Dams Safety Committee
Annual Report
2017 / 2018
ANNUAL REPORT
NSW DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE FLOOR 11, MACQUARIE TOWER, 10 VALENTINE AVENUE, PARRAMATTA NSW 2150 (LOCKED BAG 5123, PARRAMATTA NSW 2124) OFFICE PHONE: (02) 9842 8073 EXECUTIVE ENGINEER: (02) 9842 8070 Website: http://www.damsafety.nsw.gov.au Email: [email protected] BUSINESS AND SERVICE HOURS ARE NORMALLY 9.30 am to 4.00 pm MONDAY to FRIDAY Please note that the NSW Dams Safety Committee (DSC) only has a small number of technical staff who are often away from the office on inspections. Accordingly, technical questions may not be able to be answered immediately, although every effort will be made to pass on messages to ensure a prompt response.
Cover Picture: Cowal Gold Mine situated to the west of Cowra NSW. For its continuing operation it has two tailings storage facilities and a water supply dam that are prescribed dams. During the year the two tailings storage facilities were gradually upgraded into one large tailings storage facility. In addition, there was a tailings discharge spigot malfunction in April 2018 which caused piping scour of the tailings storage facility and required immediate remediation
NOTE: In accordance with Premier & Cabinet’s Memorandum M2013-09, the Committee has only printed in-house a limited number of hard copies (in black and white). Report distribution will be substantially electronic.
ISSN 0816-2727
Index A I Activities, nature and range ...... 9 Independent Auditor's Report ...... 52 Address ...... 1 L Assets ...... 10, 54 Legislation ...... 8 B M Business and Service Hours ...... 1 Management Improvement Plans and Achievements ...... 3, 17 C Meetings, attendance at ...... 11 Code of conduct ...... 50 Members, appointment of members, name, position, Committee, purpose, origin ...... 9 qualifications ...... 12 Contacting the Committee ...... 1 Mining ...... 16 D O Dams, prescribed, statistics ...... 67 Objectives ...... 3 E Organisational Chart ...... 10 Emergencies ...... 10, 38 P Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) ...... 50 Performance Measures ...... 17 Ethnic Affairs ...... 50 S G Staff, name, position, qualifications ...... 14 Government Information Public Access ...... 50 Sub-committees ...... 11 Guidance Sheets ...... 23 T Telephone of Office ...... 1
ANNUAL REPORT
ABN 55 079 703 705
The Hon Niall Blair, MLC Minister for Primary Industries Minister for Regional Water Locked Bag 5123 52 Martin Place PARRAMATTA NSW 2124 SYDNEY NSW 2000 Phone: (02) 9842 8073 Fax: (02) 9843 8071
Our Ref: 10.102.007
Dear Minister Blair,
We have pleasure in submitting to you, for presentation to Parliament, the NSW Dams Safety Committee's Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2018.
This Annual Report has been prepared in accordance with the Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Act 1984 and the Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Regulation 2015.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Cooper Jeffrey Gleeson Chair Deputy Chair
ANNUAL REPORT 1 CONTENTS
Index ...... Inside Front Cover 6. The Future ...... 17 6.1. Dams Safety Management 17 Overview by Chair ...... 3 6.2. Mining Management near Dams 19 Our Objectives 3 6.3. Administration and Information Systems 19 Targets 3 6.4. NSW Dams Safety Review 19 Highlights 4 Our People 5 7. Review of Operations ...... 20 Our Stakeholders 5 7.1. Dams Safety Management 20 The Future 5 7.2. Regulation of Mining near Dams 34 7.3. Information Systems 37 1. Charter ...... 7 1.1. Why do we have a Dams Safety Committee 8. Stakeholders ...... 38 (DSC) in NSW? 7 8.1. Liaison with Stakeholders 38 1.2. What Legislation defines our Functions? 7 8.2. Education and Training of Members and Staff 1.3. What are the Functions of the DSC? 7 and Associated Matters 41
2. Access and Contact ...... 8 9. Administration and Human Resources ...... 42
3. Aims, Objectives and Values ...... 8 10. Finance ...... 43 3.1. Mission and Objectives 8 10.1. Dams Safety Committee Certificate 43 3.2. Our Values 8 10.2. Independent Auditor’s Report 46 10.3. Audited Financial Statements 63 4. Management and Structure ...... 9 4.1. DSC Structure and Organisation Chart 9 Appendix A – Dam Owner and Consequence 4.2. Sub-committees 10 Category Summary - 30 June 2018 ...... 64 4.3. Meetings 10 4.4. Committee Members 11 Appendix B – Current Prescribed Dams in NSW – 4.5. Committee Staff 12 30 June 2018 ...... 65
5. Summary Review of Operations ...... 14 Map - NSW Dams Safety Committee - Prescribed Dams in NSW as at July 2018 ...... last page 5.1. Major Achievements for 2017/18 14
5.2. Budget Highlights 14 5.3. Performance Indicators 14
LIST OF TABLES Table 5.1 – 2017/18 Budget Highlights ...... 14 Table 7.5 - Status of Upgrading Activities for Dams and Basins under DSC Table 5.2 - DSC Performance Indicators ...... 15 Particular Review ...... 31 Table 7.1 - Interation of DSC over Dam Life Table 7.6 - Status of Activities on Dams Cycle ...... 23 issued with S18 Show Cause Table 7.2 – Amendments to Guidance Notices ...... 28 Sheets ...... 20 Table 7.7 - Dams issued with S15 Notices Table 7.3 - Guidance Sheets for Dams outstanding at 30th June 2018 ...... 28 Safety ...... 21 Table 7.8 – Guidance Sheets for Mining near Table 7.4 - Dams Modified for Safety Dams ...... 35 Upgrading since 2001 (not Table 7.9 - Mining in Notification Areas ...... 36 including tailings dams) ...... 25 Table 7.10 - Monitored Approved Mining 2017/18 ...... 36
2 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 Overview by Chair
Our Objectives The mission of the NSW Dams Safety Committee (DSC), an independent statutory body constituted under the Dams Safety Act 1978, is to ensure the safety of prescribed dams in NSW. Under its Act, the DSC has roles to: Protect community safety and interests from dam failure by ensuring that prescribed dams risks are tolerable; Ensure that DSC safety requirements are met, that risks are properly managed, regularly reviewed, and reduced to a level as low as reasonably practicable; and Ensure the risks to dams and their stored waters from the effects of mining are properly managed and tolerable. The DSC is also empowered with various enabling functions under the Mining Act 1992 in its role of regulating mining under stored waters to fulfil the above last-noted role. To achieve its roles, the DSC follows a goals-based approach to dam safety regulation wherein the means of achieving compliance is not specified but instead goals are set that allow alternatives for achieving compliance. Dam safety responsibility lies principally with the dam owner, while the DSC has a challenge/audit role. The dams of interest to the DSC are the currently 408 prescribed dams whose failure would threaten lives or have significant community impacts. Water and tailings dams have failed in a number of countries during the year. Some of these international dam incidents resulted in loss of life and all had damaging consequences. In September 2017 there was the near failure of a major dam in Puerto Rica, namely Guajataca Dam requiring the evacuation of thousands downstream and in May 2018 an extreme flood overtopped and failed Patel Dam in Kenya killing 44 people downstream. In addition, in March 2017, at Cadia Mine near Orange, a large section of the embankment of its Northern Tailings Dam suddenly collapsed. Although the stored tailings were contained on site investigations are continuing to determine the cause of this localised failure. These, and other, serious incidents and their widespread media coverage have served to highlight the major risks posed by dams and the potential catastrophic consequences of their failure. It is recognised internationally that well organised, and regulated, dam safety management programs are essential to maintain the requisite levels of safety of dams and that best practice regulatory systems involve risk based dam safety management. NSW and Australia in general have been in the international forefront of adopting not only risk based dam safety management practices but also associated risk based regulatory frameworks. For over 4 decades the DSC has required that mine owners develop a comprehensive engineering understanding of the effects of mining on stored waters and dams through detailed monitoring, analysis and research. This combination of an extensive local knowledge base, in conjunction with greater sophistication in monitoring technology, has resulted in the DSC’s having improved confidence to support the continued safe extraction of coal from under NSW storages.
Targets The DSC’s targets are presented in Section 5.3 and in the associated Table 5.2 of this report. The main focus is on the maintenance of the programs for Surveillance Reports, dam inspections and Dam Safety Emergency Plans (DSEPs). Another main focus is on dam owners having schedules agreed with the DSC for activities leading to necessary safety improvements on dams and to follow up issues in a timely manner. The criteria targets in the DSC’s most recent Strategic Plan were substantially met, whilst maintaining DSC expenditure within budget.
Highlights WaterNSW is the owner of the greatest portfolio number of large dams in this State. During 2017/18 the DSC continued to liaise closely with WaterNSW as it undertook a detailed portfolio risk assessment of its metropolitan dams and commenced construction of the second stage of its upgrading of Keepit Dam involving the complex post-tensioning strengthening of the dam’s gated concrete spillway section. WaterNSW also initiated the concept design for the flood attenuation augmentation of the dam. The DSC thanks WaterNSW for the cooperation it has given to the DSC in proceeding with its dams safety review and upgrading programs. Snowy Hydro Limited (SHL) continued to keep the DSC updated on SHL’s current five year dam safety management program, presented to the DSC initially in late 2015, for its portfolio of large dams (the second greatest portfolio number of large dams in NSW), with emphasis on several safety reviews, risk assessments, an ensuing PRA and associated investigations.
ANNUAL REPORT 3 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
There are currently around 150 prescribed dams and basins owned by local government councils and other local water utilities (LWUs). Work continued during the year on a prioritised program to improve the safety of various LWU dams. Some of this programmed development is currently done through the auspices and assistance of DPI Water. The buttressing and flood security upgrading works at Tenterfield dam was completed in mid-2018 and the dam removed from the highest risk status group of dams. Detailed design studies are underway on Dumaresq Dam and construction of upgrading works at Winburndale Dam are programmed for completion by mid- 2019. In June 2016 the NSW State Government announced a decision to build a pipeline from the Murray River to Broken Hill to guarantee the town’s water security. The Premier Mike Baird, Minister Niall Blair and others were involved in the announcements of this major project. The DSC has since endorsed Essential Water’s subsequent request to decommission Imperial Lake Dam, part of Broken Hill’s water supply, after completion of pipeline project scheduled for completion in late 2018. The DSC continues to be updated on these matters by Essential Energy personnel. In August 2012, 27 prescribed dams and basins were under particular review by the DSC due to their being in the highest risk status group. During 2017/18, Tenterfield Dam, Suma Park Dam and Kensington Centennial Pond Dam were removed, and one structure (Cadia North Tailings Dam) was added, to the highest risk list. At 1st July 2018, the number of dams and basins in this highest risk status group had been significantly lowered to 17 (see Table 7.5). Furthermore, it is likely that another 3 of the dams & basins also will have been removed from the highest risk status group by the end of the financial year 2018/19. Through the extensive continuing DSC liaison with the dam owners and the co-operation and committed work of the owners, a significant number of other dams and basins in the highest risk status group have definite upgrade programs in place. Investigations are also in place or well-progressed for the remaining dams in this group. A longer range forecast has indicated a likely substantial reduction in the number of dams and basins in the highest risk status group to about 10 by June 2020 (assuming there were no additions to this group). Mining continued around and under stored waters at a high rate throughout the year. Further Notification Areas (NAs) around dams were established due to the additional numbers of mining applications made. It should be noted that there had been an approximate doubling in total annual coal tonnage extracted from the NAs over the past ten years. During 2017/18 approximately 24.5 million tonnes of coal were extracted from near, and under, storages (water and waste storages) within the NAs. With coal production royalties to the state government proportional to extraction volume, this 2017/18 extraction volume was similar to the substantial volumes produced in the three previous financial years.
Our People The DSC members and staff kept their knowledge up-to-date through various professional technical activities external to the DSC. Various DSC members and staff continue to be involved in Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) and International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) matters. Some DSC members (including the DSC Chair and the other Engineers Australia nominated DSC member) and the DSC Executive Engineer are involved in various ANCOLD Working Groups. Several DSC members and the DSC Executive Engineer attended the 2017 annual ANCOLD Conference & Workshop on Dams in October 2016 in Hobart, Tasmania. These annual ANCOLD Conferences provide valuable forums for exchange of information and updating on dam safety issues as well as providing the annual opportunity for dam safety regulators nationwide to meet and review pertinent issues. The DSC is concerned in ensuring it is maintaining best practice. To this end, as well as its full organisation membership of ANCOLD, the DSC is also a member of the USA’s Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) and the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD). All of the above mentioned points concerning ANCOLD, ICOLD and various overseas authorities have helped greatly to supply highly valuable information and networking on national and international dam safety practices. The DSC invests in staff training as it is very reliant on its staff to provide the reviews of the many submitted reports on dams and also the mining applications and associated report submissions for the respective Sub-committees to endorse. Staff reviews of technical documentation have been carried out in an extremely competent and professional manner and this makes the Committee’s work considerably simpler. Once again the Committee wishes to record its appreciation of the competence, loyalty and dedication of its staff in meeting the DSC’s heavy workload and providing substantial services with few people. During 2017/18 the dam surveillance statistics achieved were again very good overall. The Committee commends its Surveillance and support staff for the very large workload completed in the last 12 months, including all reviews and audits of submitted reports completed in a timely manner. The Committee also commends its Mining and support staff for the substantial workload completed, including applications processed and conditioned, in the last year.
