up close and personal banding anglesea’s falcon chicks alcoa anglesea 2008 environment report october ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2008 air Air Monitoring Stack Monitors Average Maximum Opacity g/m3 10-minute average 0.072 0.161 Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 100kg/min 66.40 82.45 SO2 1 hour ppb Average Maximum Community Centre <1 6 Primary School 2 75 Mt Ingoldsby <1 109 Scout Camp 5 133 Camp Wilkin <1 52 Camp Road 4 189 Ambient Monitors 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 3 2 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 5 2 2 6 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 2 1 0 2 3 3 Primary School 58 1 23 0 44 0 1 0 0 39 6 67 22 1 1 15 4 3 1 0 0 0 6 71 57 2 Mt Ingoldsby 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 Scout Camp 1 127105 1 40 5 14 35 40 34 33 5 49 2 24 58 4 75 1 0 1 0 7 19 3 Camp Wilkin 52 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 9 15 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 Camp Road 13 4 23 2 41 0 0 0 15 28 97 189 9 0 3 - - - - 0 0 7 73 95 - EPA Air Quality Objective 200 Alcoa Local Standard 170 0 0 0 0 0 8 7 0 0 6 - 0 0 2 75 1 3 109 0 0 0 1 12 133 1 4 2 118 0 2 47 1 - - 0 11 10 0 - 0 1 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2008 water Water Storage Barwon Water storage levels for the Geelong system at 28.7% capacity. Stage 4 Water Restrictions Daylight Savings are now in force until April 5, 2009. Garden watering limited to 7PM-8PM twice weekly. Water Discharge ML October Total Ashponds (SP1) 136 1383 Mine (SP4) 0 0.12 Water Monitoring SP1 SP4 SP3 14/10/2008 Ashpond Mine Final EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result pH 4-10 8.3 3-9 no 5-9 7.3 Susp. Solids 100 <4 100 discharge 30 <4 Colour 50 5 50 at 50 5 Aluminium 10.00 < 0.01 10 time 5.50 0.03 Iron 10.00 0.18 20 of 4.00 < 0.05 Zinc 0.40 < 0.01 2.0 sampling 0.30 < 0.01 WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML) Date JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT Town Water 1.4 0.9 0.9 2.2 1.0 0.9 1.7 2.2 1.0 1.3 13.5 Bore Water 279 304 305 254 292 265 252 196 272 282 2701 Mine Water 53 24 45 26 45 44 69 51 41 53 451 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 2008 peregrine falcons We are proud to announce Alcoa Anglesea’s three falcon chicks for 2008; Midnight, Rocket and Stan. For the fifth year in a row, Peregrine Falcons have returned to the purpose-built nesting box on top of the Alcoa Anglesea water tower. After less than 50% of the eggs hatching in 2006 and 2007, it was a welcome sight to have all three eggs successfully hatch this year and see three bundles of white fluff eagerly waiting for us as we approached the nest box. Not so eager to see us were the protective parents, Sheila and Havoc. They certainly made their presence known during the expedition up to retrieve the chicks. The visit was quick as both were relentless in their swooping (and striking) behaviour. Chin straps are no longer optional! Volunteers from the Victorian Peregrine Project completed the health assessment and banding of the chicks. At this age, weight and wing length measurements are used to determine the sex of the chicks with males typically one-third smaller than females. This year we have three healthy boys with Midnight, Rocket and Stan weighing in at 590, 575 and 560g respectively. With no distinguishable size difference between the three, the unique code combination on the two-tone aluminium band on their right leg is the only definitive way to tell who’s who. Grade 2 students for the Anglesea Primary School were on the ground to witness the measurement, health check and banding of the three male chicks. Three students - Myee, Klara and Emily - had their suggestions for the chicks’ names chosen from the class list. The webcam at www.alcoa.com/falcons continues to broadcast images from the Peregrine Falcon nest box at Alcoa Anglesea over the internet. Weekly highlights are posted on the website showing the adventures of Midnight, Rocket and Stan as they prepare to leave the nest for the wider world. PLANTS OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH