Operative Waikato Regional Policy Statement (October 2000)

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3  Significant Resource Management Issues, Objectives, Policies and Methods

3.3  Land and Soil

3.3.8 Soil Contamination

Principal Reasons for Adopting: Contamination of soils may result from the discharge of contaminants onto or into land. The contamination may be diffuse over large areas of land (e.g. elevated cadmium levels in some agricultural soils) or concentrated at a particular site (e.g. where hazardous chemicals have been spilled or illegally dumped).

Soil contamination can lead to reduced soil versatility and productivity. Some contaminants are bioaccumulative and may, even in low concentrations, present a risk to human, plant and animal health. If the risk posed by these contaminants is sufficiently high, the range of existing and foreseeable uses of the soils could be restricted as some land uses will no longer be able to occur on those soils.

Discharges of contaminants into or onto land should be carried out in a manner designed to avoid any adverse effects on the soil resource.

1. Encourage, through regional plans and comments on relevant proposals, research to be undertaken into the development of sustainable land management practices.
   
2. Advocate, through the environmental education programme, sustainable land management practices and/or the use of alternative chemicals and technologies, including biological pest control methods that minimise the risk of soil contamination occurring.
   
3. Establish, through regional plans, rules and other methods to avoid, remedy or mitigate the effects of the discharge of contaminants onto or into land.
   
4. Develop, through regional plans and environmental education programmes, methods to discourage the illegal dumping of wastes.

Contamination of soils can be minimised if contaminants are discharged onto or into land in a manner that avoids, remedies or mitigates adverse effects on the soil resource.

The development of technologies and practices that minimise the contamination of soil and thereby provide for the sustainable management of land will be necessary to ensure that soil contamination is avoided. As these technologies are developed, the Waikato Regional Council (Environment Waikato) can assist in their adoption by the community through environmental education programmes and rules in regional plans that manage the effects of the discharge of contaminants.

The illegal dumping of wastes (both solid and liquid) is potentially a major source of soil contamination. While it may be practically impossible to prevent illegal dumping, Environment Waikato can discourage it through environmental education and provisions in regional plans.

1. Reduced occurrence of soil contamination.
   
2. The range of activities making use of the Region’s soil resource either maintained or increased.
   
3. Reduced incidence of illegal dumping of wastes.
   
4. No further increase in the number of confirmed contaminated sites in the Region.

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