4 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Our Stakeholders The DSC values a good working relationship with dam owners, mining companies, and their consultants. The DSC can thus communicate its goals and requirements and, once they understand the DSC’s safety benchmarks, dam owners and mining companies come to recognise their responsibilities and develop an ongoing commitment to dam safety. Close contact is maintained by the DSC with owners of prescribed dams through meetings held during the year to discuss specific dam requirements, general procedures, and to ensure owners are able to communicate their concerns to the DSC. For example, during 2017/18 the DSC inspected 55 dams and basins, and held on-site meetings with owners’ personnel. DSC mining staff also inspected mine sites and held on-site meetings with personnel from those mines. The DSC believes there is very good value in training the operators of NSW prescribed dams in dam safety and surveillance matters. During 2017/18 the DSC was involved in organising and running two dam safety training courses. A 4-day dam safety/surveillance courses for water dam operators and other dam staff was held at Port Macquarie in late 2017 and one 3-day program for tailings dam operators was held at Port Stephens in early 2018. These courses each attracted the fully subscribed 28 participants. Since the inception of the standard training program a number of years ago, and enhancement since then with the creation of a TAFE certificate course, these training courses have resulted in a noticeable improvement in the general standard of dam owners’ dam safety management. This training course work is seen as an important part of the DSC’s education role for dam owners. The increasing emphasis over a number of years by the DSC on owner education in NSW has been reflected in numerous requests from dam owners within and outside NSW for educational assistance in similar training courses for dam operators. In 2017/18 the DSC provided principal training assistance for two other dam safety and surveillance courses, each of 2-3 days duration, for specific dam owners on an invitation basis. The DSC’s main requirements are outlined in its Guidance Sheets. All the DSC’s Guidance Sheets and also its standard forms are readily available for its stakeholders, through easy accessibility on the DSC’s website.
The Future
The DSC’s development and advocacy of a “Risk Management Policy Framework for Dam Safety” from 2000 onwards led to the NSW Government’s endorsement in 2006 of this risk management policy framework. This significant regulatory policy framework was then progressively implemented by the DSC, especially through substantial redevelopment of its Guidance Sheets. The risk regulatory framework allows prescribed dam owners to formally adopt risk assessment and management approaches. The DSC has effectively incorporated the main principles of its risk based regulatory policy into its Guidance Sheets. As one of the leaders of NSW regulators in implementing a risk based framework, the DSC considers it current approach accords well with the government’s general risk regulatory policies.
Improvements and expansions to the DSC’s databases continued during 2017/18 and also will do so into the future. Extensive DSC consultation with its stakeholders will continue. The DSC will continue to engage with other NSW safety, environmental and economic regulators to ensure that its Guidance Sheets fit in a consistent regulatory approach. The DSC will continue its information exchange program with other state dam safety regulators on their dams for which failure could adversely affect NSW communities, and on allied regulatory matters. The DSC’s Chair, another DSC member and the Executive Engineer attended the state dam safety regulators’ annual meeting that was held in conjunction with the ANCOLD Conference in Hobart in October 2017. This annual meeting of the nation’s dam safety regulators is a very worthwhile forum in which NSW should continue to actively participate.
With the developed detailed safety benchmarks and guidance that are encompassed within the DSC policy framework, the DSC feels that New South Wales continues as one of the world leaders in dam safety management. Indeed, through the risk based regulatory approaches adopted by several Australian States (including NSW) and the influence of ANCOLD and its Guidelines in this important subject, Australia is recognised internationally as at the strategic forefront of this modern dam safety management approach of incorporating a risk based framework.
The risk imposed by NSW dams will continue to be steadily reduced. Dam safety management programs are well established for all prescribed structures and will be further improved. Dam Safety Emergency Plans (DSEPs) are in place for a large majority of them. The DSC will continue to work with owners to ensure that all dams requiring DSEPs have them and are regularly updated and periodically tested. As consequences of failure for some dams would be catastrophic, the likelihood of their failure needs to be very low.
ANNUAL REPORT 5 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
It is the dam owner’s responsibility to determine and implement measures to lower dam safety risks to a tolerable level. The owner’s choice of investigating and implementing structural and/or non-structural options for risk reduction is a significant part of the DSC’s well established and largely goals based regulatory requirements in which the dam owner is responsible for demonstrating compliance in achieving sufficient risk reduction. This existing policy also accords with the new Dams Safety Act 2015 (see below), with various statements reaffirming that dam owners should have flexibility to explore a broad array of options and strategies to deliver the required level of public safety.
A substantial passage of time has elapsed since the Dams Safety Act 1978 and the associated DSC were established. In 2013 the government embarked on a review of NSW dams safety in general and its regulatory process. That work culminated with the passage of the Dams Safety Bill 2015 through the NSW parliament during September 2015 and the ensuing Bill’s assent. Notably the Minister’s associated media releases about the Dams Safety Bill 2015 stated that it will remain business as usual for the DSC until the new Act is fully implemented, that the implementation of the new Act is expected to take some considerable time, that dam owners will continue to be regulated, and must continue to comply with any requests from the DSC, under the Dams Safety Act 1978 until the new Act is fully implemented.
On behalf of the government, DPI Water initiated the implementation of the new Act with the formation of an interim advisory committee in October 2016. While the DSC continues with its work and role under the Dams Safety Act 1978, the interim advisory committee continues to work separately on developing the redefined dam safety standards and undertaking other regulatory and policy development in relation to dams safety. It is expected that the advisory body will continue to liaise and consult at various intervals with the DSC about the current dams safety standards and requirements and regulatory approach whilst working towards implementation of the new Act later in 2019.
The Dams Safety Committee looks forward to continuing in close partnership with the government during the next year in the necessary and extensive work required to fully implement the new Act. With an already extensively developed risk based regulatory approach to dam safety management, dam safety in NSW compares very favourably with the best dam safety programs world-wide. The DSC expects that the full implementation of the new Act will further develop and enhance the current risk based dams safety regulatory system. The DSC’s and NSW Government’s ultimate aim is that the risks from NSW dams to the community and the environment will be tolerably low for all prescribed dams.
Brian Cooper, DSC Chair
Cadia North Tailings Dam. A slide failure occurred in a section of the dam in March 2018. A containment bund has been built downstream to contain any subsequent tailings flow while investigations are undertaken to determine the cause of the slide and remedial options
6 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 1. Charter
1.1. Why do we have a Dams Safety Committee (DSC) in NSW?
In the 1970’s, international concern over several major overseas dam failures led to the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) raising the need for dam safety regulation across Australia. There was also significant consideration by the NSW Government as to the extent of mining that should be permitted adjacent to Sydney’s major water storages. Against this background, the NSW Government constituted the NSW Dams Safety Committee (DSC) under the NSW Dams Safety Act, 1978. Similar legislation has been progressively implemented interstate and overseas on a basis best summed up by Jenny Bacon (UK Health and Safety Executive Director General, 1999) who noted that “It is the nature of risk that, frequently, those who create the risk do not bear its consequences or the wider costs. Therefore, the market does not function properly as a distributive mechanism. The State must intervene to regulate risk”.
1.2. What Legislation defines our Functions?
The DSC has statutory functions under the Dams Safety Act 1978 and Mining Act 1992. This will continue to be the case throughout the next year until the new Act arising out of the passage through parliament in September 2015 of the Dams Safety Bill 2015 is fully implemented. It will remain business as usual for the DSC until the new Act is so implemented.
1.3. What are the Functions of the DSC?
Amongst other things, the DSC is required to maintain a surveillance of prescribed dams, to examine and investigate the location, design, construction, reconstruction, extension, modification, operation and maintenance of prescribed dams, to obtain information and keep records on dams and to formulate measures to ensure the safety of dams in NSW. It "prescribes" those dams which if failed have a potential to threaten downstream life, cause extensive property or environmental damage, or have a severe impact on the public welfare. At 30th June 2018 there were 408 prescribed dams-see Appendix B and also the included map following Appendix B. For prescribed dams, the DSC adopts a monitoring role to ensure the dam owners and organisations (e.g. mining companies) undertaking significant activities near their storages, conform to appropriate safety benchmarks throughout each dam’s life. The DSC’s aim is that risks from dams to the community and the environment will be tolerably low for all prescribed dams. In this context, a "safe" dam, or associated activity, is one that complies with the DSC's safety benchmarks.
Wambo Tailings Dam. The DSC has been monitoring the safety of this40m high dam for the last 20 years as it slowly fills with coal tailings and has been subjected to stressing from coal extraction operations both beneath and beside the dam. The dam is now full and being rehabilitated in preparation for decommissioning.
ANNUAL REPORT 7 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 2. Access and Contact The DSC’s access and contact details are outlined in the inside front cover of this report. 3. Aims, Objectives and Values
3.1. Mission and Objectives
In interpreting its legislative charter, the DSC has adopted as its mission “to ensure the safety of dams”. Relevant to this mission statement, the objectives of the DSC are to: Protect the safety, welfare and interests of the community from dam failure by formulating measures to ensure that risks from prescribed dams remain tolerable over the long-term, that the risks are regularly reviewed, and further reduced if reasonably practicable; Maintain an ongoing surveillance of prescribed dams and their safety throughout each dam’s life; Keep up-to-date on all relevant aspects of dam safety management; Protect the security of dams and their stored waters from the effects of mining or other activities; Inspire confidence in our stakeholders and be recognised for our technical excellence; and Promote dam safety awareness through the direction, education and training of stakeholders.
3.2. Our Values
To achieve its aims, the DSC is guided by its core values of: Safety – we integrate safety into everything we do (e.g. people, dams); Integrity – impartial, honest, open and straightforward; Service to stakeholders – we seek solutions and build relationships with teamwork and mutual respect; Accountability – we take responsibility for our actions; and Development – we strive for improvement.
Bulga Old Tailings Dam. DSC staff inspected the existing tailings and water dams at this mine site in January 2018 The Old Tailings Dam has reached its capacity and is currently being consolidated and capped as part of the initial steps in the closure plan for this dam.
8 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
4. Management and Structure
4.1. DSC Structure and Organisation Chart
The DSC is a small independent statutory body which reports directly to the Minister for Regional Water. It has negligible assets or property. It uses staff seconded from the NSW Department of Industry and hires contract staff as required. The DSC operates through two Standing Sub-committees (Dam Surveillance and Mining), along with ad hoc Advisory Sub-committees (Policy, Hydrology and Emergency Management). The following chart outlines its organisation. Most business is dealt with initially by its Sub-committees, which report to Committee meetings. Dams Safety Committee Organisation Chart (as at 30th June 2018) Dams Safety Committee Review / set DSC policies Review / oversight DSC operations Approve DSC actions / procedures Chair Brian Cooper Deputy Chair Jeffrey Gleeson Members Sam Banzi, Bill Barraclough, Norm Himsley, George Samios, John Sukkar, Michael Thornton
DSC Executive DSC Policy Subcommittee Acts for the Committee between Committee meetings on critical matters or emergencies Advises on policy development & meets regularly with the Minister’s Office Brian Cooper, Jeffrey Gleeson, Brian Cooper, Jeffrey Gleeson, Chris Salkovic Norm Himsley, Chris Salkovic
Chris Salkovic Executive Engineer (and Secretary for DSC meetings)
Emergency Surveillance Mining Sub- Hydrology Sub- Information Management Administration Sub-committee committee committee Systems Sub-committee Advises on Recommend / Maintains a Oversights Advises on emergency oversight / Recommend / surveillance of mining near hydrological matters relating implement oversight / dams. dams. matters. to dams. DSC implement DSC Recommends Recommends Recommends Recommends Information Administration relevant policies relevant policies relevant policies relevant policies System matters. and actions. and actions. and actions. and actions. matters. Chair Chris Salkovic Chris Salkovic Chair Chair Chair Norm Himsley Bill Barraclough Norm Himsley Sam Banzi Members Members Members Members Ian Landon-Jones Peter Cloke Tom Reed Belinda Davies Ian Cordery John Sukkar Chris Salkovic Martin Dwyer Janice Green Uma Maheswari Jeffrey Gleeson Peter Dupen Uma Maheswari Nanda Nandakumar Renee McDonald Chris Salkovic Secretary Daniel Turnbull Secretary Chris Salkovic Secretary Secretary Bill Ziegler Chris Salkovic Jason Porter
Engin Hizbas Heather Middleton Heather Middleton
In routine matters, the Executive Engineer and standing Sub-committees act for the DSC, while its Executive (Chair, Deputy Chair and Executive Engineer) deals with urgent business or emergencies between DSC meetings. Policy initiatives originate at any level, but are developed by the Policy Sub-committee before submission for DSC endorsement.