COMMON AOTUS (Aotus ericoides) Aotus.. Aotus..derived from the Greek word meaning ‘earless’ with the pea flowers missing earlike bracteoles ericoides ericoides...heath-like Size: Habitat: Distribution: Form: Foliage: 0.5-1.5m H x 0.5-1.5m W tea tree heath endemic to eastern Australia fast-growing bushy upright shrub slender hairy light green leaves to 20mm long Flowers: clusters of small yellow and red pea flowers a very showy plant when in bloom August to December Did you know? The species was first formally described in 1803 in Jardin de la Malmaison and was assigned the name Pultenaea ericoides. In 1832, the species was transferred into the genus Aotus COMMON AOTUS ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2008 LAND RAINFALL (mm) Month JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT 2008 Rainfall 19.8 35.8 15.2 17.3 32.5 43.8 75.8 61.6 40.0 12.4 354.2 1968-2007 Average 44.5 42.7 41.1 52.5 61.0 59.9 62.2 65.3 67.7 70.9 567.7 NOV DEC TOTAL 100 7 00.00 90 6 00.00 80 5 00.00 70 60 4 00.00 50 3 00.00 40 30 2 00.00 20 1 00.00 10 0 .0 0 0 WATER TOWN WATER USE (ML) FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT Process 23.9 12.8 1 2 . 1 1.3 0.8 0.8 2.1 0.8 0.8 1.5 2.0 0.8 1.2 Amenity 11.6 1.5 1.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 2000 2007 2008 JAN 0.1 NOV DEC 4 0 .0 3 5 .0 2 .0 3 0 .0 1 .5 2 5 .0 2 0 .0 1 .0 1 5 .0 1 0 .0 0 .5 5 .0 0 .0 0 .0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 7 2 0 0 8 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) GHG Mt GHG t/MWh 1990 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 1.42 1.23 1.27 1.50 1.45 1.47 1.31 1.49 1.40 1.41 1.34 1.24 1.19 1.21 1.21 1.20 1.21 1.20 1.18 1.20 2 1600000 1 .8 1400000 1 .6 1 .4 1 .2 1200000 1000000 1 800000 0 .8 600000 0 .6 400000 0 .4 0 .2 0 200000 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT OCTOBER 2008 environmental improvement Environmental Management Targets October 2008 YTD Forecast 2008 Target Reportable Environmental Incidents 0 0 0 0 Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%) 100 100 100 90 Air Emission Targets October 2008 YTD Forecast 2008 Target Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 200ppb) 0 0 0 0 Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min) 0 0 0 0 SO2 Load Reductions (lost MWh) 1890 19010 22812 N/A GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh) 1.20 1.20 1.20 1.20 Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation) 0 0 0 0 Water Targets October 2008 YTD Forecast 2008 Target Town Water (ML) 1.3 13.4 16.1 14.2 Bore Water (ML) 282 2701 3241 2370 Waste Targets October 2008 YTD Forecast 2008 Target Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 4.5 5.4 8.0 Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3 Mine Rehabilitation Targets 2008 YTD 2008 Target 2008 Area to Clear (ha) 0.0 0.0 2008 Area to Rehabilitate (ha) 0.0 0.0 2007 Mine Rehabilitation Species Richness (%) N/A 100 OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEE Hey Peter, the Peregrine Falcons sure have taking a liking to staff from the Control Room? They certainly have! What started off a couple of years ago with employees getting a gentle fright as a falcon swooped by, has escalated in the last two years with Sheila fiercely defending her territory with repeated strikes to hard hats! A new solution has been trialled this year, is it working? The solution was to install an avenue of flags that would provide cover for employees to freely walk under whilst providing a visual obstacle that the Peregrines will avoid. The east side of the 7th floor facing the nest box was considered the most exposed so was chosen for the trial. The flags are working well at this location. However the flags aren’t everywhere so employees are still vulnerable on other parts of the Station. So what will happen now? Operators from the control room are marking on a map where the swooping and strikes are occuring. Hopefully this will lead to the identification of hot-spots where we can look at either extending the flags or investigating other options to protect our employees. ...PETER McKENDRICK