Contaminated land

Contaminated land results from activities and industries where hazardous substances are inappropriately stored, used or disposed of.

Contamination may remain on site in soil and/or move off site in surface water, groundwater or air discharges, posing a wider risk to both public health and the environment.

Present-day activities and industries are much less likely to result in contaminated land than in the past, as those involving discharges to the environment are controlled under the Resource Management Act, while the storage and use of hazardous substances is controlled under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act .

The Resource Management Act defines ‘contaminated land’ as land that has a hazardous substance on it or in it that:

a) has significant adverse effects on the environment; or

b) is reasonably like to have significant adverse effects on the environment.

Investigations and site categorisation

Following the release of a report into potentially contaminated land in 1992 the Taranaki Regional Council embarked on a programme to investigate sites of interest, which resulted in a number of extensive and thorough investigations being carried out and reported on. The Council also developed a ‘Register of Selected Land Uses’ (RSLU) database to record information about all sites that had been investigated (regardless of whether contamination was found to be present).

The RSLU database is continually updated as new information about sites is received. Information may be obtained from Council’s own activities, including: investigations, regular monitoring and inspection programmes, and responses to unauthorised incidents. Information may also be provided by consultants carrying out site investigations, property owners, and members of the public.

There is currently no national environmental standard on contaminants in soil. Sites are therefore classified on the basis of the results of inspections and investigations carried out by the Council, and various other parties, and assessed against a variety of currently available guidelines from both New Zealand and overseas. Taranaki has no sites that are classified as contaminated, all sites either have no contamination, have been remediated, or are actively managed to ensure they do not pose an unacceptable public or environmental risk.

This issue was discussed in Taranaki: Where We Stand — State of the Environment Report 2009. Click on the link below to access the relevant extract from the report.

Contaminated Land: Extract from State of the Environment Report (113KB)

Accessing site information

Sites on the RSLU database are identified on the Council’s website, through the GIS application Regional Xplorer. Use the following instructions to determine whether or not the Council holds any information regarding potential contamination of a particular property:

• Click on the ‘Taranaki Regional Xplorer’ link below these instructions.
• Once the property is located, click on the 'Maps and Data Sources' tab.
• Select 'Show Layers'.
• Scroll down the layers list and check 'Regional Layers' and 'Land Management Sites'.
• If no yellow pin appears on the property, the Council has no records for this property.
• If a yellow pin does appear, click on the 'Getting Around' tab.
• Then click on the 'Point Identify' icon.
• Place cursor over yellow pin and click. This will display the following information:
  • Land use number
  • Historic use
  • Current use

Taranaki Regional Xplorer

If further details are required, a written request can be made to the Taranaki Regional Council.

Postal address: Private Bag 713 Stratford 4352
Email: info@trc.govt.nz

The information request should be labelled “Selected land use enquiry” and include the following information:

• Name, address and contact phone number of the person making the enquiry.
• “Land use number” of the property.
• At least two methods of identifying the site eg. address, legal description, certificate of title number, valuation/assessment number.

Please note that under Section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982 the Council will provide the requested information as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case not later than 20 working days after the day on which the request is received.

A charge may be applied for time-consuming requests.

Further information

If you are buying or selling a property, and have concern about past land use on the site, read:

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Sheep dip factsheets

These factsheets were prepared by Sally Gaw and Graham McBride for Tasman District Council through a Foundation for Research Science and Technology Envirolink grant. Sally is a lecturer in environmental chemistry at the University of Canterbury. She has 10 years' experience in managing contaminated land and was a member of the Ministry for the Environment’s Pesticide Advisory Group. Graham is a farmer with national and international experience with managing legacy chemicals from agriculture. He initiated research into sheep dips in New Zealand.

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