Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:4:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 1/6)
Character Range: 1174805–1177867

4                   Preliminary ecological risk assessment
This section provides guidance for conducting a Preliminary ERA. A Preliminary ERA is a screening level assessment of generic situations and should protect a selected percentage of all biota and supporting ecological processes that are likely to inhabit soils with specific land uses.

ERAs may be undertaken for a variety of reasons. The main reasons are listed below:
    * A previous assessment of soil contamination at a site identifies significant areas where contaminant concentrations are above background levels.
    * Site history suggests that chemicals may be present that may create an adverse environmental effect.
    * There are knowledge gaps in the soil contamination assessment that may be potentially important.
    * There are ecological values that are important at the site or nearby (e.g. rare and/or endangered species or habitats).
    * As part of due diligence investigations, an owner or occupier of a site may voluntarily conduct an ERA. Such risk assessments may also be conducted as part of environmental reporting requirements.
    * An assessment of the suitability of land for its existing or proposed use has identified contaminants at concentrations above the background concentration.
The main question that a Preliminary ERA seeks to answer is whether the generic ecological values used to derive the EILs, and that therefore should be protected, are adversely affected by on-site contamination. This enables an informed risk management decision to be made.

A Preliminary ERA should:
    * set clear objectives, taking into consideration the issues of concern, conceptual site model (CSM) and data quality objectives
    * identify the ecological values relevant for the site
    * determine if the ecological values used to derive the EILs are consistent with those identified for the site
    * identify contaminants of concern
    * establish the extent and degree of contamination on the site
    * assess the linkages between causes and effects of the contamination on the site
    * identify the most appropriate EILs  for the soil contaminants
    * determine whether the identified EILs are exceeded
    * identify elements of uncertainty (including an assessment of the appropriateness of all the scientific tools used in the ERA (e.g. criteria, benchmarks, data evaluation and relevance of objectives) and data gaps
    * provide justification for the conclusion of the Preliminary ERA or for  proceeding on to conducting a Definitive ERA.
The various components that comprise a Preliminary ERA, the order in which they are conducted, and the interrelationships between each component are presented in Figure 1 above. A summary of the types of data and other information needed for each component of a Preliminary ERA is set out in Table 2.

Table 2. Information that may be collected for each component of a Preliminary ERA
ERA component                                                                                                          Indicative