add notes and instructor's help

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+Thanks for this timely question.  Here is some advice:
+
+Step 1.  Find a quiet relaxed place or mental space where you can take
+Assignment 2.  Have a careful read of the assignment and what it asks you
+to do.  When you're ready, engage in some creative visualisation of what a
+new dairy processing plant might look like, in terms of its size, where it
+might be located, possible proximity to a river, its likely rural location,
+but possible nearness to other dwellings, whether there might be other
+rural activities nearby, possibly even another dairy plant. If you've ever
+used SimCity or SimTown you should feel right at home!
+
+Step 2. Start making your list of possible environmental impacts that would
+likely need to be considered when assessing the proposal. If you've taken
+the RMA course or have an interest in an RMA focus, that's fine, but please
+keep your lens fully back, not too close. This is an EIA course, not an RMA
+course.  It's ok if you keep your knowledge about RMA processes a bit
+hazy.  You're not expected to know them. For example, you might think that
+the plant will need a regional council discharge consent, and definitely a
+land use consent, but it's ok if you don't mention these in any specific
+way, or refer to any specific sort of rural zoning issues. If they occur to
+you in your mind, it's fine to make a note of them.  The case study itself
+it purposefully a bit hazy on details so as to allow you the freedom to
+consider a range of impacts.
+
+3.  As you make your list, start thinking about how you might rank the
+effects.  There are a couple of key course readings which will be helpful
+in this regard, and there is extra advice on the course page for this
+assignment.  I recently added a list of EIA tools, which you might wish to
+run through as a reminder of potential effects.  The plant will need to be
+constructed,  which will produce some short term effects, and then there
+will be ongoing effects of one sort or another.  Generally speaking, what
+might they be?
+
+4. Benchmark your work by running a Google search.  I just ran one on
+environmental impacts dairy processing plant and found a lot of information
+from around the world.
+
+5. Narrow your benchmark by restricting your Google search to NZ sites. 
+As part of your search check out one or two news items to see the kinds of
+impacts of a dairy processing operation that might get the local population
+or environmental watchdogs a bit riled.  Flag these impacts (hint: EIA can
+include positive effects. What are some positive effects from a new dairy
+processing plant?)  and include them in your assignment as possible impact
+bottlenecks that might add a weighting/loading in your ranking.  Include
+them, and any other refs you have found useful, in a final reference
+list. 
+
+6.  Don't allow yourself to get distracted by trying to be too specific
+about particular indicators you might run across in your searches, such as
+actual permitted content of discharges, water chemistry, etc.   This
+course doesn't expect you to be an engineer. Similarly, don't get
+distracted by reaching too far.  You asked whether you need to consider
+the environmental impacts of dairy farming. The short answer is "no". 
+Having said that, your question is really interesting, but reaches too
+far.  You might really be asking  "In assessing a possible resource
+consent for a dairy processing plant, does the RMA include provisions for
+considering the impact on the environment of producing the products it is
+receiving, as part of the overall decision to grant consent, or as part of
+any future consent conditions for the plant?"   This question is
+interesting but goes beyond this assignment. Organisations like Greenpeace
+really push for this sort of power, for example to try to require
+reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in order to get consent for a
+coal-fired electrictiy generating station.  But it's really an RMA issue
+that goes beyond this course. 
+
+Having said that, feel free to comment generally on environmental best
+practice and how it might play out in terms of consent and monitoring
+conditions for the actual activities of the dairy plant once it gets up and
+running. This forms part of your assignment. If you're "RMA-keen", you'd be
+looking here at something called a 'best practicable option' for minimising
+discharge effects. Google the term and you'll find out more.  It's over to
+you really in terms of how you want to use this course to gain general
+knowledge, or as a tool in a quest to become an RMA-savvy environmental
+practitioner.  We try to be flexible in our marking to cater to different
+'angles' of approach.  Have confidence that any benchmarking you do in
+Steps 4 and 5 will give you any additional support that you may need, or
+contact me for more clarity.
+
+Cheers and good luck with A2.
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+NZ water problems \parencite{cullen}:
+
+- water management through regional councils:
+  - regional policy statements + regional plans
+  - unless authorised by plan discharges require resource consents
+  
+impact of agriculture on water:
+
+- primary source of non-point discharges
+  - application of fertiliser and pesticides
+  - discharges from the soil and animals
+  - materials move into surface and groundwater at higher rates than usual
+
+
+monitoring / significance implications:
+- lack of reliable data against which to draw conclusions for key parameters in all regions
+- lack of approved plans relating to water in some regions
+  - require councils to set realistic goals and objectives; difficult
+    because has to reconcile urban recreational and environmental
+    requirements with rural economic demands
+  - too little policy direction from central government
+- even without these plans, councils must process resource consent applications
+- lack of monitoring and enforcement
+  - low compliance
+  - impossible to determine the efficacy of management practices
+- limited knowledge on how to best deal with non-point source discharges
+- little knowledge about what the community wants and expects wrt water management
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