OIEWG Petroleum Industry Guidelines – An Update

The OIEWG was formed in the mid-1990s to provide a forum for environmental management in the downstream petroleum industry. One of the first OIEWG activities was the development of a set of “Environmental Guidelines for Water Discharges from Petroleum Industry Sites in New Zealand”.

These guidelines are almost 20 years old. There have been significant developments in Stormwater management since the guidelines were published in 1998. The guidelines have been included by reference in Plans but there is now a feeling in some quarters that they may be out of date.

Accordingly the OIEWG has over the past 5 years conducted a range of assessments of the performance of sites designed under the 1998 guidelines.

Martin will look at how these guidelines have fared. He will outline the results of trials of treatment device effectiveness for service stations and findings from monitoring of Guideline-compliant sites. He will address a number of gaps in the guidelines such as Diesel emission fluid DEF and dewatering.

Simon will address the update to the guidelines and the process that will be followed to finalize the guidelines and will be seeking feedback on the development of an updated guideline.