200704

friendly fire
prescribed burning underway in the otways
alcoa anglesea
2007
environment report
april
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2007
air
Air Monitoring
Stack Monitors
Average
Maximum
Opacity g/m3 10-minute average
0.075
0.329
Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 111.34kg/min 75.19
90.32
Ambient Monitors
SO2 1 hour ppb
Average
Maximum
Community Centre
2
32
Primary School
1
61
Mt Ingoldsby
1
111
Scout Camp
5
134
Camp Wilkin
1
69
Camp Road
4
123
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 6 2 2 3 3 3 4 32 5 3 3 6 4 3 2 2 3 3 3 4 3 3 2 2 3 4 3 8 4 4 3
Primary School
45 0
0
0
0
0
5
22 61 0
0
0
1
1
0
0
24 0
14 1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
22 0
21 0
Mt Ingoldsby
111 1
1
1
1
1
4
6
3
1
5
1
2
13 4
1
4
10 3
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
3
Scout Camp
32 4
1
2
2
2
10 7
-
20 7
10 7
12 12 5
15 134 13 12 6
5
5
5
5
5
4
6
49 41 3
Camp Wilkin
69 1
1
1
1
1
6
26 1
1
1
3
2
13 1
0
4
1
12 5
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
9
1
3
1
Camp Road
18 3
2
2
3
2
8
52 123 4
3
6
4
4
3
83 3
51 5
4
3
3
3
4
4
-
-
-
-
2
EPA Intervention Level
210
Alcoa Local Standard
170
3
2
0
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2007
water
Water Storage
Barwon Water storage levels for the Geelong system at 14.3% capacity. Stage 4 restrictions apply.
Water Discharge
ML
April
Total
Ashponds (SP1)
139
570
Mine (SP4)
0
0
Water Monitoring
SP1
SP4
SP3
16/04/2007
Ashpond
Mine
Final
EPA limit
Lab Result
EPA limit
Lab Result
EPA limit
Lab Result
pH
4-10
7.8
3-9
-
5-9
7.4
Susp. Solids
100
<2
100
-
30
<2
Colour
50
5
50
-
50
5
Aluminium
10.00
0.12
10
-
5.50
0.057
Iron
10.00
0.21
0
-
4.00
0.14
Zinc
0.40
0.007
2.0
-
0.30
0.005
WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML)
Date
JAN
FEB MAR APR
Town Water
0.7
0.7
0.9
1.1
3.4
Bore Water
274
253
280
241
1048
Mine Water
81
71
76
83
311
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
300.0
3000
250.0
2500
200.0
2000
150.0
1500
100.0
1000
50.0
0.0
500
0
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2007
prescribed burning
Fire, both as a natural event and its use by the
Aboriginal people, has been significant in shaping
much of our native flora and fauna.
The term ‘prescribed burning’ refers to the use of
fire to achieve planned land and resource
management objectives:
> fuel management: protecting life and property
from uncontrolled wildfire through the
development and implementation of strategies
for fire prevention and suppression;
> flora and fauna management: active use of
controlled fire to alter habitat structure and plant
and animal community composition to achieve
biodiversity conservation outcomes.
Fuel management
While every effort is made to prevent fires from
starting, Victoria will always experience bushfires
from either natural or human causes. These
bushfires can threaten human life, property, assets
and, at times, the environment. One way of
protecting settlements and also limiting the spread
and severity of bushfires is by strategically
reducing the ‘fuel’ in our parks and forests. Fuel
reduction burns, are fires of low intensity used to
remove the fine, more flammable fuel from parts of
forests and parks. By reducing these fuels, a
bushfire that either burns into a fuel reduced area
or starts in one will have lower flame height,
reduced intensity and will spread at a slower rate,
making firefighting easier.
Flora and fauna management
Fire has been significant in shaping the distribution
and composition of much of Australia’s native flora
and fauna. Many species have developed specific
mechanisms to survive periodic fire. Some even
depend on it for critical life stages. Prescribed fire
is used in the maintenance of a number of our
native ecosystems. Fire is used in the recovery and
management of species and communities of both
flora and fauna. It is often involved in the
management of pest plant species.
When to burn
Prescribed burning is conducted at certain times
of the year, and aims to achieve specific heat
intensities and rates of spread, according to the
desired management objective(s). Prescribed
burns are usually conducted in autumn or spring
when the weather is milder. In these seasons the
behaviour of the fire is much easier to predict and
manage.
Prescribed burning at Anglesea
Locally, several prescribed burns have been carried
out at sites such as Coalmine/Camp Roads,
Forest Road and the Great Ocean Road. These
burns have been conducted by DSE and Parks
Victoria to manage the floristic values of the
heathland, assist with pest plant control and asset
protection for the Anglesea township.
Within the community there exists a range of views
regarding the role of fire. These range from the
belief that there should be no interference to
natural fire patterns through to the belief that,
because fire is a natural part of the forest’s
ecology, it should be used freely as a management
tool. The perceptions by Australians of their
environment continue to evolve. Fire was, is, and
will remain, part of ecological Australia.
