Site Contamination Services
The EPA’s vision is to work towards a clean, healthy and valued environment that supports social and economic wellbeing for all South Australians now and into the future. Site remediation can generate both public and private benefits, by releasing previously contaminated land and allowing urban regeneration. In the United States, studies indicate that this has resulted in significant economic, environmental and social benefits – from new jobs to increases in property values in the broader community. The EPA’s work can also be considered in the context of the positive impacts on business in terms of supporting green jobs – such as environmental contractors, trades, consultants, and site contamination auditors, all of who can be involved in remediation and mitigation activities. This work keeps South Australia at the forefront of the nation in dealing with legacy contamination and realising the economic opportunities it can create.
Overview
Site contamination exists in most urbanised areas in the world. South Australia is no exception, particularly suburbs on or near former industrial land. As recently as the 1980s, chemicals used by industry were simply tipped down drains and poured onto soil to evaporate. There was a lack of awareness about the long-term impacts this could have – and laws were not in place to prevent it from happening.
Today these practices are contrary to both current legislation and community expectations of good environmental practice. Dealing with the legacy of site contamination is a challenging issue for regulators worldwide. For example, assessment of the nature and extent of contamination on complex sites can continue for several years or more before enough is known to attempt to remediate.
Like all industrialised cities, Adelaide and South Australian regional centres have contaminated sites that are the direct result of historical practices involving:
- petrols, oils, solvents, degreasers and other substances used in manufacturing
- industrial sites such as gasworks, drycleaners, timber preservation and tanneries
- agricultural chemicals, weedicides and pesticides/termiticides
- waste products such as ash, which were often buried.
The EPA is working to effectively manage site contamination across South Australia as part of the state government’s strategic priority to deal with long-term environmental and health impacts of historic pollution.
Scientific understanding and technologies to assess and remediate site contamination are constantly improving. The EPA continues to work with other regulators in Australia and overseas to improve knowledge and expertise in managing legacy contamination.
South Australia has a proud manufacturing history and some chemical disposal and handling practices that were considered appropriate at the time are no longer acceptable by today’s standards. Certain contaminants left behind by previous activities can cause health problems if humans are exposed to high enough concentrations over a period of time.
Australia has an estimated 160,000 contaminated sites. In South Australia, the EPA holds information on almost 2,200 sites that have been listed on the Public Register. England has around 320,000 contaminated sites and in 2013, the United States EPA reported monitoring more than 530,000 sites, with clean-up costs running into the hundreds of billion dollars. In industrialised cities worldwide these figures will continue to grow, as demand grows for land previously used by industry to be remediated and used for housing.
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