201002 ANG february env report

ebb and flow
Anglesea Borefield Project is commissioned
alcoa anglesea
2010
environment report
february
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT FEBRUARY 2010
air
Air Monitoring
Stack Monitors
Average
Maximum
Opacity g/m3 10-minute average
0.05
0.165
Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 100kg/min
63.21
77.31
SO2 1 hour ppb
Average
Maximum
Community Centre
1
62
Primary School
1
131
Mt Ingoldsby
0
94
Scout Camp
1
92
Camp Wilkin
1
49
Camp Road
1
111
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 12 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 0 1 62 0 0 0 0 0 19 0 0 0 0 77
Primary School
0
3
2
12 0
0
1
1
9
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
42 97 1
0
0
0
0 131 1
0
1
1 116
Mt Ingoldsby
0
2
2
2
0
0
1
0
94 3
2
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
26 5
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
2
3
Scout Camp
0
2
2
1
0
0
1
1
3
0
1
0
0 0
0
0
3
0
2
2
92 1
0
0
1
15 0
0
2
6
Camp Wilkin
1
3
2
49 0
1
1
1
17 1
0
0
0
1
0
1
3
1
25 20 1
0
0
0
0
3
0
1
1
2
2
Camp Road
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
80 111 0
0
0
0
0
41 0
0
0
1
73
EPA Air Quality Objective
200
Alcoa Local Standard
170
0
0
1
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT FEBRUARY 2010
water
Water Storage
Barwon Water storage levels for the Geelong system at 30.8% capacity. Stage 3 restrictions apply as of
March 1 2010 with an exemption to permit limited residential garden watering.
Water Discharge
ML
February
Total
Ashponds (SP1)
104
254
Mine (SP4)
0
0
Water Monitoring
SP1
SP4
SP3
22/02/2010
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
4
50
at
50
5
Aluminium
10
0.3
10
time
5.5
0.29
Iron
10
0.16
0
of
4.0
0.19
Zinc
0.4
0.028
2.0
sampling
0.30
0.015
WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML)
Date
JAN
FEB MAR APR
Town Water
1.2
1.0
2.2
Bore Water
284
258
542
Mine Water
59
45
104
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
..
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT FEBRUARY 2010
anglesea borefield project update
To
Geelong’s newest water resource, the Anglesea
Borefield is nearing completion. The borefield taps into
a massive aquifer stretching from the Otways to Bass
Strait. It involves seven production bores drawing
groundwater from the Lower Eastern View Formation
(LEVF) from up to 700 meters below the surface.
Once fully operational, the borefield will supply an
average of 7,000 million litres per year, or the
equivalent of 20% of Geelong’s current annual
demand.
Testing and commissioning of the first three bores, as
well as the pretreatment plant at the northern borefield,
took place in October and November 2009. This
involved powering up switchboards and process
equipment, such as pumps and mixers, and testing
them to ensure they performed to the required
standard. The commissioning of the fully automatic
control system, including a 24-hour telemetry
monitoring system, has also been completed.
The first water was pumped from the borefield to
Barwon Water’s Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, a distance of
about 20 km, on 23 November 2009.
Drilling continues on the remaining two bore sites Coalmine Road near Fraser Ave and at the top of
Messmate Track on Harvey Street. Two deep
observation bores will also be constructed during 2010.
Alcoa Anglesea was involved in the construction
process - accepting the bore development water to be
treated within our ash ponds and allowing infrastructure
to be located on sections of our land.
How the system works: Pumps transfer the
groundwater into a pipeline, which carries the water to
a treatment plant on Forest Road, Anglesea. Here the
water is treated to remove the smell of sulphur and to
adjust its pH. The water then flows into a series of
tanks and then into a settling basin where solid forms of
iron and manganese are removed.
Pre-treated water is pumped via a transfer pipeline to
the Wurdee Boluc Reservoir. Here it is mixed with water
from West Barwon Reservoir and Barwon Downs
Borefield (when operating). The water is then treated to
drinking standard before distribution throughout the
Geelong region, including Anglesea, Torquay, the
Bellarine Peninsula and Lara. Water quality testing is
underway to ensure water extracted from the aquifer is
treated to the required standard.
Monitoring and Assessment: Monitoring and analysis of
the performance of the aquifer is being carried out daily.
The monitoring program involves 37 observation bores
and eight surface water sites, as well as eight terrestrial
and 11 aquatic sites.
Alcoa Anglesea extracts water from the Upper Eastern
View Formation (UEVF). Ongoing monitoring of the
underground aquifer, surrounding flora and fauna,
streams and rivers will ensure the borefield is a
sustainable water source into the future and that the
project has a minimal impact on both the environment
and the UEVF.
PLANT OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH
RED BEAKS (Pyrorchis nigricans)
Pyrorchis ....from the Greek pyre, fire, and orchis, orchid, refers
to the need for fire in order for flowering to occur
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 common sight but flowers
only after a hot summer bushfire
stimulates the flower next Spring
PYRORCHIS NIGRICANS
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT FEBRUARY 2010
LAND
RAINFALL (mm)
Month
JAN
FEB MAR APR
2010 Rainfall
19.0
41.6
60.6
1968-2009 Average
42.9
41.6
84.5
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
WATER
TOWN WATER USE (ML)
2000 2009 2010 JAN
FEB
Process
23.9
13.5
2.0
1.1
0.9
Amenity
11.6
2.7
0.2
0.1
0.1
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
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
1.23
1.50
1.45
1.47
1.31
1.49
1.40
1.42
1.35
1.43
1.24
1.21
1.21
1.20
1.21
1.20
1.18
1.20
1.21
1.16
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT FEBRUARY 2010
environmental improvement
Environmental Management Targets
February
2010 Total
Forecast
2010 Target
Reportable Environmental Incidents
0
0
0
0
Env Near Miss vs Env Incident Run Rate (ratio)
6
10
8
2.5
Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%)
100
100
100
90
Air Emission Targets
February
2010 Total
Forecast
2010 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)
7
17
102
N/A
GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh)
1.18
1.16
1.16
1.20
Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation)
0
0
0
0
Water Targets
February
2010 Total
Forecast
2010 Target
Town Water (ML)
1.0
2.1
12.6
14.0
Bore Water (ML)
258
542
3249
4000
Waste Targets
February
2010 Total
Forecast
2010 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
2010 Total
2010 Target
2010 Area to Clear (ha)
0.0
TBC
2010 Area to Rehabilitate (ha)
0.0
TBC
OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEE
Hi Maryann, I understand that you were heavily involved in
the Anglesea Borefield Project. What did this entail?
As part of the project, Barwon Water needed to conduct pump
testing from the test production bore to assess aquifer
parameters such as storage capacity and long term yields. The
initial development water produced by the drilling process
contained suspended solids. Barwon Water used our ash ponds
to treat this water, as fly ash works quite well as a coagulant to
remove the solids. We needed to obtain permission from the
EPA to accept this water as it is discharged from site via our
licence discharge point. We also had to install temporary piping
and a caustic dosing system.
How did accepting the bore development water affect
Alcoa’s ash ponds?
The extra water meant that we needed to continually discharge
from the ash pond, so the pH needed to be kept above pH 7.0.
This entailed dosing the pond with caustic and lots of time spent
testing the water to ensure the discharge did not contravene our
EPA Licence.
Thanks for all your hard work Maryann!
...MARYANN THORP