PLANTS OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH
RED BEAKS (Pyrorchis nigricans)
Pyrorchis
Pyrorchis....from the Greek pyre, fire, and orchis, orchid, refers
to the need for fire in order for flowering to occur
nigricans
nigricans...from the Latin, nigrescens, becoming black,
referring to the black colour of the withered flowers
Size:
Form:
Foliage:
stem to 25 cm high
robust terrestrial herb
ground-hugging, heart-shaped fleshy,
leathery leaf, 12 cm long to 8 cm wide
Flowers:
flower stem usually only appears after fire
bearing 4 to 6 flowers; flowers are white with
red stripes with dark red tips
September to October
Habitat:
coastal banksia woodland, tea-tree heath,
grassy low open forest
Did you know? the leaves are a comon sight but flowers
only after a hot summer bushfire
stimulates the flower next spring
PYRORCHIS NIGRICANS
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2007
LAND
RAINFALL (mm)
Month
JAN
FEB MAR APR
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
2007 Rainfall
40.0
20.2 25.6
7.3
31.0
37.1
129.4 17.0
40.8
26.0
32.8
15.8
15.4
29.0
116.8
1968-2006 Average
44.6
43.3 41.5
42.5
53.1
53.5
59.3 60.8
61.1
67.0
69.3
73.6
54.1
44.2
182.5
130
7 0 0 .0 0
120
6 0 0 .0 0
110
100
5 0 0 .0 0
90
80
4 0 0 .0 0
70
60
3 0 0 .0 0
50
40
2 0 0 .0 0
30
20
1 0 0 .0 0
10
0
0 .0 0
WATER
TOWN WATER USE (ML)
FEB
MAR APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Process
23.9
2000 2006 2007 JAN
11.0
3.0
0.6
0.6
0.8
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.6
1.3
1.5
1.5
Amenity2 . 0
11.6
3.8
0.4
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.4
0.1
0.7
0.2
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.1
4 0 .0
1 .8
3 5 .0
1 .6
3 0 .0
1 .4
2 5 .0
1 .2
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
2000
2006
2007
JA N
F E B
M A R
A P R
M A Y
JUN
JU L
A U G
S E P
O C T
NO V
D E C
AIR
GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) TOTAL (Mt) & GHG EMISSION EFFICENCY (t/MWh)
GHG Mt
‹ GHG
t/MWh
1990
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
1.42
1.23
1.27
1.50
1.45
1.47
1.31
1.49
1.40
1.34
1.24
1.19
1.21
1.21
1.20
1.21
1.20
1.19
2
1600000
1.8
1400000
1.6
1.4
1.2
1200000
1000000
1
800000
0.8
600000
0.6
400000
0.4
200000
0.2
0
0
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2007
environmental improvement
Environmental Management Targets
April
2007 Total
Forecast
2007 Target
Reportable Environmental Incidents
0
0
0
0
Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%)
100
100
100
90
Air Emission Targets
April
2007 Total
Forecast
2007 Target
Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 210ppb)
0
0
0
0
Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min)
0
0
0
0
SO2 Load Reductions (lost MWh)
241
2366
7098
N/A
GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh)
1.21
1.19
1.19
1.20
Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation)
0
0
0
0
Water Targets
April
2007 Total
Forecast
2007 Target
Town Water (ML)
1.1
3.4
10.2
14.2
Bore Water (ML)
241
1048
3144
2667
Waste Targets
April
2007 Total
Forecast
2007 Target
Waste to Landfill (t)
0.0
0.0
0.0
9.0
Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
3
Mine Rehabilitation Targets
2007 Total
2007 Target
2006 Area Cleared (ha)
2.9
3.5
2006 Area Rehabilitated (ha)
0.0
> 3.5
2005 Mine Rehabilitation Species Richness (%)
103
100
OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEES..
Luke, as an electrical engineer you’ve been involved
in several environmental projects? I have been involved
with two environmental projects recently: a project to get a
network camera positioned at the peregrine nesting box and the
images onto Alcoa.com and an SO2 telemetry project.
What is the SO2 telemetry project about? APS has six
SO2 ground level concentration monitors sited around the
Anglesea township and only three have telemetry that
communicate SO2 levels directly back to the Power Station
Control Room. Without access to all the SO2 township readings,
Power Station operators are not always able take the necessary
action (load reduction) in response to rising SO2 levels. Installing
telemetry on all six sites will help manage the occasional elevated
SO2 reading and also help to ensure Alcoa Local Standards or
SEPP SO2 emissions guidelines are not breached.
The peregrine falcons always generate a lot of
inter
est, the webcam was no exception? Yes, it did
interest,
generate a lot of interest. The network camera allowed people to
get seldom seen close-ups of ‘our’ falcons as a family unit. We’ll
have the 50m bucket tower in this month which will allow for
some minor adjustments to the camera before going on-line again
in July/August ready for another falcon nesting season.
...LUKE WEBB