ANNUAL REPORT 9 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
4.2. Sub-committees
There are two standing Sub-committees, one on dam Surveillance and one on Mining. There are three ad-hoc Sub- committees, on Policy, Emergency Management and Hydrology, which meet as required. Membership of the Sub- committees is outlined in the DSC’s organisation chart. The Executive Engineer, Mr Salkovic has been appointed to each of the Sub-committees for his technical input, and to provide effective liaison between the Sub-committees and the Committee. He also provides an important role of main liaison with dam owner personnel and other principal stakeholders, with routine liaison delegated to the relevant DSC engineering / technical staff.
4.3. Meetings
The Committee held eight normal meetings during the year, of which six were in Sydney and one each in Orange and Armidale, in association with dam inspections. Attendance at Committee meetings was as follows:- Mr B. Cooper (Chair) attended 7 out of 8 Mr J. Gleeson (Deputy Chair) attended 6 out of 8 Mr S. Banzi attended 6 out of 8 Mr Bill Barraclough attended 5 out of 8 Mr N. Himsley attended 7 out of 8 Mr M. Thornton attended 4 out of 6 (commenced October 2017) Mr G. Samios attended 6 out of 8 Mr J. Sukkar attended 7 out of 8
There were 8 Surveillance, 7 Mining, 2 Emergency Management and no Policy or Hydrology Sub-committee meetings during 2017/18.
Ben Chifley Dam. This 35m high embankment dam, owned by Bathurst Council, was inspected by DSC members and staff during a country meeting in November 2017, Additional piezometers were installed in mid-2018 to provide more detailed information on the ongoing behaviour of this dam
10 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
4.4. Committee Members
As at 30 June 2018, the DSC had seven part-time members (with two other vacant positions). All are appointed by the Minister, with all but one of the members nominated for their experience in dams engineering (as required under the Dams Safety Act 1978) and one other member typically for experience in coal mining. Committee membership during 2017/18, with brief member biographies, was as follows:
Brian Cooper, BE (Hons), MEngSc, GradDipEngMgt, MIEAust, CPEng (appointed to July 2019). Chair from 1 April 2009, Nominee of Engineers Australia. Initially appointed in 1997. In 2006 Brian retired from his position as Principal Engineer, Dam Safety, with the then Department of Commerce and now practices as a private dam safety consultant with over 40 years water industry experience including extensive dam design works with the Department of Public Works and Services and the Water Resources Commission.
Jeffrey Gleeson, BE Civil, FIEAust, CPEng (appointed to July 2019). Deputy Chair (re- elected in February 2018), Nominee of Hunter Water Corporation. Initially appointed in 1990. Jeff is Senior Consultant with hunterh2o. He has over 35 years’ experience in the water and waste-water field with involvement in various aspects of dam engineering and structural design. Jeff is a long serving member of the DSC's Surveillance Sub-committee. He also lectures part- time in engineering at the University of Newcastle.
Sam Banzi, BEngT (Civil), MEng, MIAM (appointed to July 2019). Nominee of WaterNSW. Initially appointed in 2016. Sam is currently the Manager Asset Engineering and Dam Safety within WaterNSW and has more than 20 years of experience in engineering, investigation, surveillance, construction and whole of life planning of dam structures. Sam's recent experience as a senior dams practitioner has been obtained from large businesses including Snowy Hydro Limited, Hydro Tasmania Ltd and SA Water Corporation. Sam is responsible for the overall management of dam safety within WaterNSW and was previously a member of the DSC's Surveillance Sub-Committee from 2007 to 2012.
Bill Barraclough, BE (Mining) (appointed to July 2019). Nominee of Minister administering the Mining Act. Initially appointed 2014. Bill has 20 years operational experience in coal mines, predominantly in the southern coalfields of NSW. For the last 15 years he has worked with the Mine Safety Resource Regulator and currently holds the position of Principal Inspector Coal and Petroleum. He is the Chair of the DSC’s Mining Sub-Committee as of February 2016.
Norm Himsley, BE (Hons), MEngSc, GradDipMgt, MIEAust, CPEng (appointed to July 2019). Nominee of Engineers Australia. Initially appointed in 2009. In 2009 Norm retired as Executive Engineer of the DSC and now practices as a private dam safety consultant. He has over 45 years’ experience in the water and construction industry and extensive involvement in the investigation, design and construction of dams. He is Chair of the DSC’s Surveillance Sub- committee. Norm also sits on two ANCOLD working group committees, including for a period as chair of its Professional Development Working Group.
ANNUAL REPORT 11 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
George Samios, BE (Hons), MEngSc, MIEAust, CPEng (appointed to July 2019). Nominee of Minister for Finance, Services and Property, (administering the Public Works Act) George has over forty years of expertise in investigation and the design of major dams, weirs and water supply. He has vast experience in all phases of design processes from concept and feasibility studies through to final design and contract documentation to technical liaison during construction and commissioning. George has also particular expertise in dam safety management, reviews and procedures including the preparation of compliance documentation such as surveillance reports, O&M Manuals and Dam Safety Emergency Plans. He is currently the designated dam safety engineer for a number of NSW Local Government authorities.
John Sukkar, BE (Civil), MIEAust, CPEng (appointed to July 2019). Nominee of WaterNSW. Initially appointed in December 2014. John is the Manager Dam Safety (and Acting Manager Technical Services) with WaterNSW. He is currently responsible for the safety management of dams owned by WaterNSW, a state owned corporation. He has over 25 years’ experience in the investigation, design, construction and dam safety management of dams, weirs, hydraulic regulations structures, fishways and other civil works. John has been a member of the DSC Surveillance Sub-committee since 2011.
Michael Thornton, BE (Civil), MBA (appointed to July 2019). Nominee of Snowy Hydro. Initially appointed in October 2017. Michael is the Manager Engineering at Snowy Hydro Limited. His role includes dam safety management of SHL's fleet of dams. Michael has 20 years’ experience in project/construction management as well as asset and engineering management.
4.5. Committee Staff
The Committee is assisted by a full-time equivalent staff of seven, with most employed through NSW Dept. of Industry and with temporary contract staff assistance as required. Given the extensive workload of the DSC’s activities, this staff group provides an effective and efficient service to the DSC’s functions. During the year the DSC staff comprised:
Executive Engineer: Chris Salkovic BE (Civil), (started January 2017). Chris has close to 25 years of Water Industry experience including extensive involvement in asset management, operations and maintenance management, project and program management.
Surveillance Engineer: Jason Porter BE (Civil), GradCertEngMgt, MIEAust Jason is a professional engineer who started working life in the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board (now the Sydney Water Corporation). He has a background in science- based non-destructive testing research, development of instrumentation, software and analysis techniques, and application of these in industry. Prior to joining the NSW DSC in 2016, Jason spent 11 years as a Dam Surveillance Engineer in State Water and WaterNSW.
12 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Information Systems Officer: Uma Maheswari BSc (Seconded 2001) Uma has over 15 years of experience on data and information relating to NSW Dams
Tailings Dam Engineer: Engin Hizbas BE, BE, MIEAust, CPEng (seconded 2003). Engin has over 30 years of experience in investigation, design, construction and project management in civil engineering and dams.
Manager, Mining Impacts: Bill Ziegler BE (started April 2008). Bill is a mining engineer and has over 30 years of experience in the NSW coal industry.
Mining Regulation Officer: Heather Middleton BSc, MSc (Hons) (started May 2009). Heather has over 25 years’ experience in petroleum and mining industries specialising in geochemistry and hydrogeology.
Administration Assistant: Renee McDonald (Started February 2018).
ANNUAL REPORT 13 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 5. Summary Review of Operations
5.1. Major Achievements for 2017/18 During the year the following milestones and deliverables were attained: Good progress in reducing the risks posed by dams in NSW, including amongst other projects and matters: o Completion of upgrading works at Tenterfield Dam and Kensington Centennial Park Pond Dam; o For other local water utility (LWU) dams, detail design studies are underway on Dumaresq Dam and upgrade construction programmed for completion in 2019 on Winburndale Dam; o Continuation by WaterNSW of the detailed portfolio risk assessment (PRA) of its substantial portfolio of metropolitan large dams; o Continuation of the Stage 2 upgrade construction for Keepit Dam involving the post-tensioning strengthening of the gated concrete spillway section; and o Continued progress by Snowy Hydro Limited in investigations for the PRA of its portfolio of dams. Good compliance with core business activities (see Table 5.2); Successful moves of the DSC’s office and associated digital scanning and storing of DSC information to suit the new office area; Development of risk based investigations and approvals for a number of technically challenging applications for coal mining near dam storages, all of which assisted in allowing 24.5 million tonnes of coal to be extracted from Notification Areas around prescribed dams (the same as the previous year’s substantial, recent record tonnage); Provision and running of two DSC training courses for dam operators in dams safety and surveillance matters at Port Macquarie and at Port Stephens. Provision of principal training assistance for three other dam safety and surveillance courses, each of 2-3 days duration, for SunWater Limited in Townsville, and BHP at two of its large mines in central QLD; Review of 88 Surveillance Reports; Inspection by DSC members and staff of 55 dams and basins including 55 prescribed ones and no non-prescribed ones (usually only done as part of investigations for consideration of whether prescription might be required); Auditing of submitted design documentation for a significant number of water and tailings dam projects; Auditing of a significant number of submitted dambreak and potential loss of life (PLL) studies; Dealing with over 1,700 pieces of formally documented correspondence.
5.2. Budget Highlights A summary of the DSC’s financial performance is shown in Table 5.1 with full details given in Section 10 of the report. Budgeted expenditure is used as the performance yardstick.
Table 5.1 – 2017/18 Budget Highlights
Item $000
Budget (Expenditure & Revenue) 1,459
Actual Expenditure 1,451
Actual Revenue 1,494
5.3. Performance Indicators
During the year the DSC monitored performance indicators, which gauge the achievement of its objectives, as shown in the following Table 5.2 and Figure 5.1. These indicators illustrate how the DSC has effectively managed a substantial workload within its modest budgetary program. Due to the nature of the DSC’s work, and the relatively small size of its organisation, quantitative indicators are often not entirely appropriate and some of its significant indicators are therefore qualitative.
14 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 Table 5.2 - DSC Performance Indicators
# PERFORMANCE TARGET PERFORMANCE INDICATOR RATING
1 Follow up action taken within 3 months Percentage performance 90% (Good)
2 Reports/programs review & respond < 3 mths Percentage performance 75% (Good)
3 Yearly inspections of high risk dams Number inspected this year 8 (Satisfactory)
4 5-yearly inspections of lower risk dams Number inspected this year 47 (Satisfactory)
Website updated 5 Update DSC information material every 2 yrs Time since last update issued (Very Good)
2 (Good) and Provide at least one dam safety education 6 Number of courses arranged and run this year participated in 3 course in NSW each year others
Degree of deviation to budgeted expenditure (under 7 Compliance with approved DSC budget <1% or over)
Based on policy progression, reports reviewed and 8 Surveillance Sub-committee 88 (Good) follow ups
Subjective based on monitoring compliance, matters 9 Mining Sub-committee 90% (Good) followed up and mining impacts as predicted
! Process all Applications received Percentage of applications received finalised 100% (Excellent)
! Review all monitoring data received Percentage performance 90% (Good)
! Process all SMP / Part 3A / Titles Percentage performance 95% (Very good)
Subjective based on policy progression, coordination 10 Emergency Management Sub-committee of matters and emergency plans implementation and (Satisfactory) updating.
Compliance with Records Management Subjective based on progression in updating 11 Good Standards procedures and systems, and programs achieved
Subjective, based on meeting HR, accounting and 12 Administration Satisfactory logistical needs of the DSC
ANNUAL REPORT 15 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 Figure 5.1-DSC Summary Statistics
3500 2950 $2,500 3000 2650 2300 $2,000 2500 2000 2000 1830 2000 1710 $1,500 2017/18 Expenditure includes In-Kind 1500 $1,000 $,000
Numbers Contribution and Crown 1000 Assumed Liability $500 500 Expenses 0 $0 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18
Correspondence Expenditure
25 30
20 25 20 15 15 10 10 5
5 Tonnes of coal (millions) Mining Applica ons Processed 0 0 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18
Mining Applica ons Processed Tonnes of coal
420 408 410 400 400 390 390 383 376 378 380 380 372 370 360 360 346 350 Dam Dam Numbers 340 330 320 310 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18
Prescribed Dams
16 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 6. The Future
6.1. Dams Safety Management
The DSC expects the number of prescribed dams, detention basins and retarding basins in NSW to generally grow in the long term (especially basins) and that existing dams and basins will continue to require safety improvements to meet community expectations. The DSC’s main objective is to ensure that all prescribed dams and basins present a tolerably low risk to downstream residents, property, the environment and associated community interests.
Gosling Creek Dam. Orange Council is undertaking a dambreak study for this old 8m high concrete gravity dam to see if downstream creek realignment works can prevent this dam from posing a dambreak threat.
With the passage of the Dams Safety Bill 2015 through the NSW Parliament in September 2015, the DSC will continue working in close partnership with the NSW Government during the next year in the necessary and extensive work required to implement the new Act. Notably the Minister’s media releases about the passage of the Bill stated that it will remain business as usual for the DSC until the new Act is fully implemented and that dam owners must continue to comply with any requests from the DSC until the new Act is so fully implemented.
