Page 2057 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
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residential building that presents a real and immediate hazard to residents in that building. Therefore, it is critical that before a site is redeveloped that hazard must be removed.
To elaborate further on that, even when the volatile component is removed, sites often require continued monitoring and management over time to ensure all the volatile contamination has been removed and no longer poses a risk for the development. The reason for this is that groundwater moves up and down. The actual groundwater level moves up and down and this can reintroduce contamination that is leaked from the tanks or pipes into the soil above the groundwater table. The remediation of contaminated soils at a site is normally required, at least to some degree. The procedure for the remediation of sites is typically detailed in a site remedial action plan which is developed by an expert environment consultant engaged by the owner of the site or the development proponent.
In the ACT the remedial action plan is required to be endorsed by an independent auditor approved by the Environment Protection Authority with a copy of the endorsement provided to the EPA prior to works commencing on the site. The use of independent auditors to oversight contaminated land assessment and remediation is national practice to provide consistency and robustness to the management of these contaminated sites. Auditors are approved by the EPA under the Environment Protection Act and are accredited by either the New South Wales or Victorian EPAs.
Consistent with ACT and national waste policies where contaminated soil requires mediation, this firstly must be done on site. This ensures that we are not using landfill, public landfill, to dispose of waste that can be treated and reused elsewhere once it meets that strict criteria. This is called land farming. The land farming of soil contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbon is an established international practice with strict guidelines on the control of potential omissions. Basically, with land farming the soil is exposed to the air and sunlight and over time the hydrocarbons in the soil break down and eventually disappear. It requires the turning of the soil on the ground for the period of time necessary for those hydrocarbons to be destroyed though sunlight and exposure to the air.
In cases where on-site land farming of contaminated soil is not possible or feasible, a site is available at West Belconnen Resource Management Centre for owners to land farm their impacted soil. These land farms are also subject to an environmental authorisation. This initiative was instigated by the government to facilitate the timely remediation of service stations and other contaminated sites. Where it was not practical to remediate on site, the government has made land available for that to occur.
The EPA continually monitors the progress of various service station sites across the ACT. While many sites may appear idle to the passerby or to members, active remediation is usually being undertaken to impacted groundwater beneath the site. Due to the complex nature of the geology in the ACT, the remediation of groundwater can take, in some instance, many years. In the ACT the majority of service station sites are owned by the major oil companies or large commercial retailers such as Woolworths, Coles and 7-Eleven.
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