$1000-plus for contaminated sites list access

A list of 3400 potentially contaminated sites in Canterbury is available to the public, providing they are prepared to pay Environment Canterbury for a copy.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) has been involved in a row as to whether the list, which includes 2600 sites that have not been investigated by their owners to determine the level of risk, should be available on a public register.

ECan has refused to make that register available free of charge, but those who are prepared to pay and enter into an agreement about how they would use the information can access the information.

The details amount to about 6000 pages and if people wanted a full list they would have to pay more than $1000 for photocopying plus $38 per half-hour of staff time needed to prepare it.

The list includes 26 sites in the portion of the Waitaki district (mostly the Waitaki Valley) covered by the Christchurch-based regional council, 71 in the Mackenzie district, 72 in Waimate and 361 in the Timaru district.

All the district councils in those areas have details of the sites in order to handle inquiries.

District health boards had also been notified.

ECan chief executive Bryan Jenkins yesterday acknowledged the need for openness concerning land-use information, as well as the need to take into account privacy issues.

"This information needs to be released in a way that does not misrepresent the data or alarm property owners, many of whom are aware of the history of the land they own and what that means to them," he said.

Information about land could have a significant commercial impact on an owner.

ECan was following guidelines which had been supported by an earlier Ombudsman's report, despite a more recent ruling the information should be made available in a public register.

The register is based on historical and existing records of land uses, as well as soil and water-investigation reports submitted by Environment Canterbury that determine whether individual sites pose risks to human health or the environment.

Of the 3400 properties on the register, 43 had been confirmed as contaminated based on their current land use.

Those sites required further mediation or management to safeguard human health and the surrounding environment and in all those cases, the landowner was aware of the contamination risk and the need for appropriate management.

Of these, about 550 sites are classified as unverified for various reasons, including difficulty tracking the landowner, lack of clarity over ownership (such as riverbed), the process being partway through or landowners not having got back to the council.

The process for the release of information on the land-use register was covered by a long-standing council protocol aimed at ensuring the information was provided in a way which was consistent, and did not disadvantage the owners of land listed on the register.

"The property owners we work with supply information on their properties with the expectation that the information on the register is used with care and not misinterpreted," Dr Jenkins said.

david.bruce@odt.co.nz