2009 01 january

creepy crawlies
studying Anglesea’s invertebrates
alcoa anglesea
2009
environment report
january
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT JANUARY 2009
air
Air Monitoring
Stack Monitors
Average
Maximum
Opacity g/m3 10-minute average
0.092
0.337
Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 100kg/min
62.16
79.75
SO2 1 hour ppb
Average
Maximum
Community Centre
0
17
Primary School
1
83
Mt Ingoldsby
1
37
Scout Camp
2
149
Camp Wilkin
0
73
Camp Road
2
205
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 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -
0
0
1
2
0
5
0
0
9
Primary School
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
5
4
17 11 0
0
1
6
34 83 17 1
9
0
1
66 15 61 0
Mt Ingoldsby
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
29 0
1
0
0
1
6
37 6
0
0
9
1
12 9
149 1
1
3
4
81 0
0
0
0
0
7
6
13 0
0
0
0
0
33 3
17 44 3
6
1
3
13 13 8
73 0
1
14 24 16 0
6
1
8 205 33 1
Scout Camp
9
0
0
1
Camp Wilkin
0
0
0
2
2
1
0
0
0
1
0
2
4
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
20 0
Camp Road
0
0
0
2
2
1
0
0
0
1
0
8
10 0
0
0
0
0
1
3
5 121 98 1
EPA Air Quality Objective
200
Alcoa Local Standard
170
1
0
0
7
17 0
24 11 2
1
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT JANUARY 2009
water
Water Storage
Barwon Water storage levels for the Geelong system at 23.4% capacity. Stage 4 restrictions apply with a
Daylight Savings exemption to permit limited residential garden watering.
Water Discharge
ML
January
Total
Ashponds (SP1)
139
139
Mine (SP4)
0
0
Water Monitoring
SP1
SP4
SP3
23/01/2009
Ashpond
Mine
Final
EPA limit
Lab Result
EPA limit
Lab Result
EPA limit
Lab Result
pH
4-10
8.4
3-9
no
5-9
7.3
Susp. Solids
100
< 4.00
100
discharge
30
< 4.0
Colour
50
4.0
50
at
50
6.0
Aluminium
10
0.11
10
time
5.5
0.084
Iron
10
0.082
0
of
4.0
0.079
Zinc
0.4
< 0.01
2.0
sampling
0.30
0.013
WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML)
Date
JAN
Town Water
2.5
2.5
Bore Water
288
288
Mine Water
46
46
FEB MAR APR
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT JANUARY 2009
creepy crawlies in the rehab
Some people may think butterflies are beautiful
…but what about wasps, spiders, earwigs, flies,
moths, scorpions or mites?
Whilst many of these small critters have a bad
reputation, invertebrates account for the majority
of the world’s animals and without them life as we
know it would not be the same. Insects are
involved in many of the natural processes we may
take for granted such as improving the health and
structure of soil, providing pollination and seed
dispersal, and breaking down leaf litter into
nutrients available to plants. These processes are
very important in the rehabilitation process of land
that has been mined, and without the functions
performed by insects, rehabilitation cannot be
successful.
Julia Mckenzie, a vacation student from the
University of Melbourne, has spent her summer
holidays examining Alcoa’s rehabilitation sites for
the presence of these creepy crawlies. The project
has involved studying the invertebrate community
at four rehabilitation sites aged 1, 3, 5, and 6 years
old, to compare them with the invertebrate
community in the surrounding heathland vegetation. In addition, a recently burnt site was examined to compare the differences between the
disturbance of mining, with a disturbance that the
environment is adapted too, such as fire.
So far the rehabilitated sites appear to be progressing well with high numbers of invertebrates
and many different types of creatures returning to
the sites. Surprisingly, the number of invertebrates
has even surpassed the numbers in the undisturbed
heath. However, the species returning to the
rehabilitation are not necessary the same and may
be more tolerant to environmental change. The
rehabilitation may need more time to develop as
the sites are still relatively young and have a
different vegetation structure to the surrounding
heath. Further monitoring will be required to assess
whether the rehabilitation sites begin to approach a
likeness to the heathy woodland community and
begin to perform the same functions as that
ecosystem.
