numero uno peregrine chick going solo in 2006 anglesea environment report OCTOBER 2006 Inside the ‘Best Practice’ Environment Report: Air Emissions Water Monitoring Peregrine Falcons Animals of the Anglesea Heath: Common Ringtail Possum Updates on Rainfall, Town Water Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Environmental improvement - progress towards 2006 targets Plus we talk to an employee about their contribution to improving the environment ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2006 air Air Monitoring Stack Monitors Average Maximum Opacity g/m3 10-minute average 0.061 0.338 Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 111.34kg/min 58.50 78.20 Ambient Monitors SO2 1 hour ppb Average Maximum Community Centre 3 81 Primary School 3 127 Mt Ingoldsby 1 122 Scout Camp 6 89 Camp Wilkin 1 121 Camp Road 5 125 Ambient Monitors SO2 Maximum 1 hour averages (ppb) Date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Community Centre 37 3 3 81 3 4 7 3 4 4 33 2 - - - - 1 2 3 3 3 Primary School 124 0 4 4 22 5 3 4 3 3 4 2 0 0 0 0 11 1 1 89 1 0 1 127 0 2 1 0 5 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 122 2 2 0 1 1 3 2 1 2 1 2 4 14 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 1 121 3 0 0 Mt Ingoldsby 2 Scout Camp 12 7 6 - - - 6 8 8 6 6 38 42 8 9 15 - 8 89 10 10 10 45 14 10 87 3 1 1 1 Camp Wilkin 24 1 1 121 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 1 4 3 1 1 2 2 Camp Road 67 4 4 5 83 4 5 6 92 109 4 2 4 5 6 3 3 5 4 5 EPA Intervention Level 210 Alcoa Local Standard 170 1 - 20 7 2 2 1 2 1 0 1 1 38 3 1 2 2 2 2 1 6 125 9 4 6 5 4 5 3 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2006 water Water Storage Barwon Water storage levels within the Geelong system at 27.5% capacity. Stage 3 restrictions now apply. Water Discharge ML October Total Ashponds (SP1) 128 1431 Mine (SP4) 0 0.8 Water Monitoring SP1 SP4 SP3 17/10/2006 Ashpond Mine Final EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result pH 4-10 8.4 3-9 - 5-9 7.4 Susp. Solids 100 5 100 - 30 2 Colour 50 4 50 - 50 7 Aluminium 10 0.2 10 - 5.5 < 0.1 Iron 10 0.4 0 - 4.0 < 0.1 Zinc 0.4 < 0.1 2.0 - 0.3 < 0.1 WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML) Date JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT Town Water 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.6 0.8 1.0 1.1 0.9 1.6 11.5 Bore Water 279 243 285 237 210 218 238 240 236 262 2448 Mine Water 81 82 81 92 106 88 93 101 104 51 879 NOV DEC TOTAL 3 0 0 .0 3000 2 5 0 .0 2500 2 0 0 .0 2000 1 5 0 .0 1500 1 0 0 .0 1000 5 0 .0 0 .0 500 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2006 peregrine falcons For the third year in a row, Peregrine Falcons have returned to Alcoa Anglesea to the nest box on top of the water tower. Despite laying four eggs this year, only one egg successfully hatched. Whilst there is no explanation for why this happened at Anglesea in particular, there are several reasons why an egg may not hatch - parents may be incompatible or a parent may have left the nest during a storm resulting in a drop in incubation temperture of the eggs. Both of these scenarios appear unlikely for Anglesea (parents bred successfully in 2005, no rainstorms lately!!) and the presence of unhatched eggs at other nests across the state this year suggests the cause is wider spread and may be the consequence of drought conditions. In late October, volunteers from the Victorian Peregrine Project took the travel tower to the elevated home to check the chicks’ health, measurements and banding. Weighing in at 870g, it was confirmed Uno is one healthy chick. One of the positives for having one chick instead of four is the amount of food the chick receives without any sibling competition. The more food Uno receives, the stronger she will be giving her a better chance of survival. Grade 1 students from Anglesea Primary School and members of ANGAIR witnessed the banding and naming of the bird, with the name ‘Uno’ chosen, referring to the number one. The other exciting Peregrine Falcon news for 2006 is the Alcoa Anglesea webcam. In a Victorian first, Alcoa Anglesea has provided a window in to the world of Peregrine Falcons by installing a webcam on the water tower near the nestbox and is broadcasting the images over the internet. The webcam at www.alcoa.com/falcons will provide a new view of day-to-day life in the Peregrine Falcon nest,with images refreshing at one minute intervals. PLANTS OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH COMMON RINGTAIL POSSUM (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) Pseudocheirus....from the Greek, pseudo, ‘fake’ and Pseudocheirus cheirus, ‘hand’ referring to the front feet that has fused fingers (syndactyl) like two thumbs per hand to help it climb peregrinus peregrinus... from the latin, meaning ‘wandering’ or ‘foreign’, usually refers to a migratory habit, like the Peregrine Falcons of the northern hemisphere Size: body 30-35cm tail 30-35cm weight 550 - 1100g Description: short grey-brown fur with white underneath has a long white tipped prehensile tail, underside of the tail is hairless for grip Distribution eastern states of mainland Australia, Tasmania and south west Western Australia Habitat: a variety of rainforest, forest, woodland and scrub habitats Food: vegetarian consuming mainly leaves but also some flowers, fruits and buds photo: juvenile ringtail possum found at mine workshop COMMON RINGTAIL POSSUM ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2006 LAND RAINFALL (mm) Month JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT 2006 Rainfall 46.2 19.6 7.3 37.1 129.4 17.0 40.8 26.0 32.8 15.8 372.0 1968-2005 Average 44.6 43.9 42.5 53.5 59.3 60.8 61.1 67.0 69.3 73.6 575.5 NOV DEC TOTAL 7 0 0 .0 0 100 90 6 0 0 .0 0 80 5 0 0 .0 0 70 60 4 0 0 .0 0 50 3 0 0 .0 0 40 30 2 0 0 .0 0 20 1 0 0 .0 0 10 0 .0 0 0 WATER TOWN WATER USE (ML) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Process 23.9 14.6 13.1 16.7 15.0 13.5 8 . 0 0.7 0.7 0.8 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 1.3 Amenity 11.6 6.6 3 . 4 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 1 .8 6.6 5.0 4.0 2.6 4 0 .0 1 .6 3 5 .0 1 .4 3 0 .0 1 .2 2 5 .0 1 .0 2 0 .0 0 .8 1 5 .0 0 .6 1 0 .0 0 .4 5 .0 0 .2 0 .0 0 .0 200 0 200 1 200 2 2003 2 004 2 005 2 006 JA N F E B M A R A P R M A Y JU N JU L A U G S E P O C T N O V D E C AIR GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) TOTAL (Mt) & GHG EMISSION EFFICENCY (t/MWh) 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 1.42 1.62 1.56 1.45 1.34 1.25 1.20 1.38 1.42 1.53 1.23 1.27 1.50 1.45 1.47 1.31 1 . 6 0 GHG Mt GHG t/MWh 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.32 1.31 1.33 1.38 1.34 1.30 1.30 1.24 1.19 1.21 1.21 1.20 1.21 1 . 2 0 2 160 0000 1 .8 140 0000 1 .6 1 .4 1 .2 120 0000 100 0000 1 800 000 0 .8 600 000 0 .6 400 000 0 .4 0 .2 0 200 000 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2006 environmental improvement Environmental Management Targets October 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Reportable Environmental Incidents 0 0 0 0 Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%) 80 93 93 90 Air Emission Targets October 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 210ppb) 0 4 5 0 Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min) 0 0 0 0 SO2 Load Reductions 8 106 127 N/A 1.23 1.20 1.20 1.20 Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation) 0 0 0 0 Water Targets October 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Town Water (ML) 1.6 11.5 13.8 17.2 Bore Water (ML) 262 2448 2938 2440 Waste Targets October 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Waste to Landfill (t) 1.76 9.12 10.9 10.0 Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh) 3 Mine Rehabilitation Targets 2006 Total 2006 Target 2006 Area Cleared (ha) 3.3 3.3 2006 Area Rehabilitated (ha) 7.5 > 3.3 2005 Mine Rehabilitation Species Richness (%) N/A 100 OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEES.. V ictor ictorian Per egrine Pr oject ictor,, how important is the V Victorian Peregrine Project for the conservation of the Peregrine Falcon in Victoria? Very important. The project has just been acknowledged at a international conference in Mexico as the most extensive volunteer program in the world for the Peregrine Falcon, both in it’s scope of yearly activities and how long it has been running (16 years). That must be nice to hear after year’ s of personal year’s dedication and effort? It certainly is. It’s great that the program has been recognised at an international level. How important is the nest box at Alcoa Anglesea? The use of artificial nest boxes such as the one at Alcoa Anglesea suggests that the natural nest sites for Peregrine Falcons are at saturation level or that there simply isn’t enough natural nest sites to go around. As more natural nest sites along the coast are lost to development and human disturbance, the more critical these artificial sites become to the future of the Peregrine Falcons. How does the future look for the Peregrine Falcon? We were lucky in Australia that the Peregrine Falcon population didn’t decline as far as populations in other parts of the world in the 60’s and 70’s. The agriculture in Australia was less intensive and the use of pesticides such as DDT was not as widespread. This has enabled the Peregrine Falcon populations in Australia to recover more quickly. ...VICTOR HURLEY