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Phase 1 ESA – Phase 1 Environmental Assessment

Our Experience Saves Developer’s Money When Getting Phase 1 Environmental Assessment.

A Phase 1 environmental site assessments is conducted to determine the relative risk of site contamination being present (i.e. answering the question ‘is the land concerned potentially contaminated land’?)

A Phase 1 Environmental assessment is sometimes called a phase 1 ESA, an ESA 1 or a phase 1 assessment for short. In Victoria a Phase 1 assessment is usually referred to as a preliminary site investigation, or PSI.

Whatever the terminology, Atma Environmental have forged an industry leading reputation for delivering a Phase 1 ESA service that meets the critical needs of Project Managers, in both the corporate and government sector, by providing timely, well documented, detailed environmental assessments and all associated reports. If you are concerned about possible contamination on a site, or need to understand whether or not a site could be contaminated, you should consider having a Phase 1 ESA report prepared.

The Phase 1 report should include a review of the current site setting, a review of site historical and environmental records and an inspection by an experienced environmental scientist who will make an assessment of the potential for a site to be contaminated.  The Phase 1 report should identify source areas, contaminants of potential concern, relevant exposure pathways and receptors of interest.

Before commencing a P1 ESA it may be apparent that there are certain locations which pose a greater potential for contamination than the rest of the site (which may have a low potential).  In these cases, a Phase 1 ESA report with sampling at selected locations is a cost-effective approach to assessing the site under one report.

Atma Environmental draws upon a deep and diverse range of information sources in order to provide a detailed picture of the site setting, known environmental records, past history and development, the types and locations of past contaminating activities and any visual signs of contamination, so that you know the unknowns.

Based on this clear understanding, informed recommendations for further assessment such as a Phase 2 ESA (if potentially contaminated) can be made, or used to demonstrate that you are meeting your general environmental duty.

Even if there is no direct evidence of contamination from the records review and site visit, on some site’s contamination can still be present due to the past use of polluted fill material, or incomplete records.  Again, limited sampling and analysis  may be prudent and desirable.  But where there is sufficient information and the Phase 1 concludes that the site is not potentially contaminated, then further investigation would not normally be recommended.

Call us now if to discuss your site and what we know about it’s potential for contamination.

If your firm is looking for fast responsive environmental site assessments call Atma Environmental. We have been providing environmental consulting services to land developers, builders, government bodies and other commercial and industrial concerns for more than 16 years. Glenn Berry, the Founder of Atma Environmental has over 29 years direct experience in environmental consulting on contaminated land and groundwater issue.

Our expert consultants excel in environmental site assessments, (ESA Phase I, phase 1 ESA, an ESA 1 or a phase 1 assessment) especially in the context of pre-purchase due diligence, and in support of statutory contaminated land audits.