The Environmental Information and Monitoring Program (EIMP) aims at establishing national environmental monitoring program for ambient air and coastal waters.
A reference laboratory is established to assist contracted national monitoring institutions in the development of quality assurance systems. An important output from the program will be environmental quality data and database systems which will form an integral part of EEAA's Environmental Information Center. The program, which started in January 1996, was originally a five-year program with a total budget of US$ 14.9 million.
The EIMP Air pollution-monitoring program has been established under the Environmental Quality Sector-Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency in order to have a view of the present environment and to undertake the monitoring of ambient air by establishing a modern national air quality network. Data are collected using automatic on-line monitors and variety of sampling equipment. A total of 42 sites covering all over Egypt have been selected through several site visits and studies. An additional of 10 to 20 sites are being used for simplified passive sampling of SO2 and NO2. The results of the measurements undertaken during the planning of the EIMP program have been evaluated and considered for the use in the program. The measurement network, instruments and data transfer has been established since 1998. The installations were finalized during 1999.
The Design of the EIMP Air Quality Monitoring Network includes:
Air Quality Annual Reports:
One of the components of the EIMP is the Coastal Water Monitoring component. This component has developed EEAA capacity to obtain and manage information about the pollution of the coastal waters of Egypt, the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea Region (the Gulf of Suez, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba). This component involved the development of a database at EEAA on the pollution of the coastal waters.
The purpose of the Coastal Water Monitoring Program is to obtain baseline knowledge of the quality of the Egyptian coastal waters and to establish a continuous survey of these waters. The outputs are also used to establish quantitative and causal relations between pollution sources and pollution impacts.
The proposed water sampling Program focuses on measurements of marine water samples in the vicinity of:
The goals of the EIMP Coastal Water Monitoring Project are to conduct sampling of marine waters at approximately 45 positions along the Mediterranean coastal waters and 38 in the Red Sea Region and perform analyses of basic, eutrophication and bacteriological parameters. Sampling and analysis procedures will be established, and the results will be evaluated yearly. The results of the EIMP Coastal Water Monitoring will be transferred to the EIMP coastal water database at EEAA.
Coastal Water Annual Reports on Water Quality Data from Coastal Areas of:
This component is designed to support the monitoring components of the project and to be instrumental in recording the degree of reliability and comparability of data on the environment.
The main activities performed by the Reference Laboratories to record comparability are proficiency tests for laboratory measurements and verification of calibration for automatic monitors. These activities will identify errors in the procedures used and thereby give the monitoring institutions the opportunity to rectify such errors.
The Reference Laboratories are furthermore trained to assess the quality system and technical procedures at the monitoring institutions on behalf of EEAA. EEAA will be provided with information showing if the institutions approach to their work is such that reliable data can be expected.
In addition the Reference Laboratories are responsible for training staff at the monitoring institutions in quality control and other operational activities within quality assurance thereby disseminating knowledge on quality assurance throughout the monitoring network.
These tasks are performed by two reference laboratories: the Reference Laboratory - Water and the Reference Laboratory - Air. The Reference Laboratory - Water covers all parameters related to the EIMP Coastal Water Monitoring Program and laboratory measurements related to the EIMP Air Monitoring Program. The Reference Laboratory - Air covers work related to automatic monitors and samplers under the EIMP Air Monitoring Program.
The activities of both reference laboratories are:
The institutional support component is designed to enable EEAA to manage interpretation and use the data produced by the monitoring institutions. The major activities within the institutional support component are the provision of hardware and software capacity, training of staff in data management, quality assurance, and environmental interpretation, and how to use the new information in the preparation of documents on environmental issues.
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