Environment Protection Authority

Transmittal Certificate

Environment Protection Authority Transmittal Certificate 2016-17 [PDF 326KB]

Compliance Statement

The ACT Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Annual Report must comply with the 2017 Annual Report Directions (the Directions). The Directions are found at the ACT Legislation Register: www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2017-280/notification.asp.

The Compliance Statement indicates the subsections, under the five Parts of the Directions, that are applicable to the ACT EPA and the information that satisfies these requirements:

Part 1 Directions Overview

The requirements under Part 1 of the Directions relate to the purpose, timing and distribution, and records keeping of annual reports. The ACT EPA Annual Report complies with all subsections of Part 1 under the Directions.

In compliance with section 13 Feedback, Part 1 of the Directions, contact details for the ACT EPA are provided within the ACT EPA Annual Report to give readers the opportunity to provide feedback.

Part 2 Agency Annual Report Requirements

The requirements within Part 2 of the Directions are mandatory for all directorates and public sector bodies and ACT EPA Annual Report complies with all subsections. The information that satisfies the requirements of Part 2 is found in the ACT EPA Annual Report as follows:

• Transmittal Certificate, see page 320;
• Organisational Overview and Performance, inclusive of all subsections, see page 322;
• Financial Management Reporting, inclusive of all subsections, is contained within the CMTEDD Annual report.

Part 3 Reporting by Exception

The ACT EPA has nil information to report by exception under Part 3 of the Directions for the 2016‐17 reporting period.

Part 4 Directorate and Public Sector Body Specific Annual Report Requirements

There are no specific annual report requirements for the ACT EPA.

Part 5 Whole of Government Annual Reporting

All subsections of Part 5 of the Directions apply to the ACT EPA. Consistent with the Directions, the information satisfying these requirements is reported in the one place for all ACT Public Service Directorates, as follows:

• N. Community Engagement and Support, see the annual report of Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate;
• O. Justice and Community Safety, including all subsections O.1 – O.4, see the annual report of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate;
• P. Public Sector Standards and Workforce Profile, including all subsections P.1 – P.3, see the annual State of the Service Report; and
• Q. Territory Records, see the annual report of Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic, Development Directorate.

ACT Public Service Directorate annual reports are found at the following web address: http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/report/annual_reports

Legislative Framework and Functions

The EPA is established by the Environment Protection Act 1997 (the EP Act). As a statutory position, the EPA is responsible for administering the EP Act. Construction, Environment and Workplace Protection within Access Canberra supports the EPA in administering regulatory functions of the EP Act and other legislation administered by the EPA.

The objectives of the EPA include:

• protecting and enhancing the quality of the environment;
• preventing environmental degradation and risk of harm to human health;
• achieving effective integration of environmental, economic and social consideration in decision-making processes;
• establishing a single and integrated regulatory framework for environmental protection and provide for monitoring and reporting of environmental quality on a regular basis;
• facilitating the implementation of national environment protection measures and laws;
• ensuring contaminated land is managed having regard to human health and the environment; and
• encouraging responsibility by the whole community for the environment – general environmental duty of care.

The EPA meets these objectives by working with the community, business and government agencies, granting environmental authorisations, promoting environmental awareness, entering into environmental protection agreements, developing guidance and policies with stakeholders and issuing notices, environment protection orders and a range of other legislative instruments.

Environment Protection Policy

The EPA is responsible for regulation of the EP Act. The Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD) is responsible for the legislation and for developing policy and guidelines to facilitate its implementation. These policies and guidelines help clarify and apply the regulations made under the legislation.

For more information on Environment Protection Policy see the EPSDD Annual report.

Accredited Codes of Practice

Codes of Practice are formal documents developed by particular industries and approved by the Minister. Codes set out ways of minimising environmental harm and ensuring compliance with the general environmental duty. Codes may be either specific to the particular activity or activities to which they relate, or may apply across an industry. There is one Code accredited under the EP Act:

• The ACT commercial waste industry has an accredited Code of Practice, developed in 1998, dealing with operating hours, maintenance of equipment and complaint handling procedures.

Environment Protection Act

Environmental Authorisations

An Environmental Authorisation (EA) is a form of licence granted under section 49 of the EP Act. An EA sets out the conditions under which activities with a significant potential to cause environmental harm may be conducted. The number of authorisations is generally consistent with previous years. The EPA received and considered 31 applications for EAs during 2016-17. It currently administers a total of 309 EAs. All EAs are subject to review; EAs granted for an unlimited period are subject to review periods of up to five years based on a risk assessment of the activity and authorisation holder. There were 199 reviews of EAs during 2016-17.

