Resources at risk: making the most of the ICS 232 form

ABSTRACT> The ICS 232 Resources at Risk summary form is a key tool for the communication of resources at risk from an oil or chemical spill. Completion of the form requires consideration of environmental, archeocultural, and socio-economic resources that may be affected by a spill. This process of research, identification, prioritization, documentation, and communication of potential resources in the pathway of a spill is typically conducted within the Environmental Unit (EU) by the Resources at Risk (RAR) Technical Specialist or Environmental Unit Leader (EUL), with input from relevant stakeholders and trustees. The purpose of the form is twofold: to provide environmental information to aid assessment and decision making, for example: identifying where to conduct wildlife reconnaissance surveys, identifying resources of concern for Spill Impact Mitigation Assessment (SIMA)/ Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA), and recommending cleanup techniques and endpoints; andTo provide direct priorities for protection for response operations, such as from pre-established Geographic Response Plans (GRPs) or Geographic Response Strategies (GRSs), and other static or Geographic Informational Systems (GIS) data sources. In recent years, GRP/GRSs have become more commonplace in contingency plans, and have become more practical for response operations, to a degree that some plans include executing the GRP/GRSs as ready-made ICS 204 (work order) forms to provide direct instruction to response operations on site location, access, operational strategies, and equipment required to protect specific resources. This pre-spill information can be valuable to ensure that priority resources are protected within the short window of opportunity that is typically available at the beginning of a response; and allows quick decision-making without the need for in-depth consideration of sensitivity and resource maps. A potential downside to this convenient data, which will be explored in this paper, is that we risk relying entirely on using the GRP data to provide operational protection priorities and losing the specific data on the resources we are aiming to protect. This reduces the purpose of the form to a purely operational instruction, without the documentation of environmental data that is essential for assessment and decision making within the Environmental Unit. This paper considers the use of the ICS 232 (Resources at Risk) form, how its use has developed over the years, and how the availability of GRPs has, in some areas, shifted the use of the form to a more directly operational purpose. Recommendations are provided for ensuring that the environmental information component is not forgotten.

PIECES FRAMEWORK ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RAPID ENUMERATION AND EVALUATION INFORMATION SYSTEM OF 2020 POPULATION CENSUS

In September 2020, Statistics Indonesia (BPS RI) carried out a major activity, namely the 2020 Population Census At the SP2020 data processing stage, Mobile Capture is one of the options for photographing data collection results. During the use of mobile capture, BPS West Java Province encountered several obstacles. West Java Province BPS created an application called the Rapid Enumeration dan Evaluation 2020 Population Census Information System (Sicepat32 SLS) to monitor the attainment of enumeration to the smallest level (local environmental unit). To find out whether Sicepat32 SLS is working and functioning properly, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of the information system. The purpose of this study is to measure the level of user satisfaction with the application of Sicepat32 SLS and to assess whether Sicepat32 SLS can meet the needs of users. In this study, the PIECES Framework analysis model will be used and has produced an assessment score in the Performance domain of 4.07; Information and Data of 4.17; Economy 4.1; Control and Security with a score of 4.03; Efficiency with a score of 4.18 and Service getting a score of 4.18

Seasonal Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Bhagwanpur, Varanasi

Water is an essential component of an environmental unit; sustainability of life on the earth depends only on this vital natural resource. This study focuses on assessing the groundwater quality since it is contaminated due to various anthropogenic activities. Water contamination is one of the environmental challenges now days. In this work groundwater samples are collected for determination of various physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH, turbidity, acidity, alkalinity, hardness, TDS, nitrate, sulphate, chloride, andfluoride) for the duration of pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. Groundwater samples are taken for the analysis from Bhagwanpur since utilization of secondary treated municipal sewage for irrigating has been shown in that area. The study reveals that the parameters like pH, temperature, alkalinity, salinity and nutrient concentration in the analyzed sample falls within the permissible limitas per drinking water standards. Also the variation in mean values of the parameter within the samples was found very less whereas the variation recorded more in different seasons.