Regarding other activities and functions, the DSC will in particular: Continue to implement and use its risk based dam safety policy, incorporating currently 22 Guidance Sheets on dam safety requirements; Continue to liaise with other NSW Government safety, environmental and economic regulators, to ensure that DSC requirements not only fit within a consistent regulatory framework (and one which incorporates risk management) but also keep in touch with national and international practices; Continue close liaison with dam safety regulators in other States including contributing to the annual Australian dam safety regulators’ meeting; Continue to monitor activity programs for safety improvements to NSW dams identified as not meeting DSC safety requirements (see Tables7.5 & 7.6);
ANNUAL REPORT 17 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Continue to work with dam owners in assessing the priority and urgency of safety improvements and activities, in order to achieve the optimum risk reduction with available resources and within the DSC’s required time frames; Continue to support research into dam safety risks and associated matters; Work with NSW dam owners to ensure appropriate dam emergency and security arrangements are in place, with Dam Safety Emergency Plans regularly updated and exercised. Liaise with the State Emergency Service (SES) to facilitate these arrangements; Continue to ensure dam owners have in place current Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Manuals for their dams and in particular for gated spillway dams; Maintain liaison with NSW dam owners and continue the emphasis on education, including providing training courses for dam owners’ personnel. The DSC will also arrange and/or facilitate presentations by staff and members at meetings and conferences on dam matters as deemed required, and provide input to ANCOLD Guidelines; Continue to advise dam owners of the value of installing rainfall and flow monitoring equipment to enhance flood warning, and to assist in flood analysis and design; Review and update DSC internal management procedures and also its databases; Continue to investigate the vast number of non-prescribed dams and retarding basins to determine if any of these dams present a risk to the community and thus need to be prescribed; Continue corporate (organisational) membership of ANCOLD and continue memberships and subscriptions to journals of various international dam safety organisations to ensure the DSC remains up to date and conversant with the latest relevant national and world practices in dam engineering.
Winburndale Dam. DSC members and staff inspected this 22m high concrete gravity dam in November 2017 in conjunction with a DSC country meeting. The dam is owned by Bathurst City council and tenders have been recently called to strengthen the dam to meet modern day flood handling requirements.
18 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
6.2. Mining Management near Dams
The number of applications to mine within Notification Areas has reduced from the historical high of 2012/13 to a more stable number over the last three years. During 2017/18 approximately 24.5 million tonnes of coal were extracted from Notification Areas around prescribed dams. This was notably similar to the previous several years very large tonnages. The DSC’s objective is to advise on mining regulation so as not to unnecessarily restrict extraction of NSW mineral resources. It continues to ensure that mine owners develop a comprehensive scientific understanding of the effects of mining on stored waters and dams in order that mining within Notification Areas occurs with negligible impact to existing infrastructure. Through time, DSC staff members have been developing more sophisticated risk analysis tools as an aid to managing the impacts of mining. In addition, an expanding knowledge base and advances in technology have resulted over time in the DSC having improved confidence to support the extraction of extra coal from under and near NSW storages, in situations where mining would not have been approved in earlier years. The DSC’s ongoing initiatives to achieve its objective are to: Investigate and progressively implement applications of risk management to various aspects of mining developments, and monitor practice and update guidelines accordingly; Ensure adequate protection of dam walls and stored waters by reviewing the maximum extent of ground movements induced by coal mining and, if necessary, increasing the size of Notification Areas; Promote compliance within the mining industry, and understanding within other Government agencies, of the DSC’s mining management requirements through involvement in planning processes, and ongoing interaction with stakeholders.
6.3. Administration and Information Systems
As it did in 2017/18, the DSC will maintain a commitment in the coming financial year to ongoing implementation of strategic planning within its business planning process, with procedures and practices formalised and updated as necessary. The DSC will continue necessary regular upgrading of desktop hardware and software within its information systems to meet increasing demands. As occurred in 2017/18, new and updated features will continue to be added to the DSC databases and existing parts (e.g. GIS, Notification Areas, overdue reports) will be expanded and consolidated. Training programs will continue to be conducted for staff and members to facilitate effective and safe work practices (e.g. various computer program courses, finance processes, audit courses and/or other work/health/safety matters). Progressive updating of the new DSC’s office will continue to maximise effective use of the resource. Outdated documents will continue to be scanned and archived to maximise usable storage space within the DSC’s office.
6.4. NSW Dams Safety Review
A substantial passage of time has elapsed since the Dams Safety Act 1978 and the associated Dams Safety Committee (DSC) were established. In 2013 the NSW State Government embarked on a review of NSW dams safety in general and its regulatory process. That work culminated with the passage of the Dams Safety Bill 2015 through the NSW parliament during September 2015 and the ensuing Bill’s assent. Notably the Minister’s associated media releases stated that it will remain business as usual for the DSC until the new Act is fully implemented, that the new Act’s implementation will take some considerable time and that dam owners will continue to be regulated by the DSC until the new Act is fully implemented. On behalf of the government, DPI Water initiated the implementation process for the new Act with the formation of an interim advisory committee in October 2016 which will work separately to the DSC on developing the redefined dam safety standards and undertaking other regulatory and policy development in relation to dam’s safety under the new Act. It is expected that the advisory body will liaise at various intervals with the DSC about the current dam’s safety standards and requirements and regulatory approach. The DSC looks forward to continuing in partnership with the government during the next year in the necessary and extensive work required to fully implement the new Act.
ANNUAL REPORT 19 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 7. Review of Operations
7.1. Dams Safety Management
7.1.1. What Dams are under Surveillance? The DSC is required to maintain a surveillance of prescribed dams; to examine and investigate the location, design, construction, reconstruction, extension, modification, operation and maintenance of prescribed dams; to obtain information and keep records on dams and to formulate measures to ensure the safety of dams in NSW. Although the state has tens of thousands of dams, predominantly farm dams, the DSC interprets its charter as being to protect life and significant property, environmental and other community interests. Therefore, the DSC only “prescribes” and maintains surveillance of the safety of those dams with potential for significant failure consequences, as listed and detailed in Appendix B (408 dams as at 30th June 2018). 7.1.2. Policies and Procedures that Apply to Dams Safety Management After being informed of a proposed dam, the initial DSC decision is on the need, or otherwise, for prescription of the dam. This will normally be based on the Consequence Category of the dam, which in turn is based predominantly on the estimated potential loss of life in the event of the dam’s failure. These matters are outlined in DSC Guidance Sheet DSC1A DSC Background, Functions and Operations. Then for prescribed dams, as shown in Table 7.1 below, the DSC has a range of policies and procedures that facilitate its interactions with dam owners and other affected organisations at all stages of the life of that dam. This is outlined further in DSC’s Guidance Sheet DSC2B Documentation and Information Flow over Dam Life Cycle. Table 7.1 - Interaction of DSC over Dam Life Cycle
Phase Interaction Owners provide proposed dam details Investigation DSC decides on prescription and provides ongoing requirements (see DSC2B) DSC reviews suitability of design team Design DSC requires design report and reviews major design standards (does not review details) DSC requires designer involvement during construction in particular to approve any changes Construction DSC requires Construction Report and Construction Completion Certificate, certifying the designer’s agreement with changes during construction DSC requires Surveillance Report one year after construction Commissioning DSC requires Operation & Maintenance Manual DSC requires Dam Safety Emergency Plan if downstream lives at risk DSC requires regular surveillance and reporting by the owner DSC conducts random checks of compliance Operation DSC requires submission of Surveillance Reports at regular intervals (usually 5 yearly) DSC requires Safety Reviews at regular intervals (usually 15 to 20 year intervals) Modifications DSC requirements similar to that for new dam DSC reviews proposal Decommissioning DSC requires decommissioning report
For further information on DSC dam safety regulation policies, refer to the DSC’s Guidance Sheets listed on the following page in Table 7.3 and available on our website www.damsafety.nsw.gov.au for downloading.
Table 7.2 – Amendments to Guidance Sheets
Document Amendment Updated
No Guidance Sheets were amended or updated during the 2017/18 financial year
Before any specific Guidance Sheet updating involving technical matters and/or DSC requirements, the DSC has a policy to display the proposed amendments on its website for a defined period and inviting comments – for the Committee’s consideration of such comments and any necessary and/or relevant incorporation prior to finalisation. This DSC policy is in accordance with good regulatory practice principles.
20 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Table 7.3 - Guidance Sheets for Dams Safety
Document Description Update Date DSC1A DSC Background, Functions and Operations June 2010 DSC1B Background to DSC Risk Policy Context June 2010 DSC2A Dam Safety Management System (SMS) June 2010 DSC2B Documentation and Information Flow over Dam Life Cycle June 2017 DSC2C Surveillance Reports for Dams June 2010 DSC2D Demonstration of Safety for Dams June 2010 DSC2E Some Legal Considerations for Dam Owners June 2010 DSC2F Operation and Maintenance for Dams June 2010 DSC2G Emergency Management for Dams Dec. 2010 DSC2H Dam Security June 2010 DSC2I Community Consultation and Communication (CC&C) June 2010 DSC3A Consequence Categories for Dams November 2015 DSC3B Acceptable Flood Capacity for Dams June 2010 DSC3C Acceptable Earthquake Capacity for Dams June 2010 DSC3D Reliability of Spillway Flow Control Systems June 2010 DSC3E Flood Retarding Basins June 2010 DSC3F Tailings Dams June 2012 DSC3G General Dam Safety Considerations June 2010 DSC4A Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Administrative Procedures March 2011 DSC4B Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Mining Applications June 2010 DSC4C Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Management and Monitoring Matters June 2010 DSC4D Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Contingency Plans June 2010
7.1.3. 2017/18 Dams Surveillance Matters The DSC continually reviews its list of prescribed dams in the light of new proposals, changed conditions, staff inspections and information supplied, to ensure that only dams with the potential for significant or higher failure consequences are prescribed. During 2017/18 there was a net increase of 7 prescribed dams, giving a total of 407 prescribed dams at June 2018 (see Appendix A Summary, Appendix B list and the map following Appendix B). For proposed prescribed dams and dam modifications, the DSC requires dam owners to provide design information for its review before construction. A significant number of such submissions were processed during 2017/18. The DSC usually confines its review to assurance that major safety criteria (e.g. flood capacity, embankment zoning, filter provisions) are satisfied, and that the designers are competent, though the DSC may challenge any design aspect that is of concern. The DSC also requires the submission of copies of design reports and it also requires independent expert peer reviews for designs, upgrades and safety reviews of High and Extreme Consequence Category Dams. The DSC requires the designers’ involvement in the dam construction process, including approving design changes so that the “as-built” design is sound. DSC staff members also liaise with dam owners’ personnel and carry out construction inspections. Upon completion of construction, the DSC requires dam owners to submit work-as-executed (WAE) drawings and the “construction completion certificate” (certifying the designer’s approval of any changes) for the DSC's records. At a reasonable time after completion of construction, the DSC requires dam owners to submit a Construction Report for future reference.
ANNUAL REPORT 21 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
The DSC then requires Surveillance Reports summarising the behaviour of the dam since construction, to be submitted. The first report is to be submitted after first filling of the dam, which is a critical phase in dam safety, but no later than one year after construction. Thereafter, Surveillance Reports are required at not more than five-yearly intervals. Annual update reports are required for mine tailings dams in the cases where substantial changes to the structure of the dam can occur, and at two and a half yearly intervals for tailings dams where no significant changes to the dam are occurring. These Surveillance Reports provide information on dam safety status and are checked by DSC staff and the Surveillance Sub-committee who provide summary advice to the Committee for discussion and/or endorsement. The reports enable the DSC to continually monitor whether dam owners are responsibly managing their dams at all stages of the lives of those dams. The reporting extent varies, with comprehensive reporting required for Extreme Consequence Category dams, down to brief pro-forma reports for Low Consequence Category dams (see Guidance Sheet DSC2C). During 2017/18, the DSC received and reviewed 88 dam Surveillance Reports (see Appendix A). This is close to the average targeted number to be reviewed and has thus helped to minimise the risks that a dam problem may go undetected. However, difficulty still lies with timely submission of reports by some dam owners. To prevent a serious backlog from developing, the Committee can and does issue notices under Section 15 of the Dams Safety Act to those owners where Surveillance Reports or other required investigation reports are more than two years overdue without a valid reason. Surveillance Reports are stored in the DSC’s record system and progressively incorporated into the DSC database. Provision of electronic copies of each report is now a standing requirement. The DSC considers that the content and presentation of Surveillance Reports is of a reasonably high standard and that the majority of owners are responding in a positive and responsible manner to the DSC’s requirements.