Table 1: Number of Environmental Authorisations granted per activity

Activity (Schedule 1 Class A of the Act)	2015-16 Authorisations	2016-17 Authorisations	Current Authorisations
Controlled Burns	-	-	2
Commercial incineration, sterilisation of clinical waste	-	-	1
Composting	-	-	2
Material crushing, grinding or separation	-	3	9
Commercial production of alcoholic beverages	-	-	-
Crematorium	-	-	1
Extraction of material from a waterway	3	3	7
Firewood	3	-	20
Keeping poultry	-	-	1
Commercial landfills	-	-	2
Logging	-	-	1
Milk production	-	-	1
Motor sports	1	1	4
Motor sports and outdoor concerts	-	-	1
Outdoor concerts	12	7	2
Commercial use of agricultural and veterinary chemicals	20	9	130
Petroleum storage	-	2	67
Road building material production	-	-	2
Concrete production	-	-	9
Sewerage treatment	-	1	4
Incineration	-	-	1
Placement of soil on land	1	6	13
Transportation within the ACT of regulated waste	6	2	17
Transport of controlled waste	9	1	8
Timber milling	-	-	2
Waste petroleum recovery	-	-	1
Operation of a firearm shooting range	-	-	5
Wool-on sheepskin tanning	-	-	-
Treatment of contaminated soil	-	-	2
Total	55	35	315

Notes:

1. The total EAs listed in the activity table above of 315 is higher than the 309 EAs administered by the EPA, as some EAs have been granted for multiple Class A activities.
2. Similarly, new EAs granted in 2016-2017 total 35 activity types but there were only 34 new EAs granted.

Environmental Protection Agreements

Environmental Protection Agreements are formal, non-binding agreements between the EPA and businesses. These agreements are designed to help businesses manage their environmental performance. Section 38 of the EP Act provides for the EPA to enter into Environmental Protection Agreements and allows the agreements to be used instead of Environmental Authorisations where people are conducting certain activities that entail a moderately significant risk of environmental harm (those listed in Schedule 1 Class B of the Act).

The following table shows 52 Environmental Protection Agreements were made during the year, bringing the number of agreements currently being administered by the EPA to 175.

Table 2: Number of Environmental Protection Agreements per Activity

Activity (Schedule 1 Class B of the Act)	2014 – 15 Agreements	2015–16 Agreements	2016–17 Agreements	Current Agreements
Land development/construction	51	54	47	162
Municipal services	-	-	-	-
E-Waste Dismantling and Storage	1	-	-	1
Wastewater reuse	-	2	1	2
Contaminated sites	7	-	4	10
TOTAL	59	56	52	175

Notes:

Of the 175 agreements, 162 relate to builders and developers undertaking construction works on sites greater than 0.3 hectares.

Erosion and Sediment Control Plans

A condition of the Environmental Protection Agreements requires the endorsement by the EPA of an erosion and sediment control plan prior to works commencing.

During 2016-17:

• the EPA received and endorsed 96 erosion and sediment control plans; and
• undertook 344 inspections of development sites greater than 0.3 hectares.

There were 10 agreements for contaminated land which related to the requirement to implement on-going site management plans, primarily related to sites impacted by residual bonded asbestos.

Contaminated Land Notifications

The EPA received 2 contaminated land notifications under section 23A of the EP Act during the reporting period. They related to hydrocarbon impacts to soil and groundwater at the site. There have been 92 notifications since the contaminated land provisions were enacted in 1999.

Contaminated Sites

During 2016-17:

• 12 independent contaminated land audits into site suitability by EPA approved auditors were reviewed and endorsed by the EPA. These primarily related to service station and other fuel storage site redevelopments and the redevelopment of rural land for residential and other purposes;
• 2 independent audits into the adequacy of site management plans and remedial action plans were reviewed by the EPA. These related to the assessment and remediation of the Capital Metro Project alignment and the proposed remediation of rural land for residential and other purposes;
• a total of 55 contaminated land environmental assessment reports into the suitability of sites for their proposed uses were reviewed and endorsed; and
• 965 inspections were carried out of known or potential contaminated sites to review whether activities were being conducted without appropriate approval and whether redevelopment activities were underway or completed.

Register of Contaminated Sites

On 10 June 2015 legislative amendments to the Register of contaminated sites came into effect. The amendments added additional criteria for sites to be included on the Register. As of 30 June 2017, there are 154 sites recorded on the Register. The information contained on the Register is publicly available on the Access Canberra website and can also be obtained by contacting the EPA.

