Given the privileged geographical location of Andalusia (Spain) and the abundance of natural sites, wildlife and vegetation, the conservation of the environment is something that is taken very seriously. The Monitoring Services for Environmental Projects will allow monitoring of projects involving the environment, in order to perform advisory work to contractors about the conditions that affect the environment of the construction site. The permanent monitoring will allow an evaluation and control of the environmental variables, not only from the environmental point of view but also socioeconomically and culturally, which will provide precise and reliable information for the decision making oriented to the conservation and sustainable use of Andalusia’s natural resources. The monitoring plan for environmental projects will verify compliance with the measures and ordinances issued by the respective authorities, and will issue a report on the good progress of the project. Once the project is completed, the monitoring plan will continue, in order to confirm the maintenance of conservation measures, designed and applied at the beginning.

It is important to pay special attention to the management of water sources during the construction of drinking water distribution systems. Extracting important volumes of water for the project is inevitable but if environmental measures that guarantee the protection of the water channels, as well as the aquatic fauna and the inhabitants of the area are not taken, this could have a negative impact. It is extremely important to carry out exhaustive control over the environmental impact of each parameter involved, in order to record the magnitude of the impact (significant or highly significant) on an environmental component of high value (water, air, fauna, flora, etc.). During the evaluation, the potential negative impact of each variable must be determined in detail, not only during the construction phase of the project, but after it has been completed. Among these we have:

• What is the environmental impact due to the increase in automotive circulation, which necessarily generates noise and dust during the execution of the project?
• What environmental impact does the production of solid and liquid waste by on-site workers have?
• What use is being given to wastewater?

It is important to remember that among the objectives of the Monitoring Services for Environmental Projects is to verify that the environmental measures issued by the authorities are rigorously complied with. This will allow the report on the environmental impact to be approved and the work can continue without any complication or delay. The office or department in charge of ensuring compliance with the regulations may stop the construction if detecting activities that threaten the health of people or the environment in a serious or imminent way. The environmental monitoring service will not base its decisions solely on the reports but will make periodic visits to the sites in order to make sure that everything is going well.

Andalusia must remain that splendid and wonderful place that has always been and even when the urban development continues, it must always go hand in hand with the conservation of the environment.