The EPA presented at the 7th International Contaminated Site Remediation Conference – CleanUp 2017, sharing its approach to orphan site contamination assessment activities.
EPA Manager Site Contamination, Andrew Pruszinski said the South Australian Government’s $7.8 million investment over four years to manage the legacy of orphan sites recognises the importance on dealing with historical site contamination.
“This funding commitment announced in 2016 means the EPA can now undertake assessment work at orphan sites where it believes there is a potential and significant public health risk to the community.
“An EPA assessment area is established where information on site contamination identifies the need for assessment within a large area.
“This will typically be in situations when site contamination has extended outside the boundaries of a site and a responsible party has not been identified or does not exist,” he said.
The EPA to date has undertaken multiple large-scale assessment programs across metropolitan Adelaide.
“We continually update our technologies and approaches and use multiple methods of assessment,” he said.
“Through our learnings we have found the importance of understanding site history, activities and locations of all potential sources.
“Multiple lines of evidence are required including collection of field data and use of characterisation technologies,” Mr Pruszinski said.
Mr Pruszinski said that while working on the assessments activities, the need to keep the community informed through engagement is critical.
“We have a significant focus on proactive community engagement to ensure all affected owners and occupiers are notified throughout the process – from the assessments to remediation works,” he said.
“We continually adapt our work and technologies, aiming for best-practice in site contamination assessment and providing leadership in this area,” Mr Pruszinski said.