Environmental impact assessment is the type of environmental statement. The statements are often organized to describe the environmental baseline, mitigation, and effects for each type of environmental receptors: ecology, water resources, archaeological resources, human beings, and etcetera. Contaminated land is often managed similarly to the different environmental receptor groups. It is principally a cause of emphasis rather than a receptor.
It also often refers to an existing condition, damaging its effects on various receptors such as human health, structures and buildings, surface water features, groundwater features, and ecology. It often means that land contamination specialists struggle with logically integrating the issue into an Environmental Statement. However, sticking to the structured approach of an environmental statement is essential to ensure a clear description of the existing environmental condition, the potential impacts, and the actions taken to avoid, minimize, offset or manage the impacts. Assessments are intended to be instruments that find the real risks with some reliable, objective process leading to the targeted dedication of resources toward protecting critical assets.
Contaminated land is considered on a source-pathway-receptor basis. Understanding land development's impact on the issue of contaminated land is essential. Development can interfere with any of three different elements. First, it can introduce sensitive receptors by changing land use, for instance, by building new residential units on a site previously used for heavy industry. New pathways linking pre-existing contamination with upcoming receptors can be formed, for instance, when piling through a non-permeable layer connecting a layer of contaminated soils with a deep aquifer. Finally, introducing pollutants on the site is can introduce the source of contamination.More specifically, these are assets degraded or destroyed, would effectively halt operations for an extended time - or worse yet - altogether.
The aim of SEPP 55 Contamination Assessment. Apart from the essential and procedural elements described in the environmental statement, a good environmental statement comprises the following departments:
Environmental baseline
Environmental impacts
Mitigating measures
Residual impacts
Any receptor can affected and describe the section about the potential impacts and effects should be introduced in the section describing the baseline. Any material impact can assign mitigation or management action. Implementing this structure allows for a clear description and understanding of the environmental impacts and how they can manage.
Applying these principles to contaminated land will outcomes in a baseline condition section that describes the current sensitive receptors present within the potential sphere of influence of the development, the sensitivity and importance of these receptors, the presence of any pre-existing contamination, and the presence of actual and potential pathways.
The following section, potential environmental impacts or effects, first considers the impacts that the development will have in terms of the introduction (or removal) of sensitive receptors and creating new pathways between existing and excellent pollution sources and receptors. In addition, the section will describe the potential environmental impacts associated with introducing new sources of contamination. Finally, a statement of the residual impact of the development is offered in the last section: residual environmental impacts.