Assessment of Site Contamination
What is the assessment of site contamination?
The assessment of site contamination is a process incorporating
a set of formal methods used for determining the nature, extent
and amount of existing chemical substances and the actual or potential
risk to human health or the environment on or off-site resulting
from those substances.
The Site Contamination NEPM provides recommended
methods for assessment and guidelines on the process.
When should the assessment of site contamination be undertaken?
The assessment of site contamination should be undertaken whenever
contamination has been identified at a site, or when there is
a reasonable suspicion of site contamination arising from a current
or previous activity or use of the site. This provides a 'trigger'
to initiate the recommended processes for assessment outlined
in Schedule A of the Site Contamination NEPM.
Planning
Advisory Notice 20 provides a list of potentially contaminating
activities and land uses that should be used as a trigger by planning
authorities and others to initiate the need for the assessment
of site contamination. Use of these triggers and following the
assessment process should ensure that there is adequate protection
of human health and the environment wherever site contamination
has occurred.
Who can undertake the assessment of site contamination?
Site contamination assessment is a complex and specialised professional
area involving a number of disciplines, and consequently should
only be undertaken by environmental auditors and environmental
consultants who have a range of competencies and relevant qualifications
and experience. Site contamination consultants are specifically
defined in the Environment Protection Act as people who assess
the existence or nature or extent of site contamination.
There is a clear distinction between the roles of an environmental
auditor and a site contamination consultant or consultant / contractor
carrying out remediation:
- The integrity of the audit system depends on the independence
and integrity of the auditor. In South Australia, until the
amendments to the Environment Protection Act which establish
an audit system for SA come
into operation the EPA continues to endorse and recommend
the use of persons appointed by the
Victorian EPA as Environmental Auditors (Contaminated Land)
to:
- undertake independent reviews of the assessment and remediation
of sites generally undertaken by environmental consultants
and
- to assess the suitability of a site proposed for a 'sensitive
land use'.
- A site contamination consultant
or remediation consultant / contractor is engaged to
- assess site contamination for a variety of reasons. Engagement
of a consultant is undertaken in accordance with the Terms
and Conditions of that company or, in some cases, to complete
an agreed scope of works. The outcome of the engagement
of an environmental consultant is the completion of the
scope of work, or an agreed amended scope of work, and the
issue of a report to the client.
National Environment Protection (Assessment
of Site Contamination) Measure, 1999
The National
Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure
(NEPM) was made in December 1999. The NEPM operates as an
Environment Protection Policy under the Environment Protection
Act 1993.
The purpose of the NEPM is to establish a nationally consistent
approach to the assessment of site contamination to ensure sound
environmental management practices are adopted by the community,
including regulators, site assessors, site contamination consultants,
auditors, landowners, developers and industry parties.
The desired outcome of the NEPM is to provide adequate protection
of human health and the environment, where contamination has occurred,
through the development of an efficient and effective national
approach to environmental site assessment.
The NEPM contains the following Schedules:
- Schedule A - a flow chart that outlines the recommended process
for the assessment of site contamination; and
- Schedule B - that provides guidelines for the assessment of
site contamination.
To meet its responsibilities for implementation of the NEPM,
the EPA provides guidance on the assessment of site contamination
and expects that all assessments of site contamination in South
Australia should take into account all relevant Schedules in the
NEPM, as well as any guidelines issued or approved by the EPA.
The NEPM is currently undergoing a legislated
five-year review. The EPA is represented on the NEPM Review
Team.
This page was last modified 16-12-2008
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