South Australia’s Environment Protection Authority - PowerPoint Presentation

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South Australia’s Environment Protection AuthorityArticulating aestheticsMonday 24 August 2015

Andrew PruszinskiSlide2

Draft audit guidelines (13.9)The auditor should consider aesthetic impacts such as the discolouration of soil, presence of waste or other debris, or proximity to adjacent land uses (such as operating landfills) The presence of small amounts of solid, inert waste such as minor building and other debris that is typically found in developed urban areas may be considered by the auditor to be suitable to remain in situ without being subject to specific management or recommendations. However, the presence of extensive rubble or waste (

eg

building waste) may require remediation by the auditor on the basis of detriment to the aesthetic enjoyment and reasonable use of the site.

Odour may not represent health or ecological risk but may result in adverse amenity if exposed during development or occupation of the site.Slide3

NEPM B1 (3.6)Aesthetic issues generally relate to the presence of low-concern or non-hazardous inert foreign material (refuse) in soil or fill resulting from human activityVarious forms of refuse may be identified in bore or test pit logs, for example fragments of concrete, metal, bricks, pottery, glass, trivial amounts of bonded asbestos-containing-materials, bitumen, ash, green waste, rubber, plastics and a wide variety of other waste materials

Similarly, construction and demolition waste materials, some of which are inert and non-hazardous, are widely distributed in urban areasSlide4

NEPM circumstances for assessmentThe following characteristics or presentations are examples of where site assessment may not have detected contamination above investigation or screening levels but where further assessment would be required:highly malodorous soils or extracted groundwater (e.g. strong residual petroleum hydrocarbon odours, hydrogen sulphide in soil or extracted groundwater,

organosulfur

compounds)

hydrocarbon sheen on surface water

discoloured chemical deposits or soil staining with chemical waste other than of a very minor natureSlide5

NEPM circumstances for assessmentlarge monolithic deposits of otherwise low-risk material, e.g. gypsum as powder or plasterboard, cement kiln dustpresence of putrescible refuse including material that may generate hazardous levels of methane such as a deep-fill profile of green waste or large quantities of timber wastesoils containing residue from animal burial (e.g. former abattoir sites).Slide6

The EP Act (5B)For the purposes of this Act, site contamination exists at a site if—(a) chemical substances are present on or below the surface of the site in concentrations above the background concentrations (if any); and

(b) the chemical substances have, at least in part, come to be present there as a

result of an activity at the site or elsewhere; and

(c) the presence of the chemical substances in those concentrations has resulted

in—

(

i

) actual or potential harm to the health or safety of human beings that

is not trivial, taking into account current or proposed land uses; or

(ii) actual or potential harm to water that is not trivial; or

(iii) other actual or potential environmental harm that is not trivial, taking

into account current or proposed land uses.

chemical substance

means any organic or inorganic substance, whether a solid, liquid or gas (or combination thereof), and includes wasteSlide7

Putting all that aside…Slide8

Questions…