In British Columbia, a contaminated site is defined in the Environmental Management Act as an area of land in which the soil or underlying groundwater or sediment contains a hazardous waste or substance in an amount or concentration that exceeds provincial environmental quality standards.
A site is contaminated if it is unsuitable for specific uses of land, water, and sediment. These sites are often referred to as “brownfields.” Currently, there are almost 8,000 sites in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) records. This number includes sites that are being screened and are not yet confirmed as being (or not being) contaminated, sites that are being remediated (cleaned up), sites that are awaiting final confirmation that remediation is complete, and sites where remediation is confirmed. Remediation of contaminated sites ensures environmental and human health protection for the province of British Columbia.
