ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book summarizes information on key technical literature relating to environmental impact studies for water resources projects. It presents a summary of information available in the mid-1980's. The book focuses on four types of water resources projects are dams and reservoirs, channelization, dredging; and other, including irrigation projects and shoreline projects. This category is used because it is important to have general knowledge about the impacts which can occur from water resources projects, and to utilize this information in identifying potential impacts for new projects, as well as predicting and assessing the importance of the impacts. The methodologies include approaches for systematically comparing alternatives and evaluating trade-offs as a part of the decision-making process. Public participation is one part of decision-making and it is also included in this category.