The impact of fire through the heath is not as
severe as the impact of mining, with a reasonable
number of invertebrates and a wide variety of
creatures returning to the site only six months after
the fire occurred. This is confirming that natural
processes, such as fire, are not as destructive to
the ecosystem as human-driven processes, in this
case mining.
Due to human activities and the increasing impact
of climate change, the preservation of biodiversity
and invertebrate communities are extremely
important. The environment relies on invertebrates
just as we rely on the environment. For example,
recent reductions in bee populations have alarmed
the global agricultural industry as they rely on bees
for pollination, and are concerned about the
potential for global food shortages. Therefore,
encouraging invertebrates onto the Alcoa rehabilitation sites is a very important part of a global
need to support invertebrate communities and the
wider environment.
ANIMAL OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH
ACROBAT ANTS (Crematogaster sp.)
Size:
Identification:
Distribution:
5mm
reddish brown with a distinct heart-shaped
abdomen
is an ecologically diverse genus of ants
found worldwide
Crematogaster workers are moderately aggressive and will
attack when disturbed. They have well developed chemical
defenses and are avoided by most other ants.
Nests are found in a range of sites including in soil with or
without coverings, in cracks in rocks, in dead wood and
arboreally in trunks and twigs. Individual colonies are often
composed of several small nests a few metres apart and
may contain more than one queen. The entrances of these
separate nests can sometimes be connected by well worn
trails several centimetres deep.
Crematogaster are generalist predators, foraging on the
ground as well as on low vegetation and trees.
ACROBAT ANTS
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT JANUARY 2009
LAND
RAINFALL (mm)
Month
JAN
2009 Rainfall
5.0
5.0
1968-2008 Average
43.9
43.9
FEB MAR APR
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
WATER
TOWN WATER USE (ML)
2000 2008 2009 JAN
Process
23.9
15.5
2.5
2.5
Amenity
11.6
1.5
0.0
0.0
FEB
MAR APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG SEP
OCT
NOV
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
1.46
1.24
1.19
1.21
1.21
1.20
1.21
1.20
1.18
1.20
1.23
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT JANUARY 2009
environmental improvement
Environmental Management Targets
January
2009 Total
Forecast
2009 Target
Reportable Environmental Incidents
0
0
0
0
Env Near Miss vs Env Incident Run Rate (ratio)
1
1
1
2.5
Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%)
100
100
100
90
Air Emission Targets
January
2009 Total
Forecast
2009 Target
Ambient SO2 (no. readings > 200ppb)
1
1
12
0
Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min)
0
0
0
0
SO2 Load Reductions (lost MWh)
1467
1467
17608
N/A
GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh)
1.23
1.23
1.23
1.20
Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation)
0
0
0
0
Water Targets
January
2009 Total
Forecast
2009 Target
Town Water (ML)
2.5
2.5
30
14.1
Bore Water (ML)
288
288
3456
4000
Waste Targets
January
2009 Total
Forecast
2009 Target
Waste to Landfill (t)
0.0
0.0
0.0
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)
0.0
0.0
2009 Area to Rehabilitate (ha)
0.0
0.0
OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEE
Julia, you have spent your summer holidays with us, what
have you been up to? During my time here I have conducted
an assessment of the invertebrate communities on the rehabilitation sites to determine whether the rehabilitation work has been
successful thus far, and collect baseline data for long term
monitoring. This has involved collecting invertebrates from the
sites to identify back at the lab, and then performing statistical
analysis to examine the differences between sites and the
surrounding heathy woodland.
What interested you in doing vacation work with Alcoa? In
my opinion it is very exciting that Alcoa invests time and money
into environmental research and remediation, and I wanted to be
part of that. Getting out of Melbourne and living on the coast
was also a big drawcard.
What have you learnt during your time at Alcoa? Over these
past few months I have developed skills and relevant experience
in environmental research that will hopefully be useful for future
employment.
What are your plans now? In light of the current global situation
the kind of work I’m looking for may not be available, so it may be
a good time to either do a PhD, start volunteering or go travelling.
...JULIA MCKENZIE