Environmental Unit During Transboundary Spill Response: A Model for Training ICS Implementation During International Spills

#396 ABSTRACT The Environmental Unit (EU) is an important central function in the Incident Command System (ICS) within which key decisions are made and timing of certain critical response decisions is driven or influenced. Examples include such issues as managing waste, determining divisions, sharing data on resources at risk, establishing a shoreline assessment program, setting response treatment priorities, and determining treatment endpoints which in most cases sets the timing for when an active response is considered complete. Additionally, the EU serves as a central hub or nexus for many of the key sections and units within ICS, as many of the issues and work done within the EU are cross-cutting and involve components from the Operations Section, Planning Section, Logistics, Command Staff (Liaison and Safety Officers), etc. The unique nature of the EU provides a prime opportunity to train ICS concepts and good practices of implementation by focusing training on the EU and how it functions. The primary structural elements of ICS, including the Planning P cycle, the development of an Incident Action Plan, management by Objectives, development of Strategies and Tactics from those Command Objectives, making recommendations based on command priorities, and many more can be illustrated through targeted EU training. In the Salish Sea region of North America, there is close interaction between the key response agencies at the Federal and State/Provincial levels to prepare for transboundary responses by aligning response methods and practices. This coordination focuses to a great degree on cross-training on ICS: its structure and functions and more importantly its implementation. To that end, several Canadian and U.S. agencies have been coordinating for a number of years on providing joint, international ICS EU training for its responders on both sides of the border, with the goal of aligning ICS implementation. This joint international EU training program started in 2011 and has progressed since. This paper will examine other examples of this training program and identify some of its benefits, such as helping drive policy development on both sides of the border; and will highlight some case studies of responses where this training facilitated EU functions. This paper will also identify some challenges remaining in the differences between how ICS is implemented between these two nations, in particular the concept of the Science Table in the Canadian ICS implementation, and some suggestions for improvements moving forward.

The state of the environment in Mexico

The present work evaluates the state of the environment in Mexico based on indicators of the present status of the country’s natural resource management, social and economical conditions and anthropogenic modifications. The Mexican environment is interpreted as a spatially open system having a historical character that is essentially determined by the continual interaction between nature, society and economy. The landscape approach is followed, considering as units of territorial analysis each one of the 145 biophysical environmental units included in the national physiographic regionalization. The assessment of 16 indicators for each biophysical environmental unit was made considering their regional environmental integrity problems, the degree of disarticulation of their structure and function, and the alteration of their territorial structure, all of which determine whether or not they accomplish their environmental functions and achieve environmental stability. The classification of the state of the environment included 5 categories in 8 combinations represented in the map of the state of the environment in Mexico for the year 2008. The map shows that nearly 47.10% of the country’s surface has an environmental status ranging between unstable and critical, the problematic areas being mostly concentrated in the southeast and center of the national territory.

Etnoekologi Masyarakat Samin Kudus Jawa Tengah

The study of the ethnoecology of Samin Society in Kudus been conducted in March 2011 to August 2011. The aim of this study was to review and document local knowledge of of Samin Society about their views of the environment. The location is Larikrejo and Kaliyoso villages, Undaan District, Regency of Kudus. Data collection techniques with direct field observation, open interviews (open ended), structured interviews with key informants, and focus group discussions (FGD). Results of research on local resource management in communities samin illustrated on describtif phenomenology. Theirs traditional knowledge about the environment is reflected in the form of land use management systems. Environmental unit and production activities such as: rice fields, yards, dry field, swamps, embung and rivers. Samin community interaction with the environment is very strong, like wong (humans) with sandang pangan (food and clothing), or like living with a livelihood. Society's view of land interests change with the change of environmental conditions and their knowledge level. Key word: Ethoecology, local knowledge, Samin Society, view of invironment, environmental unit