Mount Pleasant Environmental Dam. DSC staff inspected the mine site in January 2018 to check on progress in construction of several dams at this new mine site
The DSC continued with and strengthened its regular programmed staff and Committee member inspections of dams and discussions with owners, throughout the State. Inspections by DSC members in conjunction with the country meetings of the DSC also continued. Country meetings were held in Orange and Armidale. 55 prescribed dams were inspected during 2017/18, which was just over 12% of the total number of prescribed structures. Sixteen of the current top 100 high-risk dams were inspected by the DSC during 2017/18. Continued emphasis will be placed on inspections of prescribed dams by DSC staff and members every year to assist in checking that recommendations within Surveillance Reports are being carried out, and that mining activities within and near dams are not having adverse
22 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 effects on the dams. These inspections and country meetings are also essential in the long-term to check the general safety standard of each dam, its consequence category, and the actual performance of each dam owner in complying with DSC requirements. Any non-compliances with requirements or deficiencies in programs detected are brought to the attention of the owner's representative(s), and any concerns discussed on site. The inspections also provide useful background knowledge against which Surveillance Reports can be evaluated and assessed by the DSC. During 2017/18 the dam surveillance statistics achieved were good overall. The Committee acknowledges here its high commendation of the DSC’s Surveillance and support staff for the very large workload completed in the last 12 months, including all reviews and audits of submitted reports completed in a timely manner.
7.1.4. Examination and Investigation of Dams Safety Dam owners are legally responsible for the safety of their dams and to ensure the risks from their dams are tolerable. The role of the DSC is to ensure that dam owners discharge this responsibility and that community interests are adequately protected. The DSC views the risk assessment approach of the ANCOLD Guidelines on Risk Assessment 2003, in conjunction with the national standard AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk Management Principles & Guidelines, as providing a good framework for comprehensive examination and investigation of dam safety over the whole range of potential failure situations and a better understanding of relative risks and consequences. Accordingly, the Government endorsed in August 2006 a revised dam safety regulatory policy framework, the Risk Management Policy Framework for Dam Safety, which integrates the traditional engineering standards based approach to safety with risk assessment methods in determining the safety status of dams in a more rational manner. The process of risk assessment assists in evaluating the relative safety of each dam, to assess risk reduction options and to assign priority and urgency to any remedial actions required. Risk assessment can better clarify safety and thus provide for more informed decision-making as well as providing upgrading options based logically on risk, consequences and costs. Risk assessment requires that the analysis team work with the decision-maker, and communicate appropriately with the affected community, to arrive at an informed overall judgement of the safety requirements for a dam. Several risk assessments were submitted during the year. Two substantial portfolio risk assessments (PRAs) are currently in progress, one by WaterNSW for its metropolitan dams and one by Snowy Hydro Limited. Various other assessments and reports were also submitted to the DSC for auditing, including design documentation for a number of dams (mostly pertaining to augmentations). To assist staff with their reviews of those reports a report review checklist has been previously developed to ensure that the reviews have covered all the DSC’s requirements, including the need for independent peer review of reports for all High and Extreme Consequence Category dams. The DSC furthermore will continue its general policy of judging each case on its merits by considering any dam safety proposal that is soundly based, aligned with accepted practice, and would result in a demonstration of tolerable risks. Guidance Sheet DSC1B Background to DSC Risk Policy Context requires dam owners to keep dam risks under review. The safety of a dam is to be reviewed whenever the DSC determines that a review is needed or at a minimum every 15 years (for Extreme and High Consequence Category dams) or 20 years (for Significant Consequence Category dams). An owner is to submit its conclusions on a dam’s safety, or proposals for dam safety improvements to the DSC for review. For all supporting data interpretations, analyses, calculations, judgements and conclusions, the DSC relies on the knowledge, skill and diligence of the owner’s professional advisors. This policy will not prevent the DSC challenging the owner to justify any aspect of a proposal if considered necessary.
A dam owner is to bring risks into compliance with the DSC’s safety requirements as soon as reasonably practicable and is to keep the residual risks under review and is to maintain risks as low as reasonably practicable over time. However, safety improvements required by the DSC may be implemented progressively where that would promote more effective risk reduction for the community as regards risks from dams. Short term dam safety improvements are generally required within 2 years, medium term improvements within 10 years and long term improvements are required within 20 years (see Guidance Sheet DSC1B). Also, when required to do so, a dam owner is to demonstrate that risk to public and other interests of the community are tolerable. To be tolerable, a risk must be below the limit of tolerability and as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). For public safety risks, risk boundaries – the limit of tolerability and the negligible level of risk – are relevant in applying the ALARP test. See Figure 7.1 below (adapted from Fig. 1 in DSC1B). For a risk to be ALARP, the sacrifice (generally in terms of cost) required in its reduction must be grossly disproportionate to the risk reduction that is achieved and may partially be based on CSSL (Cost to Save a Statistical Life). Note that CSSL is a cost benefit analysis approach. Other criteria also need to be considered
ANNUAL REPORT 23 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Figure 7.1 – DSC Societal Risk Requirements: Existing Dams
To provide background data needed for safety assessment studies, the DSC has continued to encourage dam owners and Government agencies to install and maintain rainfall/runoff and seismic monitoring equipment, and to support research into the estimation of piping risks, the derivation of extreme rainfall estimates, and the risk assessment of dam slopes and other important stability criteria. A Dam Safety Emergency Plan (DSEP) is required by the DSC for any dam where lives are at risk from dam failure, to provide a contribution to aiding risk management. These plans apply from construction throughout the life of each dam and are aligned to SES planning for river and flash flooding. The DSC liaises with the SES and provides data and information on the highest risk and other significant risk dams, particular through the DSC’s Emergency Management Sub-committee. These developed protocols allow the SES to effectively prioritise its emergency planning for dams (see Section 7.1.9). From information received, the DSC identifies those dams with the highest risks and those with possible risks. The DSC then reaches agreements with owners on needed safety improvements, or the activities needed to clarify safety, and a timetable for actions. Once a significant safety shortfall is confirmed, the owner is to submit a program for safety improvement. The DSC regularly updates its provisional risk group indexing of dams and the SES is informed to guide it with interim flood planning downstream of various dams. However, the DSC listing is not exhaustive as there may be dams with undetected shortfalls on safety to date. The DSC requires dam owners to undertake regular safety reviews to minimise the risk of safety shortfalls going undetected. With most attention on the dams in Tables 7.5 and 7.6, the DSC then monitors activities against the safety improvement program, which can necessarily extend over many years to allow for detailed investigations and community consultation, financing and implementation. Once again, this process continued throughout the year. About 75 dams have been modified for safety improvement following the DSC’s establishment, with 48 in the last 17 years since 2001 as shown in Table 7.4. For some of these dams, there have been staged improvements made (including some stages before 2001, as indicated). These numbers and the table do not include any staged raisings of tailings dams.
24 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Table 7.4 - Dams Modified for Safety Upgrading since 2001(except tailings dams)
Dam Main Safety Issue Year Completed Nature Of Upgrading Blowering Flood 2010 Parapet wall on dam, spillway walls raised Bulli Upper R’way Basin Flood 2010 Embankment removed (and basin de-prescribed) Burrendong Flood 2011 Dam & saddle dams raised Cecil Park Basin 3A Flood/Stability 2008 Spillway enlarged, embankment stabilised Chaffey Flood 2011; 2016 Dam raised and auxiliary spillway constructed Chichester Flood/Stability 1995; 2004 Dam post-tensioned, abutment stabilised Chifley Flood 2001 Dam raised and spillway post-tensioned Clarrie Hall Flood 2014 Spillway modification works Company Flood 2006 Spillway enlarged, embankment raised Copeton Flood 2013 Auxiliary spillway constructed Daintree Drive Lower Flood 2013 Spillway capacity increased (and dam de-prescribed) Daintree Drive Upper Flood 2013 Spillway capacity increased (and dam de-prescribed) Emigrant Creek Flood 2002 Dam post-tensioned, abutments raised Googong Flood 1992; 2011 Dam raised, spillway stabilised Grahamstown Flood 2001; 2005 Dam core raised, face armoured, spillway upgraded Green Meadows Basin Flood 2003 Embankment & crest stabilised, new spillway Hamilton Valley 5A Flood 2009 Embankment stabilised Hume Stability/Earthquake 1997-2017(staged) Embankment / south training wall stabilised, associated works Jerrara Creek Flood 2015 Dam decommissioned (and de-prescribed) Jindabyne Flood 2006; 2010 New spillway and outlets Kalingo Flood 2012 Spillway upgraded Keepit Flood 2011 Right abutment spillway &subsidiary wall spillway Kensington Pond Flood 2018 Dam augmented/strengthened Lake Pambulong Basin Flood 2014 Extra spillway capacity provided (basin de-prescribed) Mardi Earthquake/Flood 1991; 2011 Embankment stabilised; spillway & outlet augmented Moore Creek Flood 2007 Dam buttressed Muirfield Golf Club Flood 2013 Spillway enlarged Pacific Palms Flood 2013 Spillway enlarged (and dam de-prescribed) Petrochilos Flood 1989; 2006 Spillway upgraded Prospect Earthquake 1997; 2014 Upstream dam embankment stabilised Quipolly Dam Flood 2013 Dam raised, spillway augmented Redbank Creek Flood 2011; 2014 Outlet conduit for minor flood load; dam wall lowered Rocky Creek Flood/Piping 2010 Embankment upgrade to resist piping Rylstone Flood 2003 Auxiliary embankments removed Sooley Flood 2005; 2010 Dam raised & buttressed, new spillways Split Rock Flood 2012 Parapet wall modification works completed Spring Creek Flood 2011 Bank strengthened and raised, spillway augmented St Joseph Sch. R Basin Flood 2001 Bank stabilisation and new spillway Suma Park Flood 2016 Auxiliary spillway, dam strengthened / raised, storage raised Tenterfield Stability / flood 2018 Dam buttressed Tilba Flood/Stability 1997; 2003 Dam wall raised; toe drained Warragamba Flood 1990; 2002; 2011 Dam tensioned & raised, auxiliary spillway, gate upgrade Wentworth Falls Flood 1993; 2003 Dam raised, spillway augmented Widemere Det. Basin Flood 2009 Basin raised, spillway enlarged Winding Ck 5 Basin Flood 2011 Parapet wall on embankment Wingecarribee Piping, Flood 2012 Piping upgrade, peat barrier flood protection Wyangala Flood 2011 Spillway walls raised Yellow Pinch Piping 2013 Downstream filter extension in upper crest section
ANNUAL REPORT 25 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Based on current information available to the DSC, the dams and basins identified as having the highest risks pertaining to safety (or requiring some particular and important safety status checking) are listed in Table 7.5. This table also includes the year in which the apparent or possible shortfall in safety requirements was determined, and the status of the safety improvement program for each dam. Dam owners have commenced safety review studies, improvement options studies or design of improvement works for all of these dams, and the DSC monitors their progress. If owners fail to achieve satisfactory progress, the DSC works with the owners to ensure an improved outcome. Should owners not respond positively, the DSC could and has previously issued notices under Section 18 of the Dams Safety Act 1978.
WaterNSW is the portfolio owner of the greatest number of large dams in this State and the DSC continued to liaise closely with WaterNSW on further reduction of risks at several of the organisation’s dams. With respect to some of its dams and projects during 2017/18, WaterNSW: Continued the second stage of its upgrading program for Keepit Dam involving the extensive and complex post tensioning of the gated concrete spillway section of the dam Continued with safety review investigations for Warragamba Dam and has embarked on priority safety review investigation work for Fitzroy Falls Dam. Commenced the detailed portfolio risk assessment (PRA) of its substantial portfolio of metropolitan large dams (following on from the completion in 2014 of a detailed PRA of its other large dams).
The DSC thanks WaterNSW for the cooperation it has given to the DSC in proceeding with its dams safety review and upgrading programs. There are currently 152 prescribed dams and basins owned by local government councils and other local water utilities (LWUs). Work continued during the year on a prioritised program to improve the safety of various LWU dams. Some of this programmed development is currently done through the auspices and assistance of DPI Water. Some notable examples of programmed work on LWU dams and basins during 2017/18 included the following: Detail design studies are continuing on Dumaresq Dam. Construction of the post-tensioning upgrade of Winburndale Dam is programmed for 2018/2019. Construction of the buttressing upgrade of Tenterfield Dam was completed in mid-2018.
In addition, the DSC continues to monitor the progress of dam owners in developing action programs for dams with minor shortfalls in safety aspects and owners’ investigations of several other dams to confirm their safety status.
In mid-2015 the DSC accepted Essential Water’s submission to delay the upgrade works for its Imperial Lake Dam while alternative Broken Hill water supply security options were decided upon, as any adopted alternative water supply security option could lead to the dam’s decommissioning. In June 2016 the NSW State Government announced a decision to build a pipeline from the Murray River to Broken Hill to guarantee the town’s water security. The DSC has since endorsed Essential Water’s subsequent request to delay the major dam upgrade for Imperial Lake Dam during the new pipeline project period (which is scheduled for commissioning in late 2018), and to then decommission the dam.
Tenterfield Dam This 15m high concrete dam was successfully buttressed by downstream concrete placement in 2018 to meet acceptable flood and seismic standards,
26 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Table 7.5 - Status of Upgrading Activities for Dams and Basins under DSC Particular Review (i.e. highest risk or particular circumstances as at 30th June 2018). See Note 1.
