Section 105 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (CLM Act) allows DECC to make or approve guidelines for purposes connected with the objects of the Act. These guidelines must be taken into consideration by DECC whenever they are relevant and by accredited site auditors when conducting a site audit. They are also used by contaminated land consultants in undertaking investigation, remediation, validation and reporting on contaminated sites.
A current list of guidelines made or approved by DECC under the CLM Act appears below. To obtain hard copies of DECC guidelines contact Environment Line on 131 555.
Guidelines made by DECC
PDFs require Acrobat Reader
- Guidelines for Assessing Service Station Sites, December 1994
- Guidelines for the vertical mixing of soil on former broad-acre agricultural land, January 1995
- Sampling Design Guidelines, September 1995
- Guidelines for Assessing Banana Plantation Sites, October 1997 - bananaplantsite.pdf, 586 kb
- Guidelines for Consultants Reporting on Contaminated Sites (97104consultantsglines.pdf; 209 KB) - September 2000
- Guidelines for Assessing Former Orchards and Market Gardens, June 2005 - orchardgdlne05195.pdf, 172 kb
- Guidelines for the NSW Site Auditor Scheme (2nd edition), April 2006 - auditorglines06121.pdf, 510kb
- Guidelines for the Assessment and Management of Groundwater Contamination, March 2007 - groundwaterguidelines07144.pdf 604 kb
- Guidelines on the Duty to Report Contamination under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, June 2009 - 09438gldutycontclma.pdf, 1 Mb
Note: All references in DECC's contaminated sites guidelines to the Australian Water Quality Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Waters (ANZECC, November 1992) are replaced as of 6 September 2001 by references to the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC and ARMCANZ, October 2000), subject to the same terms.
Guidelines approved by DECC
ANZECC publications
- Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for the Assessment and Management of Contaminated Sites, published by Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), January 1992
- Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality, Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand, Paper No 4, October 2000
EnHealth publications (formerly National Environmental Health Forum monographs)
- Composite Sampling, Lock, W. H., National Environmental Health Forum Monographs, Soil Series No.3, 1996, SA Health Commission, Adelaide
- Environmental Health Risk Assessment: Guidelines for assessing human health risks from environmental hazards, Department of Health and Ageing and EnHealth Council, Commonwealth of Australia, June 2002
National Environment Protection Council publications
- National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure 1999
The Measure consists of a policy framework for the assessment of site contamination, Schedule A (Recommended General Process for the Assessment of Site Contamination) and Schedule B (Guidelines). Schedule B guidelines include:
B(1) Guideline on Investigation Levels for Soil and Groundwater
B(2) Guideline on Data Collection, Sample Design and Reporting
B(3) Guideline on Laboratory Analysis of Potentially Contaminated Soils
B(4) Guideline on Health Risk Assessment Methodology
B(5) Guideline on Ecological Risk Assessment
B(6) Guideline on Risk Based Assessment of Groundwater Contamination
B(7a) Guideline on Health-Based Investigation Levels
B(7b) Guideline on Exposure Scenarios and Exposure Settings
B(8) Guideline on Community Consultation and Risk Communication
B(9) Guideline on Protection of Health and the Environment During the Assessment of Site Contamination
B(10) Guideline on Competencies & Acceptance of Environmental Auditors and Related Professionals
Other documents
- Guidelines for the Assessment and Clean Up of Cattle Tick Dip Sites for Residential Purposes, NSW Agriculture and CMPS&F Environmental, February 1996
- Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, NHMRC & Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council of Australia and New Zealand, 2004