You must minimise risks of harm to human health and the environment from contaminated land and groundwater, so far as reasonably practicable.
Duty to manage contaminated land, section 39, Environment Protection Act 2017.
Who it applies to
The duty applies to you if you manage or control contaminated land, including groundwater.
You have a duty to manage contamination on your land even if you did not cause the contamination.
You manage or control land if you can exercise power over that land – for example, if you:
- hold a legal interest in the land as the owner, leaseholder (tenant) or committee of management
- have access to or use of the land.
What you must do
Manage risk from contamination by:
- identifying the contamination you suspect is present
- investigating and assessing the contamination, with expert help
- providing and maintaining measures to minimise risk.
Measures to minimise risk may include:
- interim controls while you assess the contamination
- clean-up to make the site suitable for its current use
- review of controls to ensure they remain effective.
You must share information about the contamination with anyone you reasonably believe may be affected by the contamination. The information to be shared includes:
- information to allow the contamination to be identified
- results of investigations and assessments you have done
- the risks of harm to human health and the environment from the contamination.
You must give information to anyone you reasonably expect to be in management or control of the contaminated land. The information you give must enable them to comply with the duty to manage contaminated land. This includes:
- whether we have been notified under the duty to notify of contaminated land
- the information contained in the notification.
To learn how to find an expert, visit Work with a consultant.
Examples
Identifying potential contamination
Lennie owns a property in an industrial estate on the northern edge of Melbourne. As the owner, Lennie is in management and control.
The previous owner provided Lennie with an environmental report. The report includes:
- the results of previous soil and groundwater sampling and testing
- an assessment of the current and past land uses of the site.
Past uses included the chemical treatment of timber for preservation.
Lennie is also aware of other sources of potential contamination:
- past insurance claims show there have been several fires at the site
- the buildings on the site date from a time when asbestos cement sheets and lead paint were used.
Based on this information, Lennie concludes the property is potentially contaminated.
Assessing potential contamination
Lennie engages an environmental consultant to help understand the contamination status.
Contaminated land is complex. Lennie does not have suitable qualifications or experience to assess the land herself.
Lennie asks the consultant to conduct a preliminary site investigation. This assessment considers if contamination at the site poses a risk to human health or the environment.
The consultant investigates the history of the site by:
- looking at records provided by the previous owner
- reviewing public records – historical aerial photography, council records and nearby environmental audits
- conducting a site visit to look for any obvious visual or olfactory signs of contamination at the site.
The consultant identifies likely contamination which may pose a risk to human health or the environment. Soil and groundwater at the site may be affected by:
- copper, chrome and arsenic from the timber treatment
- PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) from historical fires
- asbestos and lead from the erosion of the building materials.
Lennie asks the consultant to assess if the land is 'contaminated land' under the Act. If so, the duty to manage contaminated land applies. Lennie asks the consultant to consider the most sensitive onsite use.
The consultant undertakes a detailed site investigation. This involves collecting soil and groundwater samples. The samples are analysed for the potential contaminants identified in the preliminary site investigation.
The results of the soil assessment:
- show contamination near the boundary
- suggest the contamination originates from the site
- indicate that contamination from Lennie's land may be moving to the neighbours' land.
The consultant evaluates the potential for offsite contamination by:
- considering human health in a high-density residential setting
- referencing the health investigation level B (Residential with minimal opportunities for soil access) values in Schedule B1 of the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure (Cth).
The detailed site investigation finds that contamination at the border with the neighbouring site is below the relevant criteria.
There is no need to share information with the neighbour.
This information is a summary of our Guide to the duty to manage contaminated land.
Updated