EPA has released “The cleanup and management of polluted groundwater” revised guidelines for auditors and industry around the issuing and completion of environmental audits, particularly in reference to the way Clean Up to Extent Practicable (CUTEP) assessments and decisions can now be made.
The release of the guidelines is part of EPA’s Audit Reform project and follows a number of recommendations from external reports to improve risk-based regulation in the environmental auditing of contaminated environments.
Until now, EPA has made approximately 25 to 30 CUTEP assessments a year taking an average of more than seven weeks to assess.
The changes will see lower-risk CUTEP assessments and decisions now be made by an environmental auditor, enabling EPA to focus its efforts on complex or higher risk CUTEP decisions. For example, auditors will now make a decision where remaining groundwater pollution is within the boundaries of a particular site and the impact to human health is acceptable for the proposed land use or can be managed or mitigated with engineering controls.
The move follows extensive consultation with auditors and industry.
EPA’s Manager of Environmental Audit, Scott McFarlane said it was consistent with the overall direction EPA was taking as regulator.
“It makes much more sense to allocate resources to sites that potentially represent a higher risk to the community, while auditors who have already been through a rigorous EPA-appointment can sign off the lower risk groundwater assessments,” he said.
Importantly these reforms align with the Government’s overall drive to improve economic growth and reduce red tape in Victoria and contribute to EPA’s response to the Minister for Environment and Climate Change’s Statement of Expectation (SOE) to improve efficiency and reduce red tape associated with the management of contaminated environments.