ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF SUGAR MILLS USING GIS

Abstract

In recent years, it has been established that, the use of computerised spatial databases is an effective and economic method in planning and management of Engineering projects. The technological umbrella that captures, organises and analysis spatial and non-spatial data, utilising a computer is generally referred to as Geographic Information System (GIS). The process of evaluating increasing volumes of information acquired from different sources lead to its development and use. For environmental impact assessment of sugar mills, various types of data are required to be considered simultaneously. It is difficult to handle manually a large amount of data of varied nature simultaneously. It has been proved that GIS can be successfully employed for such types of problems. Applications of GIS in environmental field is relatively a new technology. In the present study, an attempt has been made to use GIS for environmental impact assessment of sugar mills. For this, an area of about 1256.63 sq km, of Mirganj, Distt. Bareilly was taken and graphical database provides facility to find out environmental impact on the surrounding area of the mill. Also it readily gives detailed information about air, water, noise pollution and its extent. The study has shown that use of GIS is a cost effective and time effective tool for environmental impact assessment of sugar mills.