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National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health

The National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health (the NES) came into effect on 1 January 2012.


The NES can be viewed here:

This page includes information on:

Draft Users’ Guide

A Draft Users’ Guide on the NES, its requirements and how it applies is available. The Ministry is assessing feedback received on the draft guide and will publish a final guide in March 2012.

What this NES does

The NES for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health:

  • provides a nationally consistent set of planning controls and soil contaminant values
  • ensures that land affected by contaminants in soil is appropriately identified and assessed before it is developed - and if necessary the land is remediated or the contaminants contained to make the land safe for human use.

All territorial authorities (district and city councils) are required to give effect to and enforce the requirements of the NES. The NES does not affect existing land uses.


The NES classifies as permitted activities (meaning no resource consent required if stated requirements are met):

  • removal or replacement of fuel storage systems and associated soil, and associated subsurface soil sampling
  • soil sampling
  • small-scale (no greater than 25 cubic metres per 500 square metres of affected land) and temporary (two months’ duration) soil disturbance activities
  • subdividing land or changing land use where a preliminary investigation shows it is highly unlikely the proposed new use will pose a risk to human health.

Activities requiring a resource consent under the NES include:

  • the development of land where the risk to human health from soil contamination does not exceed the applicable soil contaminant value (classified as a controlled activity, meaning resource consent must be granted)
  • the development of land where the risk to human health from soil contamination exceeds the applicable soil contaminant value (classified as a restricted discretionary activity)
  • the development of land where the activity does not meet the requirements to be a restricted discretionary, controlled or permitted activity (classified as a discretionary activity).

Why this NES is needed

The past use of chemicals (hazardous substances) in industry, agriculture and horticulture has left a legacy of soil contamination in New Zealand. This contamination is mainly caused by past practices including storage and use of hazardous substances, and disposal of hazardous wastes.


These contaminants are a problem when the hazardous substances are at a concentration and a place where they have, or are reasonably likely to have, an adverse effect on human health and the environment. Contaminants are a greater problem in environments where food is grown or in close proximity to buildings, people, water bodies and important habitats.


Currently the controls applied by councils to manage contaminated soils are not consistent across the country. The NES means all councils will follow the same planning and decision-making framework.


Further information on why we need an NES is contained in the discussion document and the Cabinet paper: A Proposed National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health (PDF, 279 KB).

The different stages of developing this NES

The Ministry is now up to stage 6 of the process for developing this NES. This means providing a package of measures to support city and district councils to implement the NES. For example, the Ministry ran a number of workshops to provide information to council staff, industry, landowners and anyone else interested in how the NES will affect them and published a draft Users’ Guide.



Figure 2: Proportions of submissions, by category

Read a description of this figure

Stage 1 The Define stage includes defining the problem and identifying the possible options for addressing the problem. Stakeholders are often involved at this early stage of the NES process. This information is used to inform decisions over whether an NES is the most appropriate tool to solve the problem.
Stage 2 The Design stage includes designing the content of the proposed NES, often in consultation with stakeholder advisory groups. This stage involves a preliminary cost-benefit analysis, and preparing discussion documents to support the public notification of the NES. Cabinet approval is required to publicly consult on the proposed NES.
Stage 3 The Consult stage involves public notification, workshops and hui to inform the public about the NES proposal and to enable consultation
Stage 4  The Redesign stage includes analysing submissions and then reworking the NES proposal to take account of the suggestions in the submissions. A final cost-benefit analysis is completed and Cabinet approval is sought for the redesigned proposal.
Stage 5  The Deliver stage involves turning the Cabinet agreed policy into a regulation. This stage includes preparing drafting instructions for the Parliamentary Counsel to draft regulations that are submitted to Cabinet and then the Governor-General for approval. The approved regulations are published in the New Zealand Gazette and come into force 28 days later, or at another date, as prescribed by the regulation.
Stage 6  The Implement stage. The Ministry for the Environment provides a package of measures to support the NES such as user’s guides, information and workshops.

Key documents

Draft Users' Guide

Documents incorporated by reference

Other publications

Background information

Further information

If you would like more information about the NES please contact standards@mfe.govt.nz.


For more information about contaminated land management or national environmental standards:

 

Last updated: 16 January 2012