Contaminated Land Searches and Data

The EPA maintains records of known, potentially contaminated and remediated land in the ACT. This information is made available through the Lease Conveyancing Enquiry through the ACT Planning and Land Authority and Contaminated Land Search through Access Canberra to ensure persons with an interest in the land have access to records held by the EPA. The information is also provided under agreement to utility providers, their contractors and other areas of the ACT Government for their operational requirements for installation and maintenance of infrastructure.

During 2016-17:

• the EPA entered into two agreements with directional boring operators; and
• received and responded to 473 Contaminated Land Search enquires.

Beneficial Reuse Approvals

Beneficial reuse involves the reuse both on and off-site of soil which has a level of contamination but does not pose, subject to appropriate management, a risk to human health or the environment for a particular land use. The applications for reuse are undertaken by suitable qualified environmental consultants and are subject to rigorous assessment in accordance with the nationally adopted guidelines endorsed by the EPA.

During 2016-17:

• the EPA received, assessed and approved 47 applications for the beneficial reuse of approximately 90,000 cubic metres of low level contaminated soil.

Planning and Development

During 2016-17, the EPA commented on 1,129 Development Applications and other planning documents referred from the Planning and Land Authority and the National Capital Authority.

Complaint Handling

During 2016-17:

• the EPA received 843 new complaints covering a range of issues, resulting in 2,716 actions for new and ongoing complaints, as shown in the following table.

Table 3: Environmental issues and actions taken

Environmental Issues and Actions Taken	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Air	195*	293	319
Asbestos	3	-	4
Firewood	-	-	3
Illegal fishing	8	4	5
Land contamination	8	-	2
Light pollution	26	41	33
Noise	1,357	1,510	2,100
Other hazardous materials	11	10	5
Ozone	-	-	-
Pesticides	-	2	7
Power boats	3	1	1
Oil Spill	12	4	-
Dirt on Roads	13	23	3
Sediment and Erosion Control	32	21	51
Solid fuel heaters	127	82	100
Trees	-	-	-
Water Pollution	56	70	83
Total	1,851	2,061	2,716

Notes:

1. *Due to a data reporting error for the year 2014-15, total air complaints were reported as 77 which did not include 118 complaints related to burning off.

During 2016-17, there was a 31 per cent increase overall in complaint handling from the 2015-16 reporting period. The increase in actions stems from a:

• 39 per cent increase in noise complaints;
• 100 percent increase in Mechanical Plants & Equipment Noise; and
• 142 percent increase in complaints concerning sediment and erosion control.

This is mainly due to an increase in urban densities, construction activities and Mechanical Plants & Equipment Noise and increased wet weather during the reporting period. Other noise-related complaints remained relatively static, which is likely due to continued educational programs and planning initiatives to ensure appropriate management and design of developments, particularly in commercial mixed use areas.

Having received a number of complaints about authorised activities under the EP Act, it was identified to add this as a new activity in the system to reflect the complaints received.

Noise Complaints

The highest number of complaints in 2016-17, as with previous years, related to people affected by noise.

The tables below provide a breakdown of the complaints and complaint actions by noise type.

Table 4: Number of Complaints received

New complaints	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Air Conditioner/Fans/Heaters Noise	23	34	40
Alarms Noise	13	10	12
Amplified Music Noise	223	233	251
Building Work Noise	94	102	127
Garden Maintenance or Improvement Noise	17	14	16
Gym Equipment Noise	-	3	6
Mechanical Plants & Equipment Noise	5	19	39
PA System Noise	2	-	2
Vehicle Noise	16	23	30
Waste Collection Noise	5	8	16
Noise Others	55	29	42
Total	453	475	581

Table 5: Noise Complaints actions taken

Enforcement action	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Air Conditioner/Fans/Heaters Noise	128	229	234
Alarms Noise	24	20	20
Amplified Music Noise	834	821	1,127
Building Work Noise	168	215	251
Garden Maintenance or Improvement Noise	33	25	31
Gym Equipment Noise	1	10	65
Mechanical Plants & Equipment Noise	13	68	111
PA System Noise	6	-	7
Vehicle Noise	47	44	67
Waste Collection Noise	24	12	64
Noise Others	103	66	123
Total	1,381	1,510	2,100

Educational Activities

Information and guidelines for industry and the general public in relation to the EP Act are available on the Access Canberra website. Information is also routinely shared through social media informing builders to ensure sediment controls are in place prior to commencing works and regularly maintained, particularly for major rain events.

In 2016, the EPA and EPSDD undertook a residential noise campaign aimed at educating the ACT community on how noise may affect their neighbours and encouraged ACT residents to speak to their neighbours if their noise affected them. A part of the campaign included targeting suburbs with the highest number of noise complaints. The EPA is responsible for regulation of activities that have the potential to cause environmental harm under the provisions of the EP Act. The EPA is also responsible for the preparation and implementation of Environment Protection Policies under this Act with current administrative arrangements placing the policy functions with EPSDD.

