so long, farewell, goodbye Froona, Warrun and Barega fly the coop alcoa anglesea 2009 environment report november ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT NOVEMBER 2009 air Air Monitoring Stack Monitors Average Maximum Opacity g/m3 10-minute average 0.044 0.120 Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 100kg/min 69.89 80.61 SO2 1 hour ppb Average Maximum Community Centre 1 17 Primary School 1 94 Mt Ingoldsby 1 81 Scout Camp 3 119 Camp Wilkin 1 48 Camp Road 1 97 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 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 17 3 5 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 2 4 0 5 0 0 1 Primary School 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Mt Ingoldsby 2 13 2 0 0 2 18 15 34 16 15 2 2 14 1 2 0 1 Scout Camp 0 1 73 1 0 4 2 4 Camp Wilkin 0 1 0 0 48 4 1 Camp Road 0 1 0 0 0 2 EPA Air Quality Objective 200 Alcoa Local Standard 170 0 4 72 5 5 3 0 0 94 9 7 0 12 0 0 0 14 81 9 0 0 20 12 3 0 4 1 0 2 1 0 14 6 6 2 21 0 2 0 2 82 23 1 0 94 21 12 3 21 119 1 1 11 17 4 3 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 4 1 1 0 12 1 1 0 23 4 3 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 19 0 0 3 97 10 17 1 95 0 0 1 4 8 7 9 2 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT NOVEMBER 2009 water Water Storage Barwon Water storage levels for the Geelong system at 36.4% capacity. Stage 4 restrictions apply with a Daylight Savings exemption to permit limited residential garden watering. Water Discharge ML November Total Ashponds (SP1) 150 1460 Mine (SP4) 0 0 Water Monitoring SP1 SP4 SP3 17/11/2009 Ashpond Mine Final EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result pH 4-10 7.5 3-9 no 5-9 7.2 Susp. Solids 100 <4 100 discharge 30 <4 Colour 50 6 50 at 50 6 Aluminium 10 0.35 10 time 5.5 0.31 Iron 10 0.36 20 of 4.0 0.11 Zinc 0.4 0.096 2.0 sampling 0.30 0.030 WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML) Date JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG Town Water 2.5 1.0 1.5 1.5 2.9 1.6 0.6 1.1 1.4 0.7 0.6 15.4 Bore Water 288 270 281 237 76 233 231 232 224 239 251 2562 Mine Water 46 53 54 65 27 66 79 59 75 98 72 694 SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT NOVEMBER 2009 peregrine falcons We are proud to formally introduce Froona, Warrun and Barega, Alcoa Anglesea’s falcon chicks for 2009. For the sixth year in a row, Peregrine Falcons have returned to Alcoa Anglesea to the nest box on top of the water tower. The nest box was moved to the opposite side of the tower earlier this year, and luckily Sheila was happy enough with her new home to lay four eggs. However, only three of the four eggs hatched successfully this year. A similar event occurred in both 2006 and 2007 with only one and two out of four eggs hatching, respectively. There are several reasons why an egg may not hatch - drought, adults may be incompatible or an adult may have left the eggs resulting in a drop in incubation temperature. Suggestions of names for our new additions came from all over the world. Our female chick is named Froona to recognise Froona Veldhuis from the Netherlands, a devoted advocate for the Peregrine Falcon, who died in April this year. Our two boys have been named Barega and Warrun. Both names are from the Aboriginal language meaning ‘the wind’ and ‘the sky’ respectively. We had three attempts to schedule the banding of the falcon chicks. However, after forecast high winds and the travel tower being involved in a traffic accident (!), we were forced to cancel our scheduled banding for 2009. This left the webcam followers to determine the sex of the three chicks. Male and female chicks usually look very similar, with the size difference being used to determine sex. The female chicks are usually noticeably larger. The general consensus was that we had one female and two male chicks, so the birds were named accordingly. The two boys flew the coop much sooner than their sister, however Froona did eventually fledge. This has left us with a web cam (www.alcoa.com/ falcons) that is more often that not looking at an empty nest box. The web cam will shortly be switched off. We hope you have enjoyed the 2009 season on the web. If you have any feedback on the information