Surface Water Section 11 Surface Water
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Vol 3 Tab Dividers:Layout 1 16/9/10 10:17 AM Page 11 11 Alpha Coal Project Environmental Impact Statement 11 Surface Water Section 11 Surface Water 11.1 Introduction This section describes the existing environment for water resources that may be affected by the Alpha Coal Project (Rail) (herein referred to as the Project) in the context of environmental values as defined in such documents as the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EPA), Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009 (EPP Water), the National Water Quality Management Strategy 2000 (NWQMS) Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guideline: Establishing Draft Environmental Values and Water Quality Objectives and the Queensland Water Quality Guidelines 2006. The definition of waters in the EPP (Water) includes the bed and banks of waters, so this section shall address impacts on benthic environment, as well as the water column. For the purposes of this assessment, the study area refers to all waterways and related catchments that are intersected by the Project, both upstream and downstream from the Alpha Coal Mine to the Port of Abbot Point. The majority of the Project is located within the approximately 130,000 km2 Burdekin Basin catchment. The northern part of the Project is located within the much smaller Don River catchment which spans across 3,885 km2 of land (refer to Figure 11-1). The Burdekin Basin catchment is divided into six sub- catchments or sub-basins, three of which are crossed by the Project: x Belyando Suttor sub-basin; x Bowen Broken sub-basin; and x Lower Burdekin sub-basin. The Belyando River rises just west of Emerald and flows northwards until it crosses the Suttor River. From the confluence (just upstream of the intersection with the Gregory Development Road) the river continues as the Suttor River, which flows into the Burdekin Falls Dam (BFD). The Burdekin River continues north-eastwards to the Gorge Weir and the Blue Valley Weir. At the Blue Valley Weir the Bowen River, coming from the south, joins with the Burdekin River and continues towards the coast in a north-eastward direction. Table 11-1 shows an overview of the sub-catchments and their major tributaries and streams. Waters crossed by the Project are almost all freshwaters. Immediately before the terminal of the Project at Abbot Point, the Project skirts the Caley Valley Wetlands, a system that is tidally influenced (see also Table 11-1: Burdekin sub-catchments and major tributaries and streams Sub-catchment Major tributaries and streams Belyando/Suttor x Belyando, Cape, Suttor, and Rollston rivers; and x Mistake, Diamond and Logan Creeks. Bowen/Broken x Bowen and Broken Rivers, Lower Burdekin River; and x Pelican Creek. Lower Burdekin x Bogie and Burdekin Rivers. Section 11 | Surface Water | Page 11-1 | HC-URS-88100-RPT-0001 Sub-catchment Major tributaries and streams Don River x Haughton, Don and Elliot Rivers; and x Majors Creek. It should be noted that at the time of writing this section analysis was undertaken on the basis of an earlier version of the Project alignment, being the alignment that was submitted for the Infrastructure Facility of Significance application (refer to Volume 3, Section 6.2.3 of this EIS). While these amendments may result in some minor changes to sub-catchment areas and areas of impact, these are not expected to be significant in terms of the overall assessment of impact significance. The methodology for identifying waterway classifications and defining the study area is detailed further in Volume 6, Appendix G2. Section 11 | Surface Water | Page 11-2 | HC-URS-88100-RPT-0001 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 H erberton - Petford Road Highway Kennedy CAIRNS Davidson RoadTULLY .! TOWNSVILLE BOWEN NORTH COAST LINE 8,000,000 MACKAY 8,000,000 Gulf Dev Road GEORGETOWN Burdekin River .! ALPHA BRISBANE Dry River 7,900,000 7,900,000 Herveys Range Dev Road Upper Burdekin Sub - Basin G re BRANDON g o y .! ry Dev a Clarke River w el op High Road men rs od de 500000 ta in l l swo Road F Construction depot PORT OF ABBOT POINT n 450000 ! 7,800,000 e 7,800,000 v a ! ! ?!