Dam/Basin Safety Issue 2017/18 Upgrading Progress (Note 2) Type Identified Barina Park F 2013 Investigation/design studies and then ensuing upgrading works planned for 2019. Detention Basin Cadia North TSF S 2018 Investigation continuing into March 2018 slide failure Dumaresq Dam F, S 2001 Awaiting owner’s program for approved upgrading option. Fairfield Golf Investigation & design work for flood security upgrade continuing with the upgrade F 2014 Course Basin construction to follow and assumed completion by June 2019. Fitzroy Falls Dam E, S 2016 Investigations are being suitably prioritised within the owner’s current PRA program. Floraville Road Dambreak assessment undertaken. Owner’s program included upgrading design F 2015 Detention Basin completion in 2017 (done) and construction phase completion in late 2018. Gosling Ck Dam F 2013 Program of flood diversion and foundation evaluation investigation scheduled in 2018. In June 2016 the NSW Govt. committed to construction of a pipeline water supply to Imperial Lake F, S 2000 Broken Hill by Dec. 2018. Owner has since advised an ensuing decommissioning of this Dam dam, as it has other emergency and back-up reservoir sources. (FWA)
Investigation & design work for flood security upgrade scheduled during 2017/18, with King Park Basin F 2014 the upgrade construction assumed completion in 2019. Investigation & design work for flood security upgrade scheduled continuing with the Mimosa Rd Basin F 2014 upgrade construction to follow and assumed completion by June 2019. Awaiting stability analysis reassessment; anticipated available by mid-2018 and an Nepean Dam S 2007 expectation that a lower risk position then will likely be demonstrated. (FWA) Palm Tree Grove F 2017 Flood deficiency identified at June 2017 meeting Upgrading investigations commenced. Detention Basin
Investigation & design work for flood security upgrade scheduled during 2018, with the Stockdale Basin F 2014 upgrade construction assumed completion in 2019. Series of complex investigations and safety updating reviews close to completion and Warragamba Dam E 2008 programmed for submission by the end of 2018. (FWA) Detailed design of chosen upgrade option completed in Sep. 2015. Programmed Winburndale Dam F 1995 completion of safety upgrading scheduled for end of 2018. (FWA)
F - Inadequate Flood Capacity E - Potential inadequate Earthquake Resistance S - Potential Structural Inadequacy FWA - Flood Warning Arrangements in place
Notes: 1. During 2017/18 the number of structures in Table 7.5 decreased by 3 from 18 to 15 (with 1 addition and 4 removals).
Suma Park Dam. This 31m high arch dam, owned by Orange Council, was raised 2m for extra water supply and strengthened to meet safety standards in 2017
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Table 7.6 - Status of Activities on Dams issued with S18 Show Cause Notices
Safety Issues Dam Upgrading Progress Type Identified Nil Nil Nil Nil
Table 7.7 - Dams issued with S15 Notices outstanding at 30th June 2018
Dam Owner Report required Due since
Stability Analysis (analysis completed, Lithgow No 2 Lithgow City Council 2006 awaiting peer review).
7.1.5. Flood Capacity and Hydrology Various floods over the last few years in NSW and Australia have focussed dam owners’ attention on the security and operation of their dams. Some of these floods have caused rapid storage rises in various prescribed dams, and even resulted in the overtopping failure of Oaky River Dam in northern NSW in February 2013 (exacerbated by problems with gated spillway operation). The dam had been correctly assessed as a Low Consequence Category structure and, as expected, there was no threat to any lives and only minor environmental damage occurred. However, that incident still indicates the importance of providing adequate spillway capacity (and effective gate operation) for dam structures, even for Low Consequence Category dams where the decision for upgrading is effectively the owner’s. World-wide inadequate flood is still one of the leading causes of dam failure or the main contributing reason for upgrades of existing dams. The main reason for the many dams world-wide having inadequate flood capacity is the steady advance in the understanding of extreme events by meteorologists and hydrologists. It is now recognised that flood estimates made some decades ago were generally too low, and analyses using current day flood estimating methods have shown numerous dams in NSW as having inadequate flood capacity. The DSC requires NSW dam owners to undertake periodic reviews of the flood capacity of their dams to see if safety improvements are needed. In NSW a number of prescribed dams are under particular review by the DSC (see Table 7.5 for example).
Suma Park Dam. This 31m high arch dam, owned by Orange Council was augmented and strengthened in 2017. In addition, this auxiliary fuse plus spillway, shown above, was incorporated into the upgrading to provide appropriate flood handling capability for the dam
28 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Initially, Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) estimates are required to define extreme storm rainfalls for each dam. These PMP events, while very rare, are plausible and several near PMP events have occurred (e.g. a record storm at Dapto in 1984 dumped 515mm of rain in 6 hours – a near PMP event). Generalised procedures from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) are now available in NSW for PMP storms over any catchment area and for any duration. The BoM also provides estimates of rainfall for more frequent storms (i.e. 1 in 1year AEP up to 1 in 2000 year AEP storms). Rainfall estimates are then converted to flood predictions by the dam owner’s hydrologists, using approaches outlined in Australian Rainfall and Runoff, produced by Engineers Australia and updated in late 2016. DSC Guidance Sheet DSC3B Acceptable Flood Capacity for Dams provides information on the provision of acceptable flood capacity for dams. It takes into account the latest requirements and developments in the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) guidelines on dam safety, including greater incorporation of risk assessment. DSC3B is limited to guidance on the means by which dam owners are to demonstrate to the DSC that the flood risks posed by their dams to community interests are tolerable or will be made tolerable following safety improvements. In setting its requirements, the DSC has been guided by the advice of its Hydrology Sub-committee, which maintains a close liaison with ANCOLD, Engineers Australia and hydrologists from Authorities and academia throughout Australia.
7.1.6. Earthquake Capacity Historically, earthquakes up to Magnitude 6.9 have occurred in Australia and the 1989 Newcastle earthquake (M 5.4) showed that large damaging earthquakes can occur. Seismologists indicate that major earthquakes up to M7.3 could occur anywhere in NSW and such an earthquake has about 1,000 times the power of the Newcastle earthquake. Many overseas dams have survived nearby earthquakes up to Magnitude 8 as evidenced in the 2008 Sichuan Chinese earthquake. More recently Fujinuma Dam in Japan failed due to liquefaction induced by the March 2011 M 9 earthquake. Experience however has shown that well-constructed concrete and earth/rockfill dams on good foundations are reasonably stable during earthquake events. Fortunately, these types form the bulk of NSW prescribed dams. Whilst it is expected that few dams are vulnerable, earthquake stability reviews are required in the regular safety reviews of prescribed dams. To provide guidance for designers and reviewers, the DSC issued its Guidance Sheet DSC3C Acceptable Earthquake Capacity for Dams. The DSC’s goal regarding seismic safety is to ensure dams are appropriately designed for seismic stability and also managed so as to achieve tolerable risks to community interests. It is for the dam owner to determine how this goal (including DSC requirements) will be achieved and to demonstrate to the DSC that the goal is achieved, or will be achieved following safety improvements. In 2017/18 the largest seismic event in NSW was a Magnitude 4.2 earthquake located near Nambucca Heads, on 24th January 2018. No damage to nearby dams was reported. The maximum recorded seismic event in Australia in 2017/2018 was a Magnitude 5.0 earthquake located at Sturts Creek in Western Australia on 6th August 2017. Scarcity of long-term seismic data to use as a basis for determining earthquake design loadings for dams, along with a thinning of NSW dam seismic stations, remain a concern for the DSC. The seismic monitoring network installed on WaterNSW’s metropolitan group of dams in the early 1990s has recorded minor seismicity in the area and has provided beneficial data for future design use on dams and other structures in the Sydney area. WaterNSW’s network complements the Newcastle network installed after the 1989 earthquake, along with some seismic stations at WaterNSW’s other dams and Snowy Hydro Limited’s dams, and the national grid installations of Geoscience Australia.
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7.1.7. Safety under Non-flooding Conditions Dams are long life structures, with the oldest dams in the world over three thousand years old, and the oldest prescribed dam in NSW, Lake Parramatta Dam, being over 150 years old. Given that the average age of major NSW dams is over 40 years; their structural safety under normal operating conditions is mostly satisfactory by current methodology. Where apparent shortfalls in structural adequacy or acceptable flood capacity have been revealed, the DSC has required owners to undertake safety reviews and to implement any consequently determined improvement action.
Particular areas of concern to the DSC include but are not limited to: Older earth dams, without intercepting filters to control piping and seepage. Piping causes almost as many dam failures as inadequate flood capacity with the following examples of upgrades of NSW dams to reduce the risks from piping failure: o The upgrading of Prospect Dam, completed in 2014, involved filter works to control piping and seepage. o Some previous examples of upgrading in regard to piping protection include Hume, Mardi, Tilba, Rydal, Grahamstown, Yellow Pinch and Rocky Creek Dams, and Cecil Park Basin 3A. Research funded partly by the DSC is helping to provide developing international practice on piping safety for old dams without modern filters. The DSC has a Guidance Sheet DSC3G General Dam Safety Conditions that provides some information and references. Analysis of a dam’s safety for this aspect is largely based on risk assessment. o The deterioration, with time, of un-encased pressure conduits through embankments could lead to uncontrolled high-pressure leakage through the embankment and dam failure. A number of large dams have failed from this cause overseas, as have a few small dams in Australia. The DSC requires dam owners to investigate and monitor their conduits (e.g. Tumbarumba and Petrochilos Dams). This is also covered in Guidance Sheet DSC3G. o The need to better understand piping and slope instability risks of embankment dams. A research program initiated some years ago by the University of NSW and part sponsored by the DSC has developed valuable new understanding in this area. A procedure was developed from this research (the tool-box method) by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Bureau of Reclamation. This piping tool-box method has recently been modified. o The reliability of spillway control systems, given several serious incidents and dam failures world-wide involving gate failures. There are about 20 gated prescribed dams in NSW and the DSC requires their owners to regularly review their gates’ safety and to ensure high reliability through systems upgrades, back-ups, proper operation and maintenance procedures. A DSC Guidance Sheet DSC3D Reliability of Spillway Flow Control Systems on this aspect of dam safety is available and outlines how gate reliability is to be generally considered in the assessment of a dam’s discharge control and capacity. Note that: o Snowy Hydro Limited is currently undertaking a substantial gate reliability study on its gated dams. o WaterNSW has previously completed a gate reliability study for Warragamba Dam.
The safety of mine tailings and ash dams is usually associated with their operation, location, foundation conditions and construction methodology, which in turn are directly affected by the mine site layout and tailings placement operations. A major slide failure occurred at Cadia Mine’s Northern Tailings Storage Facility in March 2018 but the consequences mainly related to the owner’s onsite business risks. However, previously, one notable overseas example was a major tailings dam failure in Brazil in November 2015 that resulted in 19 deaths, substantial environmental and societal damages, and also major financial costs and negative repercussions on the economy. Brazilian courts and authorities have declared the joint mine owners, BHP Billiton and Vale, as responsible for the clean-up costs and associated compensation for environmental damage from the dam failure. These costs will be substantial and, along with fines and liability claims, will run into tens of billions of dollars along with several mine employees facing manslaughter charges. This serious incident and the widespread media coverage on it, highlight the major risks posed by dams and the special vulnerability of tailings dams, the failure of which usually has very significant environmental consequences, and sometimes loss of life. The DSC Guidance Sheet DSC3F Tailings Dams covers safety policies and management practices specific to tailings dams and references the associated ANCOLD Guidelines on Tailings Dams (2012).
30 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
7.1.8. Operation, Maintenance and Surveillance Dams require care throughout their lives to keep them in a safe condition because materials, components and machinery deteriorate with time. Ongoing operation, maintenance and surveillance are essential and cost-effective; otherwise reduced life expectancy or failure could result (e.g. a near piping failure of a Hunter Valley tailings dam in 2003 was averted by timely intervention). In particular, proper operation is an essential component to ensure the safety of upstream-raised tailings dam. The rehabilitation works or decommissioning, as found necessary for some older NSW dams (e.g. Wellington Dam), illustrate the deterioration that can occur as dams age. Concepts developed in other industries, such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), are now being introduced to dams to provide a more rational and better targeted basis for maintenance and replacement programs.
Wentworth Falls Lake Dam This 10m high dam owned by Blue Mountains City Council was substantially upgraded in 2003 to meet modern design standards and landscaped for use as a scenic park and reservoir for recreation purposes. Disintegration of the rockfill upstream face wave protection is an ongoing maintenance concern for this dam.
