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Contaminated Site Audits

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Specialist Audits

The NSW Site Auditor Scheme aims to ensure proper management of contaminated land by providing a pool of accredited ‘site auditors’ who can be engaged to review investigation, remediation and validation work conducted by contaminated land consultants.

Site auditors are highly experienced contaminated land consultants accredited by DECCW under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, in order to improve access to competent technical advice and increase certainty in the ‘sign-off’ of contaminated site assessments and remediation. You can engage a site auditor to independently review a consultant’s reports on assessment, remediation and validation work to ensure that the consultant’s methodology and interpretation of data are consistent with current DECCW-endorsed regulations and guidelines.

In very broad terms, the management framework for contaminated land in NSW consists of two tiers:

• DECCW, which uses its powers under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (CLM Act) to deal with site contamination that is significant enough to warrant regulation under the CLM Act given the site’s current or approved use; and
• Local councils deal with other contamination under the planning and development framework, including State Environmental Planning Policy No. 55 - Remediation of Land and the Managing Land Contamination - Planning Guidelines. This type of site, although contaminated, does not pose an unacceptable risk under its current or approved use. The planning and development process will determine what remediation is needed to make the land suitable for a different use.

The outcomes of a site audit are:

• a Site Audit Statement which outlines the conclusions of a site audit;
• an accompanying Site Audit Report that summarises the information reviewed by the auditor and provides the basis for the conclusions contained in the site audit statement; and
• Record under section 58 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997. This record is maintained by DECCW in accordance with Part 5 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (CLM Act).

The record provides:

1. a record of written notices issued by DECCW under the CLM Act, including preliminary investigation orders
2. the names of the sites, owners or occupiers at the time of DECCW action in relation to the site
3. copies of site audit statements (SAS) provided to DECCW under section 52 of the CLM Act and relating to significantly contaminated land

The site auditor scheme also has an important role in supporting decision making by planning authorities. State Environmental Planning Policy 55 (SEPP55) requires planning authorities to consider the potential for contamination at a site (and adjacent sites) prior to planning decisions being made.

There is a Duty to Report under section 60 of the CLM Act. A person whose activities have contaminated land or a landowner whose land has been contaminated is required to notify DECCW when they become aware of the contamination. Such a person is required to notify DECCW of contamination in any of the following circumstances:

• The level of the contaminant in, or on, soil exceeds a level of contamination set out in these guidelines with respect to a current or approved use of the land, and people have been, or foreseeably will be, exposed to the contaminant, OR
• The contamination meets a criterion prescribed by the regulations, OR
• The contaminant has entered, or will foreseeably enter, neighbouring land, the atmosphere, groundwater or surface water, and the contamination exceeds, or will foreseeably exceed, a level of contamination set out in these guidelines and will foreseeably continue to remain above that level.

Useful publications (amongst others) relating to the NSW audit system can be found on their website (http://www. environment.nsw.gov.au/clm/auditorscheme.htm) and include:

• Guidelines on the Duty to Report Contamination under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, June 2009 – (09438gldutycontclma.pdf, 1 Mb);
• Brochure for landholders and small businesses on their responsibilities regarding land contamination (09811LandContamination.pdf, 355KB).
• The Guidelines for the NSW Site Auditor Scheme (auditorglines06121.pdf, 510kb) which describe the obligations of site auditors in conducting a site audit and the administrative framework supporting the site auditor scheme.