Environmental Audit Reports
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INFORMATION REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT REPORTS August 2007 VICTORIA'S AUDIT SYSTEM AUDIT REPORT CURRENCY An environmental audit system has operated in Audit reports are based on the conditions encountered Victoria since 1989. The Environmenf Profecfion Acf and information reviewed at the time of preparation 1970 (the Act) provides for the appointment by the and do not represent any changes that may have Environment Protection Authority (EPA Victoria) of occurred since the date of completion. As it is not environmental auditors and the conduct of possible for an audit to present all data that could be independent, high quality and rigorous environmental of interest to all readers, consideration should be audits. made to any appendices or referenced documentation An environmental audit is an assessment of the for further information. condition of the environment, or the nature and extent When information regarding the condition of a site of harm (or risk of harm) posed by an industrial changes from that at the time an audit report is process or activity, waste, substance or noise. issued, or where an administrative or computation Environmental audit reports are prepared by EPA- error is identified, environmental audit reports, appointed environmental auditors who are highly certificates and statements may be withdrawn or qualified and skilled individuals. amended by an environmental auditor. Users are Under the Act, the function of an environmental advised to check EPA's website to ensure the currency auditor is to conduct environmental audits and of the audit document. prepare environmental audit reports. Where an environmental audit is conducted to determine the PDF SEARCHABILITY AND PRINTING condition of a site or its suitability for certain uses, an environmental auditor may issue either a certificate or EPA Victoria can only certify the accuracy and statement of environmental audit. correctness of the audit report and appendices as presented in the hardcopy format. EPA is not A certificate indicates that the auditor is of the opinion responsible for any issues that arise due to problems that the site is suitable for any beneficial use defined with PDF files or printing. in the Act, whilst a statement indicates that there is some restriction on the use of the site. Except where PDF normal format is specified, PDF files are scanned and optical character recognised by Any individual or organisation may engage appointed machine only. Accordingly, while the images are environmental auditors, who generally operate within consistent with the scanned original, the searchable the environmental consulting sector, to undertake hidden text may contain uncorrected recognition environmental audits. The EPA administers the errors that can reduce search reliability. Therefore, environmental audit system and ensures its ongoing keyword searches undertaken within the document integrity by assessing auditor applications and may not retrieve all references to the queried text. ensuring audits are independent and conducted with regard to guidelines issued by EPA. This PDF has been created using the Adobe-approved method for generating Print Optimised Output. To assure proper results, proofs must be printed, rather AUDIT FILES STRUCTURE than viewed on the screen. Environmental audit reports are stored digitally by This PDF is compatible with Adobe Acrobat Reader EPA in three parts: the audit report (part A), report Version 4.0 or any later version which is downloadable appendices (part B) and, where applicable, the free from Adobe's Website, www.adobe.com. certificate or statement of environmental audit and an executive summary (part C). A report may be in colour FURTHER I N FORMATION and black-and-white formats. Generally, only black- and-white documents are text searchable. For more information on Victoria's environmental Report executive summaries, findings and audit system, visit EPA's website or contact EPA's recommendations should be read and relied upon only Environmental Audit Unit. in the context of the document as a whole, including Web: www.epa.vic.clov.au/envaudit any appendices and, where applicable, any certificate Email: [email protected] or statement of environmental audit. 46825-1-B Attachment A Noel Arnold and Associates Pty Ltd Environmental Site Contamination Assessment Report (February 2002) Environmental Site Assessment Tradepac Pty Ltd 396 Nepean Highway, Parkdale December 2001 19417 MT0160:l 19417ETREP December 2001 Environmental Site Assessment Tradepac Pty Ltd 396 Nepean Highway, Parkdale Executive Summary Noel Arnold & Associates Pty Ltd (NAA) was engaged by Tradepac Pty Ltd (Tradepac) to undertake an Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) of the site located at 396 Nepean Highway, Parkdale. It is understood that the property is to be re-developed with medium density residential housing, hence a certificate or statement of environmental audit is required. The principal objective of this assessment was to identify any potential contamination arising from previous site activities that may adversely affect the redevelopment of the site for a medium density residential use. The site located at 396 Nepean Highway, Parkdale was previously used for commercial purposes. Prior to its vacation and the demolition of the site buildings, the site operated as a building and plumbing suppliers for a period of approximately 40-45 years. Prior to that, the site was vacant land. Assessment of the site identified some slightly elevated heavy metal (arsenic and zinc) concentrations exceeding the NEPM EILs in near surface soils and at 0.6 m depth, predominantly in the rear half of the site. Fragments of asbestos cement (AC) sheet and other industrial rubble be.. bricks, concrete, metal, etc.) were also identified in the near surface soil and the site. Although the concentrations of heavy metals did not exceed the NEPM 'A' HILs and therefore posed a negligible health risk to humans, the elevated zinc concentrations in particular could have posed a phytotoxic risk to plants grown at the site in the future. To eliminate this risk, remediation works involving the excavation and off-site disposal of zinc contaminated soil were undertaken at the site. Validation sampling confirmed that these works successfully removed the elevated zinc concentrations and thus eliminated the phytotoxic risk. Remediation of the asbestos containing materials involved the removal of the top 0.05-0.1 m of soil from the site to landfill, followed by the mechanical sifting of the top 0.3-0.4 m of soil. Manual raking was also undertaken at the completion of the mechanical sifting to remove any remaining bonded AC sheet fragments to the extent practicable. A detailed assessment of the proposed yard and garden areas found that the asbestos content in the near surface soils ranged from 0.0002 to 0.0008% by mass, which was within the nominated guideline range of 0.0001 to 0.001%. A final visual inspection of the site confirmed that no asbestos remained in the surface soils at the site. A qLialitative assessment of the groundwater beneath the site indicates that there is a negligible risk to groundwater associated with previous activities at the site. The findings of this assessment indicate that the site is suitable for its proposed use as a medium density residential development, based on the current development plans submitted. 19417ETREP MT0160:l Page: i December 2001 Environmental Site Assessment Tradepac Pty Ltd 396 Nepean Highway. Parkdale Table of Contents I. Introduction ....................................................................... i 1.1 Background ...........s.................................................I..........................l 1-2Objectives ......................................................................................... i 1.3 Scope Of Work ................................................................................... 1 2. Site Description.................................................................. 2 2.1 Site Location .....................................................................................2 2.2 Site Layout ........................................................................................ 2 2.3 Site History ....................................................................................... 3 2.4 Geology and Hydrogeology............................................................... 4 2.4.1 Geology ............................................................................................ 4 2.4.2 Hydrogeology ................................................................................... 5 3. Guidelines of Site Assessment ............................................ 5 4 . Site Investigation............................................................... 6 4.1 Soil Sampling Program ..................................................................... 6 4.1.1 Preliminary Soil Sampling Program ..................................................... 6 4.1.2 Soil Sampling Program - Stage 2 ....................................................... 7 .. 4.2 Analytical Schedule ........................................................................... 7 4.2.1 Preliminary Soil Sampling Program ..................................................... 7 4.2.2 Soil Sampling Program - Stage 2 ....................................................... 8 5 . Remediation and Validation Works .................................... 9 5.1 Remediation and Validation of Soil with Elevated Zinc Concentrations