselves about requiring a ‘social license to operate’, we conclude that EIA regulations provide the best current mechanism to ensure health protection is a core aspect in the decision making process to approve projects

Sorption of pesticide endosulfan by electrodialysis membranes

Endosulfan (ES) is a micropollutant found in reverse osmosis concentrates from water reuse applications. Electrodialysis (ED) can remove and recover charged solutes from such concentrates. While polar compounds cannot normally be removed, their fate in ED is important as they can contribute to membrane fouling/poisoning and be released during cleaning. High adsorption of ES to ED membranes was observed. Consequently, the influence of solution pH and presence of humic acid (HA) on sorption mechanisms of ES to ion-exchange membranes during batch sorption isotherm and ED experiments were investigated systematically. ES-membrane partition coefficients (log KAEM/CEM) quantified through sorption isotherm experiments suggested that ES sorption was resultant of membrane catalysed ES degradation, hydrogen bonding and cation– interactions between ES and membrane functional groups. ES sorption at pH 7 (550 μg/cm3) was greater than sorption at pH 11 (306 μg/cm3) due to alkaline hydrolysed ES and resultant decrease in bonding capacity with the membranes at high pH. The presence of HA reduced sorption at pH 7 (471 μg/cm3) and 11 (307 μg/cm3) due to HA competitive sorption. Partial membrane desorption was noted in isotherm (<20%) desorption experiments and was dependent on the initial mass sorbed, solvent pH and resultant membrane interactions