Water, Air and Noise Pollution
This Fact Sheet explains how air, water and noise pollution is regulated.
It identifies the responsible authorities involved in the regulation and enforcement of different types of pollution. It explains how pollution can be authorised by environment protection licences and discusses how the public can have their say about the issuing and renewal of licences. It details common pollution offences and explains how you can report and enforce these offences.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned about a pollution incident in their local area and those who want to know more about how pollution is regulated.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Waste Management, Contaminated Land, Water Quality Assessment, Air Quality – Dust Monitoring.
Contaminated Land
This Fact Sheet outlines how contaminated land is managed in NSW. It identifies the authorities involved in the regulation of contaminated land, and details the types of orders these authorities can make and the penalties for not complying with these orders. It discusses how the remediation of contaminated land is regulated, and how contaminated land offences are enforced.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned about contaminated land near a home or business, people who have been issued an order relating to contaminated land, and people wishing to report or enforce contaminated land offences.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Waste Management.
Waste Management
This Fact Sheet explains how waste is managed in NSW. It discusses waste avoidance strategies, pollution licencing, development controls over waste facilities, and waste offences.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who want to understand how waste management is regulated in NSW, and what the Australian Government’s role is.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Contaminated Land, Water Quality Assessment, Air Quality – Dust Monitoring
Chemicals & Pesticides
This Fact Sheet explains how the use of chemicals and pesticides is regulated in NSW. It identifies the authorities involved in the regulation of chemical and pesticide use, and details the types of orders they can make and the penalties for not complying with these orders. It details chemical and pesticide offences, and explains how these offences are enforced.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned about chemical or pesticide use near their home or place of work, or who want to report a breach of suspected chemical or pesticide offences.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Waste Management, Contaminated Land, Water Quality Assessment, Air Quality – Dust Monitoring.
Private Nuisance
This Fact Sheet explains what private and public nuisance are, and the remedies available to people whose land has been interfered with or whose enjoyment of their land has been disturbed. Nuisance can be used to address some environmental concerns, including dust, noise, vibration, sewage, odours, and the flow of water.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned that they have suffered a nuisance and want to know what they can do about it.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Trees (including tree disputes)
Enforcement
This Fact Sheet gives an overview of the authorities that can issue orders and penalties relating to breaches of environmental laws.
It identifies the courts in which state and national environmental laws can be enforced, the civil remedies and criminal sanctions that each court can order and how costs can be awarded in each court.
The Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned about, or have been harmed by, breaches of environmental laws.
Other Fact Sheets that you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Land and Environment Court
Evidence Collecting and Environmental Investigations
Technical Fact Sheet
This Fact Sheet describes techniques for measuring potential pollution events and includes suggestions on what factors to measure when obtaining baseline data.
The Fact Sheet will be useful for anyone wanting to measure the quality of environmental features including water and groundwater.
Water Quality Assessment
The Fact Sheet will help people to determine the adequacy of water quality assessments and monitoring programs undertaken as part of environmental impact assessments. It examines the science behind various types of water pollution, and the likely ecological and biological impacts. The professional standards for water quality are identified and a glossary of terms is included.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned about the impact of proposed developments on water quality, and people who want to be able to evaluate the adequacy of water test results or initiate water quality testing themselves.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Air Quality – Dust Monitoring, Water Management
Air Quality: Dust Monitoring
Technical Fact Sheet
This Fact Sheet provides general information on dust issues due to open cut coal mining, as well as practical information on how to undertake dust monitoring. It discusses different types of dust and their sources, the health impacts of dust, and the methods used to monitor dust.
This Fact Sheet will be useful for people who are concerned about the impacts of dust and want help monitoring dust levels.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: Air, Water and Noise Pollution, Mining and Coal Seam Gas
Technical Fact Sheet: Coal Seam Gas Water Testing
Technical Fact Sheet
This Fact Sheet has been prepared in response to community queries regarding water quality testing and coal seam gas (CSG) operations. This document is designed to provide some guidance for community members with limited resources on what water testing may be useful for identifying water impacts from CSG operations that are planned for an area.
This Fact Sheet should be read in conjunction with Fact Sheets on Coal Seam Gas.
Other Fact Sheets you may find useful: DAs and Consents.