These policies and guidelines help clarify and apply the provisions of and regulations made under the EP Act.

For more information on Environment Protection Policy see the EPSDD Annual report.

Enforcement Activities for Breaches of the EP Act

Individuals or businesses may incur penalties such as on-the-spot fines, Environment Protection Orders (EPO) or prosecution for breaches of the EP Act. On-the-spot fines have been issued for minor breaches of the EP Act, mainly at building sites and for discharges to stormwater and excessive noise. More serious matters are subject to orders or prosecution.

During 2016-17, one EPO was served for the illegal placement of soil on a rural block.

The following table lists the total notices and orders served and prosecutions completed since the EP Act commenced on 1 July 1998, and actions taken in recent years.

Table 6: Total number of Enforcement Action taken under the EP Act

Enforcement action	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	Total since 1998
Service of first infringement	12	5	6	397*
Service of final infringement	1	-	1	124**
Environment protection orders	-	2	1	38
Environment improvement plan	-	-	-	-
Prosecution	-	-	-	-
Out-of-court settlement	-	-	-	-
Total	13	7	8	-

* In the process of data cleansing this number has been revised to 397 Service of First Infringements
** In the process of data cleansing this number has been revised to 124 Service of Final Infringements

Lakes Act

The Delegate of Lakes is responsible for administering provisions of the Lakes Act 1976 (Lakes Act)including responsibility for works approval on the lakes and lake warnings and closures due to pollution incidents.

During 2016-17:

• the Molonglo Reach water ski area remained closed to the general public due to submerged and floating debris. There are currently three active licences issued under the Lakes Act for use of the Molonglo Reach water ski area - one to the ACT Waterski Association for use of the main basin area for training and competition purposes only and two other licences to marine repair businesses; and
• six new powerboat licences were issued making a total of twelve powerboat licences to cover the use of specific purposes across the Lakes within the ACT.

Water Resources Act

The EPA has responsibility for administering the Water Resources Act 2007 (the WR Act), which aims to ensure the use and management of the Territory’s water resources are sustainable while protecting the ecosystems that depend on the waterways. It is also designed to protect waterways and aquifers from damage.

Water is considered a commodity (based on demands from irrigation and industrial use) with water entitlements being commonly traded in Australia, both within and between jurisdictions. However, demand for trades in the ACT is low as the ACT does not have large irrigation dams or large-scale irrigation businesses. During 2016-17, there was only one new water access entitlement issued in the ACT.

Licences are issued under the WR Act for regulating potential harmful activities ranging from water abstraction, bore drilling and construction of dams or modification of waterways (rivers, creeks and large stormwater drains).

During 2016-17:

• there were 192 active licences to take water with 3 new licences issued;
• 25 waterway works licences were issued; and
• the number of waterway works licences was the same as the previous year, which indicates continued greenfields developments during the reporting period.

The table below indicates the number of licences issued compared to previous years.

Table 7: Number of Licences issued per type under the WR Act

Licence type	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Bore works licence	0	3	0
Drillers licence	5	18	6
Waterway works licence	20	25	25
Licence to take water (new)	16	6	3
Water access entitlements	25	4	1

Enforcement Activities for Breaches of the Lakes Act and the WR Act

Licensees are regulated in accordance with the Access Canberra enforcement policy through an educative process, with a progression to punitive consequences for non-compliance. People are given advisory notices and warnings when potential compliance issues arise and fines if non‑compliance continues. This process can prevent serious harm to our water resources and avoid remediation actions.

The below table indicates the number of Enforcement Action taken in previous years.

Table 8: Total number of Enforcement Action taken under the Lakes Act and the WR Act

Enforcement action	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Written caution (advisory)	14	18	0
Written formal warning	3	6	0
Direction	4	1	0
Infringement notice	3	0	0
Prosecution	0	0	0
Total	24	25	0

Enforcement activity in 2016-17 changed from the previous years because of a number of factors:

• the intensive, detailed enforcement actions performed under the data gathering and analysis phase of the National Framework for Compliance and Enforcement systems for Water Resource Management have ended;
• the restructuring of regulatory arrangements within Access Canberra moved to a risk based assessment of the need for compliance actions with a preference for a less formal engagement model with stakeholders;
• favourable rainfall through the year (generally resulting in lower water use for irrigation); and
• the effect of four years intensive regulation being realised with a resultant behaviour change by licence holders.

Further Information can be obtained from:

Mr Greg Jones
Environment Protection Authority
Phone: 13 22 81
Email: environment@act.gov.au
www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au