Vol 3 A21 Soil Water Assessment Download
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BANGO WIND FARM ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT APPENDIX 21 Bango Wind Farm Water and Soil Assessment Bango Wind Farm Pty Ltd VOLUME 3 UPDATES TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT During the preparation of this Environmental Impact Statement, a number of changes occurred. Please consider these changes while reviewing this Appendix. · The Assessment Type of the Bango Wind Farm has transitioned from Part 3A, after its repeal, and is now being assessed as a State Significant Development under Part 4 of the EP&A Act. Any reference to a Part 3A assessment in attached technical assessments may be disregarded, and considered as State Significant Development; · Rugby Wind Farm, a wind farm that was proposed to the north of the Project has been withdrawn. Where references are made to cumulative impacts with the Rugby Wind Farm, please disregard these; · Slight changes have occurred to the Rye Park Wind Farm layout, a wind farm under development to the east of the Project. The changes made to the layout are not significant and therefore sit within the cumulative impact assessment undertaken for this EIS. The revised layout has been considered in the Environmental Noise Assessment and Landscape Visual Impact Assessment. Where further references are made to the Rye Park Wind Farm layout, these will be incorporated into future documentation where required; · Four turbines at the south east extent of the Project, situated in the Mt Buffalo cluster have been removed through consultation with landowners. This change has been highlighted in maps and a review of all technical assessments has deemed that the removal of the four turbines has resulted in a reduced. This change will be incorporated into future documentation. These wind turbines are identified as “removed wind turbines” in the Project maps in Volume 2; and · A number of changes were made to the residence information for the Project, as a result of construction of houses and change in occupancy status of existing buildings. These changes have been incorporated into the EIS. Bango Wind Farm Soil and Water Assessment April 2013 Bango Wind Farm Soil and Water Assessment TableofContents 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Report objectives ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Project location .................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Project description ............................................................................................................. 4 2 Regulatory context .................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 NSW Legislation ................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 Policies and plans ............................................................................................................... 7 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Desktop review ................................................................................................................ 10 3.2 GIS Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 10 4 Climate .................................................................................................................................... 11 5 Landforms and Geology ........................................................................................................... 12 5.1 Topography and Land capability ....................................................................................... 12 5.2 Mitchell Landscapes ......................................................................................................... 14 5.3 Geology............................................................................................................................ 14 6 Soils ......................................................................................................................................... 16 6.1 Soil landscapes ................................................................................................................. 16 6.1.1 Binalong ................................................................................................................... 16 6.1.2 Cockatoo .................................................................................................................. 18 6.1.3 Boorowa ................................................................................................................... 18 6.1.4 Oak Creek ................................................................................................................. 19 6.2 Soil Properties .................................................................................................................. 19 6.2.1 Soil erodibility .......................................................................................................... 20 6.2.2 Soil erosion hazard ................................................................................................... 20 6.2.3 Salinity and Sodicity .................................................................................................. 21 6.2.4 Structural degradation hazard .................................................................................. 21 6.2.5 Shrink-swell potential / reactivity ............................................................................. 22 6.2.6 Permeability and drainage ........................................................................................ 22 6.2.7 Mass movement ....................................................................................................... 22 6.2.8 Relative runoff potential ........................................................................................... 23 6.3 Acid sulphate soils ............................................................................................................ 23 6.4 Contamination ................................................................................................................. 24 7 Water ...................................................................................................................................... 24 7.1 Catchments and Surface water ......................................................................................... 24 7.2 Wetlands.......................................................................................................................... 24 7.3 Groundwater and Groundwater dependant ecosystems .................................................. 26 8 Impact Assessment .................................................................................................................. 28 8.1 Proposed works ............................................................................................................... 28 8.2 Potential impact on soils .................................................................................................. 28 8.3 Potential impact on water resources ................................................................................ 29 8.3.1 Impacts during the construction and decommissioning phase .................................. 29 8.3.2 Impacts during the operational phase....................................................................... 30 Bango Wind Farm Soil and Water Assessment 8.3.3 Impacts on riparian ecological values........................................................................ 30 9 Mitigation and management.................................................................................................... 33 9.1 Soil and water management principles ............................................................................. 35 9.2 Access tracks and trenching ............................................................................................. 36 9.3 Works in riparian zones .................................................................................................... 38 9.4 Footings ........................................................................................................................... 39 9.5 Contamination ................................................................................................................. 39 10 References ........................................................................................................................... 40 List of Figures Figure 1.1: Project Overview.................................................................................................................. 5 Figure 3.1: Riparian corridor and Vegetated Riparian Zones (NOW 2012)........................................... 11 Figure 5.1: Land capability.................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 5.2: Geological formations......................................................................................................... 15 Figure 6.1: Soil landscapes.................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 7.1: Vegetated Riparian Zones..................................................................................................