Dam safety specialists throughout the world recognise the necessity for systematic and documented operation and maintenance procedures. The ANCOLD Guidelines on Dam Safety Management (2003) set out contemporary requirements in this area, based on industry best practice, and this document provides a basis for a uniform national approach to proper operation and maintenance. The DSC has adopted these Guidelines generally (with some refinements) as its requirements, as outlined in its Guidance Sheet DSC2F Operation and Maintenance for Dams. DSC2F requires dam owners to develop and maintain operation and maintenance (O&M) manuals, based on organised programs and systematic inspections. The DSC maintains an active education program in this area and audits performance through the owners’ Surveillance Reports and by regular inspections of dams by DSC members and staff. O&M Manuals should be prepared by appropriately qualified and experienced personnel including specialists such as civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers as required by the type and complexity of the dam and its equipment. Owners of prescribed dams are to ensure that there are appropriately trained and experienced personnel available to operate and maintain their dams in accordance with their O&M Manuals. The DSC also places great emphasis on dam owners properly recording and documenting their dams’ O&M activities. Typical maintenance issues that often need to be addressed by dam owners include removal of trees from embankments, maintaining a short uniform grass cover on the downstream slopes of earthfill dams, keeping spillways clear and maintaining adequate wave protection on the upstream slopes of embankments. A very important aspect is the proper operation and reading of a dam’s instrumentation systems. Most of the large dams in NSW have various forms of instrumentation, the most common being seepage measurement, piezometers and external surveys. The DSC is therefore concerned to see that all instrumentation is read regularly and correctly recorded, as well as maintained, operated and analysed such that the resulting readings are as reliable and accurate as possible. In this way the instrumentation readings can be used to help determine the safety of a dam. Another important issue is the operation of dams with gated spillways which was marked as a significant outcome of the floods at Wivenhoe Dam in Queensland in January 2011. As a result, the DSC issued a letter to all owners of such dams advising them to review their spillway flood handling procedures. The DSC issued similar letters in 2013 following the Oaky River Dam failure in NSW in February 2013. The DSC reviews gate reliability studies upon their submission by dam owners
“Dams require care throughout their lives to keep them in a safe condition”
ANNUAL REPORT 31 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
7.1.9. Dams Safety Emergency Management The DSC’s primary objective is to protect the public from dambreak floods and other uncontrolled releases from dam storages during normal operations, flooding and at times of increased risk while construction work is underway. Therefore it requires dam owners to prepare Dam Safety Emergency Plans (DSEPs) for dams posing a risk to downstream residents (i.e. Significant and Higher Consequence Category dams). The DSC has produced its Guidance Sheet DSC2G Emergency Management for Dams to aid owners in the preparation of DSEPs. The DSC is working with dam owners to ensure that there is a current updated DSEP in place for each dam posing a risk to downstream residents. DSEPs cover monitoring procedures, actions to be taken by the owner's personnel, pertinent advice to emergency agencies, information concerning the nature of dambreak flooding and communication protocols. These plans take into account the general increase in security world-wide required for strategic assets such as dams. (In 2008 a dam was destroyed by terrorists in Sri Lanka, and more recently special security precautions had to be taken at dams in Iraq). The DSC has also prepared Guidance Sheet DSC2H Dam Security to assist dam owners in this regard. To enable the DSEPs to function effectively, the DSC Guidance Sheet DSC3G General Dam Safety Considerations requires that all High and Extreme Consequence Category dams have telemetered storage level recorders and where practical, alarms on the downstream seepage measurement weirs to give warning of potential non-flood related failures. In the event of a dam emergency being reported to the DSC (compulsory for Amber and Red Alerts), the DSC has in place a policy document to guide staff and members on the correct procedures for handling such emergencies. Except in very unusual circumstances, the DSC normally will not provide dam owners with technical advice during emergencies. Such advice would normally be provided by the dam owners’ technical experts or specifically engaged consultants. Responsibility for developing and maintaining flood plans in NSW rests with the State Emergency Service (SES). The DSC looks to dam owners to liaise with the SES in developing flood plans and DSEPs to protect residents against the impacts of major floods that pass through their dams, with a main focus on any potential dam failure. The value of these plans, even for dams that meet normal safety requirements, was demonstrated in 1999 with activation of the Lyell Dam DSEP. That DSEP activation facilitated the timely evacuation of campers after the unexpected failure of the dam’s inflatable spillway section. Further demonstration was also provided during the May 2009 Murwillumbah floods, with the timely evacuation of residents at Uki downstream of Clarrie Hall Dam.
The DSC will continue to strongly encourage dam owners to test DSEPs regularly, particularly with regard to “sunny day” failure (i.e. from a non-flood induced mechanism), where failures could come with very little warning.
Lithgow No.1 Dam. Lithgow Council is currently looking at converting the usage of their dam from acting as a retarding basin to having an additional use as a water storage dam
32 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
In August 2015 a DSEP Red Alert was triggered at Jerrara Creek Dam, located in a rural catchment inland from Kiama. As a result of a severe storm, rising flood water in the storage had ironically discharged through an engineered wide slot in the embankment that was the main feature of the designed decommissioning works (and that were then well over halfway through the decommissioning construction program). Shortly after 9 am on 25th August 2015 the SES issued an evacuation order (i.e. a Red Alert) for residents downstream of the dam. The floodwaters were discharged appropriately and the storage level soon abated. From a dam safety perspective however, it is pertinent to note that the dam did not suffer any failure nor even any partial failure. Inspections by experienced engineers during the afternoon of 25th August confirmed that the dam and the then current staged works had performed very well during the discharge event. The SES issued an All Clear Notice on 26th August. This incident highlights the importance of the DSC’s requirement for a specific construction phase DSEP to be in place during any dam upgrade or major remedial works and with such a construction DSEP to be clearly understood and rationally updated based on construction milestones. After the clean-up works at the dam site, the decommissioning works were effectively completed about 2 months later. Following the completed decommissioning, the DSC later was also able to not only remove Jerrara Creek Dam from the highest risk dams status group, but was also able to de-prescribe the dam. The SES has continued to prepare and update flood plans for communities downstream of various NSW dams during the year. An important aspect of flood planning is early and comprehensive public awareness campaigns to inform affected residents of the details of these flood emergency plans. To mesh the responsibilities of dam owners and the SES, the DSC’s Emergency Management Sub-committee (EMSC) meets as necessary to review and monitor the procedures used by the agencies concerned. As a result, dam incident warning protocols have been implemented with all of the emergency agencies. The EMSC also provides a channel for information exchange between the DSC and the SES, giving the SES regular updates on the safety status of dams in NSW. One of the issues that has arisen is the timing of the alerts, as some dam owners have been concerned that some evacuations may have been occurring too early. The DSC is therefore encouraging dam owners, their DSEP consultants and the SES to carefully examine, develop and agree on specific alert level timing at individual dams and to look at other alert triggers than just storage levels (e.g. perhaps in conjunction with rates of storage rise). 7.1.10. Flood Retarding and Detention Basins Flood retarding basins can have great value in reducing urban flood magnitudes. Most are small, with embankments only a few metres high, but they are usually situated in densely populated areas with drainage channels and conduits of limited flow capacity downstream. However, there are some large structures. One very large structure is Loyalty Road Retarding Basin, upstream of Parramatta, which is formed by a roller compacted concrete dam 29m high. During the short periods that these basins store water they act as dams, and their failure could be damaging to downstream areas. The DSC prescribes those basins that would pose a significant threat to downstream communities or the environment in the event of failure. The potential threat of retarding basins to a community can be as significant as that from a major dam, since houses are often located immediately downstream. Because the embankments forming most basins are dry for long periods, their response to floods can be as for the “first- fill” phase of dam’s life, a period known to be much more prone to dam failure than other periods. Accordingly, retarding basins need to be designed, constructed, maintained and monitored in accordance with good dam engineering practice. Retarding basins traditionally have been treated as an element within an urban drainage scheme. For such schemes the focus has been on floods up to the 1 in 100 Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) flood, which has been the typical design flood. In the past, few owners and stakeholders recognised that a greater flood could occur and would cause a sudden increase in discharge or, in the worst case, could fail the embankment and threaten lives downstream. The community at risk generally does not appreciate the potential for larger floods to occur. Recent examples of events with a probability lower than a 1 in 100 AEP (and hence a size greater than such a design flood) were the storm events in Toowoomba (January 2011), Mudgee (February 2011), across eastern Australia in March 2012 and again in early 2013. The flood event which overtopped and failed Mannus Lake Dam near Tumbarumba in October 2010 (at that time a DSC prescribed dam of Low Flood Consequence Category) was estimated as likely about a 1 in 150 AEP event but possibly of a size up to a 1 in 300 AEP event. In addition, there is also the risk of piping through basin embankments by flood waters seeping through cracks in the upper levels of embankments caused by drying out of the earthfill during the long dry periods between floods. The DSC has assisted in educating the community and key stakeholders of these dangers. These efforts are beginning to pay dividends in improved monitoring of the basins by their owners and the improved understanding and experience of engineering consultants. ANCOLD is currently developing Guidelines on retarding basins, with one DSC member on the Working Group. It is anticipated that a first main draft of these Guidelines will be made available in late 2018.
ANNUAL REPORT 33 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
It should be noted that with several hundred basins in NSW, there is a strong possibility that one or more basins could be tested annually by an extreme storm. The DSC’s requirements aim to ensure that basins will withstand appropriately large floods, or that basin failure does not involve a significant risk to life. The design needs to allow for the effects of future development in the area and any possible “domino effect” of basin failure if there are multiple basins in a cascade arrangement. The DSC requires that prescribed retarding basins are subject to relevant procedures regarding surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance but continues to be concerned with the poor maintenance some basins receive. Inspections still reveal basins with partially blocked outlets, which can significantly reduce the basin’s flood capacity. This reinforces the need for basins to be inspected at least monthly, as part of their maintenance schedule, as well as after significant flood events. The DSC continues to maintain close liaison with basin owners during the design stage, particularly to oversight the designs and investigations of urban drainage designers whose experience of dams engineering is often limited to small structures. DSC staff carry out regular basin inspections and the DSC has a Guidance Sheet DSC3E Flood Retarding Basins to provide advice on retarding and detention basins. Owners, or their consultants, should inform the DSC of proposals for new basins (or un-notified existing basins) so that the DSC can consider their need for prescription. The DSC prescribes all basins whose failure could cause loss of life. The DSC also requires assessment of the incremental consequences of failure of the basin. Owners of prescribed basins are also required to develop an appropriate DSEP in conjunction with the relevant emergency authorities.
Diamond Circuit Detention Basin. This 3m high basin in Maitland was upgraded during the year to improve its flood handling capability and protect downstream residents.
