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Hazardous substances Working Towards a Comprehensive Policy Framework for Managing Contaminated Land in New Zealand Online version
Appendix D: Hierarchy of Documents Containing Guidelines Values for Soil, Surface Water, Groundwater and Sediment
Table D1: Hierarchy of documents containing guideline values for soila
Basis of protection |
Reference document |
Grouping |
|---|---|---|
Human health onlyb |
Health and Environmental Guidelines for Selected Timber Treatment Chemicals (Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Health, 1997) Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Contaminated Gasworks Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1997) Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1999b) |
NZRB |
Guideline on the Investigation Levels for Soil and Groundwater (NEPC, 1999) (health investigation levels, residential land use only). Assessment of Risks to Human Health from Land Contamination (Defra and EA, 2002) Soil Screening Guidance: Technical Background Document (US EPA, 1996a) and User’s Guide (US EPA, 1996b); Supplemental Guidance for Developing Soil Screening Levels at Superfund Sites (US EPA, 2001) Region 6: Human Health Medium- Specific Screening Levels (US EPA, 2002a) Region 9: Preliminary Remediation Goals (US EPA, 2002b) |
IRBc |
|
Guideline on the Investigation Levels for Soil and Groundwater (NEPC, 1999) (all land uses except residential) |
ITB |
|
Human health and ecological receptors |
Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (CCME, 2002) Circular on Target Values and Intervention Values for Soil Remediation (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, 2000)d |
IRB |
Ecological receptors only |
Ecological Soil Screening Level Guidance (US EPA, 2000) |
IRB |
Guideline on the Investigation Levels for Soil and Groundwater (NEPC, 1999) (ecological investigation levels) |
ITB |
|
Groundwater |
Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1999b) |
NZRB |
Soil Screening Guidancee (US EPA, 1996a and b) |
IRB |
NZRB = New Zealand risk-based; IRB = international risk-based; NZTB = New Zealand threshold based; ITB = international threshold based.
a No hierarchy is established for the documents within each category.
b The underlying premise in existing New Zealand industry-based guidelines is that protection of on-site ecosystems is only required to the extent necessary to facilitate the use of the land (ie, plant growth and livestock). These guidelines have been classed as protecting human health only, as they do not consider the full extent of the protection of ecosystems, as do the Canadian and Dutch documents.
c UK, Canadian and Dutch criteria are the only criteria (other than New Zealand) that include produce consumption.
d Although Dutch criteria for human-health protection are based on a residential land-use scenario, the majority of intervention values are based on protection of the ecosystem because these were lower than values derived for protection of human health. As a result, these values have a wider applicability than just to a residential land-use scenario.
e US EPA Region 6 and Region 9 guidance documents also provide groundwater values. However, these values originate from US EPA, 1996a.
Table D2: Hierarchy of documents containing guideline values for surface water, groundwater and sediment
Basis of protection |
Reference document |
Grouping |
|---|---|---|
Human health |
Drinking-water Standards for New Zealand (Ministry of Health, 2005) |
NZRB |
Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC and ARMCANZ, 2000)1 Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (CCME, 2002) Circular on Target Values and Intervention Values for Soil Remediation (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, 2000) |
IRB |
|
Ecosystems |
Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC and ARMCANZ, 2000)1 |
NZRB |
Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (CCME, 2002) |
IRB |
|
Agriculture, recreational use2 |
Health and Environmental Guidelines for Selected Timber Treatment Chemicals (Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Health, 1997) Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Contaminated Gasworks Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1997) Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Sites in New Zealand (Ministry for the Environment, 1999b) |
NZRB |
Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC and ARMCANZ, 2000)1 |
IRB |
|
Sediment |
Circular on Target Values and Intervention Values for Soil Remediation (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, 2000) Incidence of adverse biological effects within ranges of chemical concentrations in marine and estuarine sediments (Long et al, 1995) |
IRB |
NZRB = New Zealand risk-based; IRB = international risk-based; ITB = international threshold-based.
- The Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality is grouped as an international risk-based document for human health, agriculture and recreational use because these sections use Australian-specific data. In contrast, New Zealand ecotoxicity data have been used to derive values for protecting ecosystems. Hence these values are termed New Zealand risk-based.
- These values are not included in the environmental guideline value database. However, they are mentioned in this table to indicate that these values do exist. Readers should refer to the original documents to ascertain the basis of their derivation.
