PREDICTION AND

ASSESSMENT OF
IMPACTS ON THE
SOIL
AND GROUNDWATER
ENVIRONMENTS

Casipong . Cuaycong . De Guzman . Delfin

Lopez . Salazar . Sibug . Uy

Environmental Impacts of Various

Projects
Land

development, resource
extraction, and waste-disposal
projects can cause certain
undesirable impacts on soil
and/or groundwater resources.

Therefore,

in considering the
potential impacts of projects of
various types on soil and
groundwater resources,
attention should be given to
both quality and quantity
concerns.

The Soil Environment

FACTOR

NATURE OF EFFECT

CLIMATE

Adding water by irrigation, rainmaking by seeding clouds, removing water

by drainage
Subjecting soil to excessive insolation and extended winds

ORGANISMS

TOPOGRAPHY

PARENT
MATERIAL

Introducing and controlling population of plants and animals, adding

organic matter
Reducing organic matter through over-grazing, burning, harvesting, and
ploughing
Checking erosion through surface roughening, land forming, and structure
building
Causing subsidence by drainage of wetlands and by mining, accelerating
erosion
Adding mineral fertilizers, accumulating shells and bones, removing
excess salts
Removing, through harvest, more plant and animal nutrients than are
replaced

Soil-Environment Emphasis
PD

1152 (Philippine Environment Code)

The National Government, through the Department of Natural Resources and

the Department Agriculture, shall likewise undertake a soil conservation
program including therein the identification and protection of critical watershed
areas, encouragement of scientific farming techniques, physical and biological
means of soil conservation, and short-term and long-term researches and
technology for effective soil conservation.

Republic Act No. 622

This act organizes the Bureau of Soil Conservation. Later, it was renamed to
Bureau of Soils. The Bureau's regional offices were created to bring the services
closer to the farming communities. Since then, the Bureau has become a major
planning, policy making, consultative and advisory agency.

Soil-Environment Emphasis
Executive

Order 116

It reorganized the Bureau of Soils into the Bureau of Soils and

Water Management . The Bureau retained its staff function of soil
resources survey, evaluation, conservation, testing and research but
its mandate was broadened to include the development and
generation of water resources utilization and conservation
technologies as well as inclusion of rainmaking projects to alleviate
the impact of prolonged drought on standing crops.

Groundwater-Environment
Emphasis
RA

9275 (Clean Water Act of 2004)

It provides for a program and regulations for the abatement and

management of water pollution from point and non-point sources. It
also strengthens enforcement by providing stiffer penalties for
violations of standards.

DENR

Administrative Order No. 94-26A (Philippine National

Standards for Drinking Water)

It provides the different parameters and value for drinking water

quality. It also defines guidelines for assessing water quality for
drinking water.

Groundwater-Environment
Emphasis

PD 856 (Sanitation Code of the Philippines)

It covers both solid and liquid disposal. It prescribes standards for sewage
collection and refuse and excreta disposal. It also assigns to cities and
municipalities the responsibilities to provide for efficient and proper
disposal, and to handle nuisance and offensive trades and occupations.

PD 984 (Pollution Control Law of 1976)

It provides guidelines for the control of water pollution from industrial

sources and sets penalties for violations, also requires all polluters to
secure permits.

Conceptual Approach for

Addressing Soil and Groundwater
Environment Impacts
To

provide a basis for addressing soil-and/or

groundwater-environment impacts, a six-step or
six-activity model is suggested for the planning
and conduction of impact studies.

This

model is flexible and can be adapted to

different projects by modification, as needed, to
enable the addressing ,of specific concerns of
specific projects in unique locations.

Step One: Identification of Soil

and/or Groundwater QuantityQuality Impacts
An appropriate initial activity when analyzing a
proposed activity or project is to consider what type
of geographical disturbances might be associated
with the construction and/or operational phases of
the proposed project, and what quantities of
potential soil and groundwater contaminant are
expected to occur.

Step Two: Description of the

Environmental Setting
The description shall cover the environmental setting
in terms of soil types, characteristics, and quality;
groundwater flows and quality, hydrogeological
characteristics, relationships to existing surface-water
resources, groundwater classifications, existing point
and non-point sources of pollution, and pollution
loadings and existing groundwater withdrawals.

Step Three: Procurement of

Relevant Soil and/or Groundwater
Quality-Quantity Standards
To

determine specific requirements for a given project

area will require contacting appropriate government
agencies with jurisdiction.

The

primary sources of information would be the

pertinent governmental agencies both national and
local. This step provides a basis for interpreting existing
quality-quantity information in the study area as well as
a basis for assessing anticipated impacts.

Step Four: Impact Prediction

Prediction

of impacts of a project-activity on the soil

and/or groundwater environment(s), or conversely,
the potential influence of the environment(s) on a
proposed project, can be approached in three
perspectives: qualitative, simple quantitative, and
specific quantitative.

For

soil impacts, one example would be the prediction

of acid-rain impacts based on several extensive
studies.

For

groundwater impacts, the prediction would involve

consideration of fundamental sub-surface
environmental processes.

Step Five: Assessment of Impact

Significance
One

approach is to consider the percentage and

direction of change from existing conditions for a
particular soil or groundwater environmental factor.

Another

approach for impact assessment is to apply

the provisions of pertinent national or local laws and
regulations related to soil and groundwater
environments.

third approach for interpreting anticipated changes

relies upon professional judgment and knowledge.

Step Six: Identification and

Incorporation of Mitigation
Measures
The

final step is to consider and adopt pertinent

mitigation measures for negative impacts, as
appropriate. Relevant measures would need to be
developed for specific projects; therefore, the information
to be gathered should focus primarily on delineations of
pertinent mitigation measures for soil and/or
groundwater impacts.

One

example would be to decrease soil erosion during

either the construction or operational phase of a project.

END