The EPA is required by Regulations under the Land and Business
(Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994 to provide environmental
information relating to a property.
In relation to site contamination these regulations require the
EPA to answer questions set out in the section 'Particulars Relating
to Environment Protection' which identify whether the EPA holds
a copy of a report on any environmental assessment of the land
or part of the land:
- by or on behalf of the owner or occupier pursuant to certain
sections of the Environment Protection Act 1993, or for the
purposes of a notification under Section 83 or
- by the EPA (alone or jointly with another authority) or
- by an Auditor.
In addition, the EPA has to answer questions in relation to the
historical operation of waste depots, the production of certain
wastes and the deposition of waste on land in relation to approvals
or authorisations under specific former legislation and certain
EPA authorisations.
This information is then provided in the form of a Section 7
EPA response letter.
In addition, any person can make a direct Section 7 enquiry
to the EPA on payment of a fee. The request must be made in writing
and provide the title reference and address of each parcel of
land in question. The EPA will then provide a 'Section 7 statement'
containing information detailed above, where this information
is held by the EPA.
All enquiries in relation to the EPA involvement in Section 7
of the Land and Business (Sales and Conveyancing) Act 1994 should
be directed to the EPA Senior Administration Officer - Section
7 on (08) 8204 2179. Further information on Section 7 matters
can be obtained from the EPA information sheet on 'Section
7, Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994 and the
role of the EPA' (86KB PDF).
In addition, the regulations
under this Act specifically provide for the vendor of a property
to provide information relating to certain contaminating activities
and environmental assessment that are known (directly or indirectly)
by the vendor to have occurred on that land. Owners or vendors
should inform potential purchasers of information in relation
to site contamination and prospective purchasers should also make
enquiries in relation to the condition of a site.
Contact the EPA Site Contamination Branch for advice on site
contamination issues - we can provide guidance on a range of site
contamination issues including assisting potential vendors or
purchasers of land and properties to make informed decisions on
matters relating to the assessment, independent auditing, and
the remediation and management of site contamination.
The EPA Site Contamination Branch can be contacted on (08) 8204 2004.
The Public Register is established under Section 109 of the Environment
Protection Act 1993, to provide a public record of:
- significant information about environmental authorisations
- development authorisations
- incidents of environmental harm and
- details of environment protection orders, clean-up orders
and clean-up authorisations.
Information submitted to the EPA in relation to site contamination
may be recorded on the Public Register depending on the nature
of the information. Information may be placed on the Public Register
where there may be actual or potential serious or material environmental
harm. This includes environmental assessment reports that indicate
impacts to groundwater beneath a site or extending outside site
boundaries.
The EPA also holds copies of all Site Audit Reports completed
in South Australia which may be examined or a copy obtained as
if it were on the Public Register.
Information can be copied or inspected from the Public Register
on payment of a fee. For further information on viewing or obtaining
information through the Public Register, contact the EPA Public
Register Officer on 8204 9128.