#" .BOWEN Hann Creek R IJ yr - Marshalling yards Lolworth Creek A Camp site Lower Burdekin Sub - Basin Don Cape River 1 River PROSERPINE ! .! Basin 400000 I# Campaspe River Camp site 2 Cape River Burdekin River ! HUGHENDEN 350000 7,700,000 .! Bowen Broken 7,700,000 d Sub - Basin Cape River ev Roa Mackay - Eungella Road 300000D ! MACKAY Suttor River Suttor .! Rosetta Creek Bowen Police Creek250000 I# Camp site 3 G re Sutto d go ! r Dev Roa r y D ad o B R e ru v v NORTH COAST LINE e e c e lop 7,600,000 7,600,000 H m 200000 ghway ! i i edy D H gh n e ns n n ow w e t D al k a K Belyando Suttor Sub - Basin a y R e o P M ad a rl I# b 150000 ! Camp site 4 orou g 100000 h - Sa r ! in Muttab a R u o 7,500,000 r 7,500,000 ra - ad Ara ma CLERMONT c R ad .! o o d ad ! R G F a ARAMAC 50000 r it o lpha e z .! A gor ro R nt - y y a o H De rm i rr Cle g v u h b R ! w a 0 a o t a t ALPHA MINE y d u # LONGREACH I Camp site 5 .! EMERALD .! ricorn Highw 7,400,000 Cap ay 7,400,000 Cramsie - M Glenorina Road d oa R d o oa h c R i v r e e D J - SPRINGSURE n l o l .! a homs Isisf T Isisford - Ilfracombe Road ord - Bla Black oad ck all ev R Roa BLACKALL D Fitzroy Dev Road d wson D .! Da awso 7,300,000 n Hi 7,300,000 g hway 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of this product, the Department of LEGEND Environment and Resource Management (DERM) makes no representations or .! Town Proposed Alignment (Version 9) Waterbody Don River Basin Lower Burdekin Sub Basin warranties about accuracy, reliability, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose and disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including without I# Camp Proposed Alignment (Version 6) Subcatchment Belyando Suttor Sub Basin Upper Burdekin Sub Basin limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages (including indirect State Road (Derived for Project) Bowen Broken Sub Basin or consequential damages) and costs which you might incur as a result of the product J" Marshalling Yards being inaccurate or incomplete in any way and for any reason. © The State of Queensland. Existing Railway Burdekin River Basin Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) 2010. ?! Depot Watercourse Source: See Copyright Details below and for full disclosure please refer to the EIS Volume 4 - References 1:2,500,000 (at A3) Job Number 41-22090 Revision A 0 50 100 BURDEKIN BASIN - Date 21-09-2010 Kilometres SUBCATCHMENTS Map Projection: Universal Transverse Mercator Horizontal Datum: Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994 Grid: Map Grid of Australia, Zone 55 / Figure: 11-1 G:\41\22090\GIS\MAPS\MXD\500_Surface_Water\41-22090_521_rev_a.mxd Copyright: This document is and shall remain the property of Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. The document may only be used for the purpose for which it was produced. Unauthorised use of this document in any way is prohibited. © 2010. While GHD Pty Ltd has taken care to ensure the accuracy of this product, GHD Pty Ltd, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, Google Earth Pro, GA, DMR and DERM make no representations or warranties about its accuracy, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose. GHD Pty Ltd, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, Google Earth Pro, GA, DMR and DERM cannot accept liability of any kind (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) for any expenses, losses, damages and/or costs (including indirect or consequential damage) which are or may be incurred as a result of the product being inaccurate, incomplete or unsuitable in any way and for any reason. 11.2 Description of Environmental Values 11.2.1 Water Quality The Environmental Protection Policy (Water) 2009 provides a framework for managing water, including identification of environmental values associated with water and setting of water quality objectives. Environmental values identified for waters in the study area are: x farm water supply x stock watering and irrigation x human consumption of aquatic foods (recreational fishing) x primary and secondary recreation x visual recreation x suitability for raw drinking water supply (the Burdekin dam services Townsville-Thuringowa, Bowen and surrounding towns) x cultural and spiritual values. An in depth water quality monitoring program was not carried out for the Project EIS as: x many of the streams are ephemeral x potential impacts on water quality are limited to variables that can be readily measured during construction (acidity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity) and are best managed through real time comparison of upstream (background) samples and downstream (impact area) water quality. Water quality was examined at aquatic ecosystem survey sites as part of aquatic ecosystem studies and results are provided in Volume 3, Section 10.2.5 of this EIS. The EPP Water does not identify any specific water quality indicators for the Burdekin Catchment. Water quality guideline values for the Central Coast region relevant to potential impacts of the Project are shown in Table 11-2.