and images we have provided this year, please contact us at [email protected]. PLANT OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH BLACK ANTHER FLAX-LILY (Dianella revoluta var. revoluta) Dianella....Diminutive form of Diana, goddess of Greek mythology revoluta... from the latin revolutus meaning rolled back from margins referring to the recurved leaf margins Size: 0.3 - 0.8m H x 0.5 - 1 m W Form: robust open tufted perennial, spreading by vigorous, branched rhizomes Foliage: dark green linear leaves to 70cm long with recurved leaf margins with are finely serrated Flowers: loose to dense panicles of blue to violet flowers with yellow filaments on the stamens on branched stems to 1 m high followed by small, shiny dark blue berries September to January Habitat: widespread in plains grassland, box and red gum woodland, dry, valley and damp sclerophyll forest, tea-tree heath DIANELLA REVOLUTA ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT NOVEMBER 2009 LAND RAINFALL (mm) Month JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG 2009 Rainfall 5.0 5.8 33.4 63.8 47.2 43.8 1968-2008 Average 43.9 42.5 40.4 51.6 60.2 59.5 62.6 79.2 SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL 91.6 61.0 49.4 105.8 586.0 65.2 67.0 69.4 616.2 53.9 WATER TOWN WATER USE (ML) FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV Process 23.9 15.5 1 2 . 8 2.5 0.8 1.2 1.3 2.3 1.5 0.5 0.7 1.1 0.5 0.4 Amenity 11.6 1.5 2.6 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 2000 2008 2009 JAN 0.0 DEC AIR GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) TOTAL (Mt) & GHG EMISSION EFFICENCY (t/MWh) GHG Mt GHG t/MWh 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 1.23 1.27 1.50 1.45 1.47 1.31 1.49 1.40 1.42 1.33 1.24 1.19 1.21 1.21 1.20 1.21 1.20 1.18 1.20 1.21 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT NOVEMBER 2009 environmental improvement Environmental Management Targets November 2009 Total Forecast 2009 Target Reportable Environmental Incidents 0 1 1 0 Env Near Miss vs Env Incident Run Rate (ratio) 5 2.5 2.5 2.5 Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%) 100 93 93 90 Air Emission Targets November 2009 Total Forecast 2009 Target Ambient SO2 (no. readings > 200ppb) 0 2 2 0 Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min) 0 0 0 0 SO2 Load Reductions (lost MWh) 954 32628 35595 N/A GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh) 1.16 1.21 1.21 1.20 Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation) 0 0 0 0 Water Targets November 2009 Total Forecast 2009 Target Town Water (ML) 0.6 15.5 16.9 14.2 Bore Water (ML) 251 2562 2795 4000 Waste Targets November 2009 Total Forecast 2009 Target Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 11.64 12.7 8.0 Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3 Mine Rehabilitation Targets 2009 Total 2009 Target 2009 Area to Clear (ha) 0.245 0.0 2009 Area to Rehabilitate (ha) 0.658 0.0 OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEE Hi Elise, you have been our ‘webcam operator’ since it was installed in 2006. What does this work involve? I started posting regular updates in 2007 following the activities in the nest box during the breeding season. We have huge international interest in our falcons, so often when viewers log on the webcam is under the cover of darkness. The blog and still photos have proven a great way of keeping these viewers up to date. This year a dedicated email address was introduced to answer any enquiries from the website and so far we have had over 200 emails and my role was to answer them if requried. Have you had any other involvement with the Peregrine Falcons at Alcoa Anglesea? When the Peregrine Falcons returned to Alcoa Anglesea in 2003, the initial work involved luring the falcons away from the station with the installation of the nest box, monitoring the falcons, education for our employees and liaison with the Victorian Peregrine Project (VPP) for research/banding. Today the webcam has made the monitoring easier, but the other work continues as I advocate for the conservation of the internationally protected species at our site. Thanks Elise - we know where to come when we want our Peregrine Falcon questions answered! ...ELISE JEFFERY