Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 1

Contaminated Land
Management Guidelines No. 1

Reporting on Contaminated Sites
in New Zealand
(2016 Revised Draft)

Disclaimer

While every effort has been made to ensure that this guideline is as clear and accurate as possible, the Ministry for the Environment will not be held responsible for any action arising out of its use. This guideline should not be taken as providing a definitive statement for any particular user’s circumstances. All users of this guideline should satisfy themselves, and their client(s) concerning the application of this guideline to their situation and in cases where there is uncertainty seek expert advice.

This document may be cited as:

Ministry for the Environment. 2016. Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 1: Reporting on Contaminated Sites in New Zealand (2016 Revised Draft). Wellington: Ministry for the Environment.

First published in April 2001 by the

Ministry for the Environment

PO Box 10362, Wellington, New Zealand

Revised November 2003 and October 2011

2016 Consultation Draft February 2016

2017 Revised Draft August 2016

ISBN: 978-0-908339-56-3
Publication number: ME 1259

This document is available on the Ministry for the Environment website: www.mfe.govt.nz.

Acknowledgements

The 2016 version of this guideline was prepared with assistance from Erin Richards and Graeme Proffitt of Pattle Delamore Partners Ltd for the Ministry for the Environment, with input from representatives of regional councils, territorial and unitary authorities, the oil industry and senior contaminated land practitioners.

The example template for reporting on the removal of petroleum underground storage tanks (given in appendix B) is based on an original developed by URS (NZ) Ltd, Wellington; permission to use this material is gratefully acknowledged.

We would also like to thank the various contributors to previous versions of this document, including environmental consultants, local authority staff and industry representatives who provided comments during the respective consultation periods.

Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 1: Reporting on Contaminated Sites in New Zealand 5

Contents

Acknowledgements 4

Abbreviations 6

1 Introduction 7

1.1 Purpose 7

1.2 Scope 7

1.3 Use of this guideline 8

1.4 Other reporting requirements and guidelines 8

2 Investigating and reporting 10

2.1 General 10

2.2 Preliminary site investigation report 13

2.3 Detailed site investigation report 14

2.4 Site management plan 14

2.5 Remediation action plan 16

2.6 Site validation report 18

2.7 Ongoing site management plan 19

Appendix A: Table ofcontents for reports and plans 22

Appendix B: Underground petroleum storage system removal 42

Bibliography 49

Tables

Table 1: Reporting requirements under the NES 11

Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 1: Reporting on Contaminated Sites in New Zealand 5

Abbreviations

CLMG Contaminated Land Management Guidelines

DSI detailed site investigation

HAIL Hazardous Activities and Industry List

LIM land information memoranda

NES Resource Management (National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health) Regulations 2011

OSMP Ongoing site management plan

PID Photoionization detector

PSI preliminary site investigation

RAP remedial action plan

RMA Resource Management Act 1991

SMP site management plan

SQEP suitably qualified and experienced practitioner

SVR site validation report

UPSS underground petroleum storage system

Contaminated Land Management Guideline No. 5: Site Investigation and Analysis of Soils 7

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose

Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 1: Reporting on Contaminated Sites in NewZealand (the guideline) is incorporated by reference into the Resource Management (National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health) Regulations 2011 (referred to hereafter as the NES). This guideline therefore has a regulatory role when reporting for NES purposes. As a consequence, the primary purpose of this document is to provide an overarching framework to guide contaminated land practitioners reporting on and preparing management plans for NES purposes.

The aim is to achieve a nationally-consistent approach which will help landowners, regulators and other interested parties understand or review contaminated land reports and management plans, completed for NES purposes.

This guideline is designed to be used in conjunction with other documents incorporated by reference into the NES, in particular, Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 5: Site Investigation and Analysis of Soils (Ministry for the Environment, 2016).

Contaminated land investigations can have a variety of purposes, other than the requirements of the NES. For some investigations anowner, occupier or prospective owner or occupier may simply want background information on the site, or to benchmark contaminant concentrations with or without a risk assessment[1]. Alternatively, people may wish to establish the feasibility of a proposal. These arenot regulatory purposes and quite commonly would not be submitted to a regulatory authority. However, many investigations do have a regulatory purpose, whether to apply for a resource consent under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), fulfil a resource consent condition, satisfy a rule in a regional or district plan (these may include requirements for an ecological risk assessment which are outside the scope of the NES), or for another purpose under another piece of legislation.

This guideline is intended to provide information as recommended good practice which can be applied to all contaminated land reporting, both regulatory and non-regulatory. The readers of reports and plans written in accordance with this guideline should be able to:

· understand the report’s or plan’s purpose including the regulatory context (if any)

· understand the physical context and circumstances of the site

· understand the stated outcomes of the reports in the context of the site investigation works, or the remedial and management actions undertaken or proposed

· when relevant, assess compliance with regulatory requirements.

1.2 Scope

Contaminated land investigation, remediation and management are typically approached and reported on in a number of stages. Some site investigations require no more than one stage of reporting, while others involve multiple investigation reports, remediation proposals, and management plans. This guideline is not intended to provide all the detail that might be required on the most complex sites, but instead describes the various types of commonly required reports, their specific purposes and uses, and essential and optional contents. This guideline describes:

· the preliminary site investigation report (PSI)

· the detailed site investigation report (DSI)

· the remedial action plan (RAP)

· the site management plan (SMP) to control remediation or development earthworks

· the site validation report (SVR)

· the ongoing site management plan (OSMP) for ongoing management of a site.

1.3 Use of this guideline

This guideline is principally aimed at contaminated land practitioners who undertake the investigation of and reporting on contaminated land and regulatory authorities when they review reports prepared for a regulatory purpose. The overall content of the guideline should also help other stakeholders use or assess contaminated land reports.

