Understanding Environmental Audit Overlay Data

Environmental Audit Overlays (EOAs) are the criteria put in place by local councils in Victoria with the aim of managing usage and development in places where the land is possibly contaminated. These specific overlays are applied to specific sites or areas where due to past land use practices, industrial usages or any other issues, there are risks to the soil or groundwater quality or ecosystem.

What's involved in an Environmental Overlay Assessment?

In case you have an EAO on your site, you will first have to undergo an Audit or other assessments before being allowed to utilise the area.

Contamination Assessment

This is equally true for sites where Environmental Audit Overlays have been prepared which indicate that contamination determination have to be carried out by the developers or landowners.

Such evaluations can include soil analysis, groundwater sampling, groundwater and sediment analysis, detection of stray Polish objects and archeological inquiries, along with investigations aimed at finding pollutants like heavy metals, hydrocarbons, or toxic industrial and agricultural chemicals.

Risk Management

On the basis of such outcomes, Environmental Audit Overlays seek to limit the impact of contamination on human health and the environment and aim to reduce the risk of further contamination even based on determination of contamination sources assessment.

They may include the use of soil disturbance, soil washing using appropriate agents, or land restoration or releasement practices to eliminate contamination areas and culture the area in a sound environmental way.

Ecological Protection

This is in addition to the advanced stage of activity and the level of threat posed by contamination. However, Environmental Audit Overlays may also provide measures such as those intended to protect the endangered ecological components and areas from adverse impacts such as wetlands and waterways, indigenous plants and animal habitats.

These provisions seek to enhance special areas or species, provide necessary ecosystem services and preserve fragile ecosystems from development activities where possible.

Development Controls

Environmental Audit Overlays are implemented through certain development controls and restrictions on land-use to achieve specific development objectives or to avoid further contamination or ecological damage.

Such measures may be referred to as controls. They may even include minimum separation distances from contamination sources, maximum building dimensions, minimum widths of land separating different land uses that might interfere, and requirements for plans that focus on environmental protection.

Public Notification and Consultation

Authorities contemplating the introduction of Environmental Audit Overlays first go through public notification and consultation processes whereby stakeholders that will be affected are informed, comments are out for the public and decision making is made easier through the processes that are transparent and accountable.

This enables members of the community, environmental organisations and other interested stakeholders to be involved in the planning process and raise their objections or preferences with regard to the proposed changes.