The practitioner who is undertaking the reporting should have the relevant experience in the type of investigation being conducted, or should be working under the direction of such a person. If the investigation is being carried out to meet a regulatory requirement of the NES, a suitably qualified and experienced practitioner (SQEP) must certify the PSI or DSI report that is produced. Guidance on determining who is a SQEP is provided in the NES Users’ Guide (Ministry for the Environment, 2012).

When reviewing a report or plan in a regulatory context the regulator may use this guideline to check that the contents are appropriate for the report or plan purpose. However, any reviewer must be able to call on relevant experience and judgement in assessing the adequacy of an investigation, its conclusions and any recommendations for further investigation, remediation or management for the particular site circumstances.

1.4 Other reporting requirements and guidelines

Additional reporting requirements may apply in certain cases, depending on the purpose of the report. Where land is subject to specific planning, building or zoning requirements related to the actual or likely presence of hazardous contaminants, additional information may be required. The appropriate council should be consulted for details.

Other documents which the practitioner and reviewer should have a good knowledge of if preparing and reviewing reports, include:

· Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 2: Hierarchy and Application in New Zealand of Environmental Guideline Values (Ministry for the Environment, 2011a)

· Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 3: Risk Screening System (Ministry for the Environment, 2004)

· Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 4: Classification and Information Management Protocols (Ministry for the Environment, 2006a)

· Contaminated Land Management Guidelines No. 5: Site Investigation and Analysis of Soils(Ministry for the Environment, 2016) (referred to hereafter as Guideline No. 5)

· where the NES is involved, a good understanding of the regulations (available at http://www.legislation.govt.nz). For assistance with understanding the NES, refer to the Users’ Guide: National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health (Ministry for the Environment, 2012).

If the site involves petroleum hydrocarbons, a good knowledge of the Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 2011b) is necessary. This document is incorporated by reference into the NES, and consequently provides part of the regulatory framework under the NES for the removal of underground petroleum storage systems, or components of such systems.

When a human health risk assessment is involved it is helpful to understand the derivation and correct application of the soil contaminant standards contained in the Methodology for Deriving Standards for Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health (Ministry for the Environment, 2011d), which is also incorporated by reference into the NES.

There is also a series of older Ministry guidelines developed for the site investigation and assessment of specific industries, including:

· Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Contaminated Gasworks Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1997)

· Identifying, Investigating and Managing Risks Associated with Former Sheep-dip Sites: A Guide for Local Authorities (Ministry for the Environment, 2006b)

· Health and Environmental Guidelines for Selected Timber Treatment Chemicals (Ministry of Health, 1997).

Although the soil guideline values contained in these documents have largely been superseded by the values in the Methodology for Deriving Standards for Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health, practitioners should be familiar with the useful information they contain on site characteristics and investigation methods. These documents are available from the Ministry for the Environment, and are listed on the Ministry’s website: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/land/nes-assessing-and-managing-contaminants-soil-protect-human-health/about-nes.

2 Investigating and reporting

2.1 General

The aim of any site investigation or assessment is to produce a report that can support a decision-making process for the investigation/assessment objectives (eg, is the piece of land suitable for the proposed activity?). Decisions made about the NES are associated with assessing and managing the actual or potential adverse effects of contaminants in soil on human health from regulated activities.[2] Typically this is achieved by developing and refining a conceptual site model (CSM) which describes the source-pathway-receptor linkages that exist at a site. The CSM should identify complete and potential pathways between the known or potential contaminant source(s) and the receptor(s). This is referred to internationally as the pollutant linkage or source–pathway–receptor model (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Environment Agency, 2004), where:

· the source is the contaminant

· a pathway is a means by which a receptor can be exposed to, or potentially affected by, a contaminant

· a receptor is something that could be adversely affected by the contaminant (such as people, a water body, or an ecosystem).

Guideline No. 5 provides guidance on developing a CSM.

The NES includes specific investigation/assessment types to comply with NES-specific requirements. The investigation/assessment types relevant to this guideline are:

· the preliminary site investigation report (PSI) (refer section 2.2)

· the detailed site investigation report (DSI) (refer section 2.3)

· the site management plan (SMP) to control remedial or development earthworks (refer section 2.4)

· the remedial action plan (RAP) (refer section 2.5)

· the site validation report (SVR) (refer section 2.6)

· the ongoing site management plan (OSMP) for ongoing management of a site (refersection 2.7).

Site investigation/assessment for purposes other than NES requirements will generally follow the processes outlined in this guidance.

2.1.1 Reporting objectives

Determining the level of reporting needed requires an understanding of the investigation objectives, along with any regulatory requirements, because they will ultimately guide the level of assessment necessary. Section 2 of Guideline No. 5 provides detail about the development of investigation objectives.

Generally the most common objectives for site investigations are to determine whether there is a potential risk to human health or the environment and/or assess regulatory compliance (eg, against the human health requirements of the NES). Other objectives may relate to the future development of a site, or a landowner or prospective purchaser or occupier wanting to benchmark[3] site conditions for due diligence. The contaminated site practitioner needs to keep the project objectives in mind throughout the investigation works. These will inform each phase of the investigations to be undertaken and the subsequent level of reporting required.

2.1.2 Report organisation

Due to the variability in project objectives, a number of different types of reports may be necessary. A summary of the different reports that may be required for contaminated site investigations is provided in sections 2.2 to 2.7. The relationship of these reports to the regulations of the NES is summarised in table 1. Appendix B provides a separate discussion and example template for reporting associated with the removal of underground petroleum storage systems.