7.2. Regulation of Mining near Dams
7.2.1. Background In NSW, legislation provides for the risks to dams, and their reservoirs, from mining to be independently assessed from a civil engineering perspective. Usually this is done under the Mining Act 1992, by the DSC advising the responsible Minister, but it may also be done directly by the DSC under the Dams Safety Act 1978. The DSC’s objective is to ensure that risks to dams, and their reservoirs, from mining are tolerable in terms of the community’s interests. The most common regulatory mechanism involves declaration of Notification Areas (NAs) around selected prescribed dams (see Prescribed Dams map). Mining within these areas requires Ministerial approval, acting on advice from the DSC, or the DSC may use its powers under the Dams Safety Act 1978 to direct actions be undertaken to ensure the safety of a prescribed dam. 7.2.2. 2017/18 Overview “During 2017/18 about 24.5 million tonnes of coal were extracted near prescribed dams in NSW” The mining projects considered by the DSC during the year were mainly for mining coal by underground or open-cut methods. Tonnages extracted around prescribed dams have remained stable however there has been a reduction in the number of applications in recent financial years reflecting a downturn in the market. 8 new applications were endorsed and another 8 were varied as below:
34 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Underground Mining Aston (2), Dendrobium (6), Integra (1), Metropolitan (3), Nth Parkes Underground (1)
Open Cut Mining Bengalla (1), North Parkes (1), Wambo(1)
During 2017/18, under the DSC's guidelines, about 24.5 million tonnes of coal were extracted from within Notification Areas around prescribed dams, without reducing safety of the dams or storages below tolerable levels. Summary details of these mining approvals are given in Tables 7.9 and 7.10. Prior to the formation of the DSC, some of these coal deposits would not have been mined due to the concerns of dam owners. 7.2.3. Details of New Applications and Currently Monitored Mines Ashton Underground Mine continued operations beside Ravensworth Void 5 Ash Dam. Bengalla Mine continued open cut operations within three NAs around mine owned dams and adjoining mine dam. Broula King Gold Mine provided monthly reports of dam monitoring while on care and maintenance. Bulga Mine continued extraction of longwalls beside and below Bulga Old Tailings Dam. Chain Valley Mine continued to report on subsidence results from first workings connecting Mannering and Chain Valley Collieries which commenced within the Mannering Ash Dam Notification Area. Dendrobium Colliery continues extraction of a series of longwalls (currently mining Longwall 14 in Area 3B) adjacent to Avon Reservoir which supplies water to the Illawarra area. Drayton Mine continues to conduct rehabilitation works requiring blasting within the Mt Arthur Notification Area and reporting on monitoring of the Liddell Ash Levee Dam. Glennies Creek Colliery, having been purchased by Rixs Creek Colliery, continues to report on monitoring results for Camberwell TD2 and Possum Skin Dams. Hera Gold Mine continues underground mining within the Hera NA around the Hera Tailings Storage Facility. Integra Gold Mine commenced development of longwalls within the Mt Owen NA (neighbouring mine tails dam) Kimberley Metals Mineral Hill Mines continues to monitor its tailings dam while on care and maintenance. Mangoola Coal continues coal extraction by open cut methods adjacent to its own tailings dams and Raw Water Dam. Extraction of coal is moving away from the Raw Water Dam and to the south of its Pit Water Dam. Maules Creek Coal continues extraction of coal from within the Maules Creek Notification Area. Metropolitan Mine continues longwall coal extraction within the Woronora Notification Area without incident. Mount Arthur Coal completed extracting coal within the NA of the Mt Arthur North Environmental Dam. North Parkes Underground continues extracting gold within the North Parkes Notification Area by Block Caving methods. An open cut operation beside Rosedale Tailings dam is in the initial stages of production Tomingley Gold Mine is approaching the end of production by open cut mining methods within Tomingley Notification Area. 7.2.4. Policies, Procedures and Organisational Updates Resources employed during the year were reduced owing to the transitional stage with the new Dams Safety Bill 2015. However, no changes have been made to the existing policies as outlined in the Guidance Sheets listed in Table 7.8 and are available on-line on the DSC’s website. An internal system for checking compliance with mining conditions operates. This is used for workload management and for reminders to mining companies to deliver material on time. Table 7.8 – Guidance Sheets for Mining near Dams
Document Title Date
DSC4A Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Administrative Procedures March 2011
DSC4B Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Mining Applications June 2010 DSC4C Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Management and Monitoring Matters June 2010 DSC4D Mining Near Prescribed Dams – Contingency Plans June 2010
ANNUAL REPORT 35 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
7.2.5. Mining Statistics Table 7.9 - Mining in Notification Areas
Item 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Coal Removed from Notification Areas (million tonnes) 28 28 26 24.5 Current Approvals: Actively Mining 34 31 15 19 Actively Monitoring 46 40 24 27 Applications Processed 13 7 12 8 Variations to Existing Approvals 7 6 4 8 Titles Processed 30 53 11 158 Provided comments on SMP / Part 3A applications 13 13 4 10 New Proposals Discussed 7 4 1 1
Table 7.10 - Monitored Approved Mining 2017/18 Possible Effect on Active Dam Dam Currently Approval Mine Dam Mining Type Mining Storage Structure Monitoring
Ashton Ravensworth Void 5 st Ashton - 5 1 Workings No No Yes Yes Underground Ash Dam Bengalla Staged Bengalla - 1 Bengalla Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Discharge Bengalla-2 Bengalla Bengalla CW1 Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Bengalla-3 Bengalla Mt Pleasant ED3 Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Broula King 1 Broula King Broula King Tails Open-cut No No Yes Yes Bulga-6 Bulga Coal Bulga Old Tailings Longwall 8 Yes No Yes Yes Chain Valley-1 Chain Valley Mannering Ash Underground No No Yes Yes Dendrobium Cordeaux & Upper Dendrobium-1 to 3 Longwall No Yes Yes Yes Areas 1 & 2 Cordeaux #2 Dendrobium Dendrobium-4 Cordeaux Longwall No Yes Yes Yes Area 3A Dendrobium Dendrobium-5 to 8 Avon Longwall Yes Yes No Yes Area 3B Liddell Ash Dam Drayton-2 Drayton Open-cut No No Yes Yes Levee Rixs Creek Camberwell TD2 & Glennies-5 Open-cut No No Yes Yes North Possum Skin Underground Hera-1 Hera Gold Hera TSF Yes No Yes Yes Metal Mine
Integra st Integra-1 Mt Owen Tails (TP1) 1 workings Yes No Yes Yes Underground Underground Kimberley-2 Mineral Hill Mineral Hill TSF1&2 No No Yes Yes Metal Mine Raw Water Dam & Mangoola-3 Mangoola Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Tailings Dam Mangoola-4 Mangoola Pit Water Dam Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Maules Creek-2 Maules Creek Maules Creek TSF Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Metropolitan-2 Metropolitan Woronora Reservoir 1st workings Yes Yes No Yes Metropolitan-4 Metropolitan Woronora Reservoir Longwall Yes Yes No Yes Mt. Arthur-1 Mt. Arthur Environmental Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Underground Northparkes-2 Northparkes North Parkes TSFs Yes No Yes Yes Block Caving Northparkes-4 Northparkes North Parkes TSFs Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes
36 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Tomingley-1 Tomingley OC Tomingley TSF Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes North East Tailings Wambo-8 Wambo Open-cut Yes No Yes Yes Dam Woodlawn-1 Woodlawn Evaporation Dam Underground Yes No Yes Yes Hydraulic Woodlawn-2 Woodlawn Tailings Dam Mining of Yes No Yes Yes Tailings
7.3. Information Systems
2017/18 Overview Various information technology (IT) support systems were maintained and updated. New features were added to the DSC Databases including the ability to track any outstanding matters. The records were moved to electronic storage systems. Work activities included the following: New DSC computers were leased via the Department. Significant work was carried out in terms of culling reports, scanning reports and archiving reports in preparation to move to another floor in the building. All Dams safety files have been created in electronic storage systems which are called as CM9 (HP Content Manager 9). The Prescribed Dams folders and DSEP’s were scanned and moved to the electronic storage systems due to limited physical storage in the current work area. Incoming/outgoing correspondence was processed and kept up to date in the databases. This included dealing with over 1,800 officially documented correspondence items. Records in paper format were streamlined and maintained. Electronic records, including GIS datasets, were captured and updated. Metadata information and reports were generated. Surveillance Report request letters were generated and tracked. Dams Safety functional retention and disposal authority was created and approved by the Board of the State Archives and Records Authority of NSW in accordance with Section 21(3) of the Records Management Act
ANNUAL REPORT 37 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
8. Stakeholders
8.1. Liaison with Stakeholders
8.1.1. Stakeholder Liaison Diagram The DSC’s role in dam safety in NSW requires interaction with a wide range of stakeholders as summarised in the following diagram, Figure 8.1.
Figure 8.1 – Stakeholder Liaison Diagram
DSC sets dam safety requirements & checks, provides information & assists training, liaises on submissions and documentation
DSC provides Annual Report. NSW Dam DSC sets mining requirements DSC updates and briefs around dams & audits them Minister for Regional Water NSW Owners Parliament NSW Mine and Owners Government NSW Departments and Agencies 1. Department. of Industry (the Dept.) - Finance, HR and IT System Services 2. Dept. of Primary Industries (DPI) Liaison - DSC provides information DPI Water on dam safety matters - Budget distribution/financial support NSW 1. Dept. - Liaison on Council/LWU dams Dams Safety 2. DPI NSW Public 3. Auditor General (AG) Committee 3. AG - Undertakes annual audit of DSC finances
Liaison & Information exchange 4. Resources and Energy (R&E) 4. R&E - Mining Regulation aspects Dam Owners 5. DPE 5. Dept. of Planning and Environment outside NSW 6. SES (DPE) - Involvement in mine planning 6. State Emergency Services (SES) ANCOLD - DSEPs and Emergency Mgt. Sub- Committee ICOLD
Liaison & review - DSC inputs Liaison & review - DSC inputs to ANCOLD Guidelines to ICOLD Bulletins
8.1.2. General In line with modern principles of good regulation, the DSC has adopted a goal of a high degree of transparency and continues to work toward having all its safety policies accessible to all stakeholders, by their incorporation into the Guidance Sheets. These are all readily available and easily accessible on the DSC Internet site (www.damsafety.nsw.gov.au/DSC/infosheets.shtm). The DSC values a good working relationship with its key stakeholders, including affected communities, dam owners, mining companies and consultants. By this means the DSC can communicate its goals to engage co-operation in achieving dam safety. By understanding and recognising their responsibilities and liabilities, most dam owners and mining companies adopt a strong commitment to dam safety. The DSC maintains regular contacts with its key stakeholders to foster its dam safety roles and to give the DSC an opportunity to gauge their level of satisfaction. The DSC responds to specific public enquiries on relevant dam safety issues as they might arise. The DSC provides its Annual Report to the Minister and to the NSW Parliament. The DSC provides the minutes of each of its regular meetings to the Minister and briefs the Minister’s office on any significant incident involving a prescribed dam, including for example any Red Alert that might be issued as part of a DSEP. In addition the DSC Executive meets periodically with the Minister and/or key ministerial staff members to discuss recent main issues as part of regular updating and liaison with government.
38 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
8.1.3. Dam Owners The DSC has a role to educate and inform dam owners on their responsibilities and on national and international standards, practices and technologies. It communicates its objectives and concerns to dam owners and their representatives through various avenues, such as seminars, presentations and its Internet site. Close contact is maintained by the DSC with owners of prescribed dams through meetings held during the year to discuss specific dam requirements, general procedures, and to ensure owners are able to communicate their concerns to the DSC. For example, during 2017/18 the DSC inspected 55 prescribed dams and basins and held on-site meetings with owners’ personnel. DSC mining staff also inspected many mine sites and held on-site meetings with personnel from those mines. The dam safety education of local government authorities, mining companies and private dam owners is of particular interest to the DSC, because their staffs do not usually have specialist engineering knowledge of dams. Education of these owners is assisted by regular site visits by the DSC and/or its staff to meet owners' representatives to discuss relevant issues. Such meetings are invaluable in reaching a common understanding of the problems facing these owners in regard to asset management and responsibilities to the community, and obtaining feedback for enhancing the DSC's education role. To this end, DSC members and staff had individual meetings during 2017/18 with a number of dam owners to discuss various dam related activities – i.e. upgrades, investigations, incidents and submissions (either actual or intended). Several other dams were discussed in detail during specific presentations made by owners and/or their consultants to the DSC. At the DSC’s May 2018 meeting, Snowy Hydro Limited (SHL) personnel made a presentation on SHL’s dam safety management program, with emphasis on the safety reviews, risk assessments, investigations and the associated portfolio risk assessment (PRA) of its large dams. In addition, WaterNSW personnel updated the DSC on their recent review of practices following the failure of Oroville Dam spillway in 2017. This was very useful information for the Committee, and the DSC thanks SHL for the presentation and the supporting documents provided.
Sawyers Swamp Creek Ash Dam
This 40m high embankment dam, owned by Energy Australia, has now reached the end of its life in storing ash waste from nearby power stations. Closure options are being investigated to turn the dam into a sustainable stable landform.
.
8.1.4. Dam Safety/Surveillance Training Courses The DSC ran its first dam safety training course in 1991 with the assistance of the then Department of Public Works. Since then regular training courses for dam operators were set up and run by Public Works and later by the then Department of Water and Energy’s Water Utilities Performance (WUP) Dams Safety Management group with the assistance of DSC staff. Since 2009 following changes to the structure of WUP, and with a then new DSC Executive Engineer, the DSC has taken over the organisation and running of these courses of typically 3 or 4 days duration. The principal trainers for these courses are currently DSC member (and Surveillance Sub-committee Chair) Norm Himsley and the immediate ex-Executive Engineer Paul Heinrichs, with assistance for some of the training topic elements provided by DSC staff members and also DSC member (and Surveillance Sub-committee member) John Sukkar. Unfortunately Paul Heinrichs had an untimely death in 2017. The DSC send its condolences to his family and wishes to state its appreciation for all the work Paul has done for the DSC and the dams community over the past few decades.
ANNUAL REPORT 39 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
During 2017/18 the DSC was involved in organising and running two dam safety training courses for NSW dam operators. A 4-day dam safety/surveillance courses for water dam operators and other dam staff were held at Port Macquarie in November 2017 and a shorter 3-day course for mine dam personnel held at Port Stephens in March 2017. These two courses each attracted close to the fully subscribed 30 participants. Over several years, the DSC trainers were very heavily involved in the development of the syllabus for a TAFE course that provides 5 dam units of competency within the Certificate III in the National Water Industry Operation Training Package NWPO7. This DSC initiative and development of an agreement with TAFE NSW (initially in 2013) provides a training course to give dam operators and other relevant dam personnel full accreditation through more detail and specific applicability of the course modules included. The Water Operators Certificate III Training package undertaken thus assists in the continuing educational development of the staff of particular dam owners that require such accreditation qualifications. To date the DSC have run four courses under its TAFE agreement. Since the inception of the standard training program a number of years ago and enhancement since then, these training courses have resulted in a noticeable improvement in the general standard of dam owners’ dam safety management. This training course work is seen as an important part of the DSC’s education role for dam owners. All 2017/18 training courses were well attended. Since 1991 about 1,800 operators in NSW have been trained or retrained in dam safety inspection, resulting in very notable improvements in the dam owners’ routine and other inspection regimes. The increasing emphasis over a number of years by the DSC on owner education in NSW has been reflected in numerous requests from portfolio dam owners within and outside NSW for educational assistance in similar training courses for dam operators. In 2017/18 for example, the DSC provided principal training assistance for 3 other dam safety and surveillance courses, each of 2-3 days duration, for specific dam owners on an invitation basis – SunWater Limited (in Townsville and Mackay) and BHP (at one of its large mines in central QLD). Such involvement is of value to the DSC in broadening its experience of dam safety management issues, in benchmarking its own performance against the procedures and practices of similar authorities and assisting in maintaining currency through the feedback from the other authorities and also from the individual course participants. As a by-product and at effectively no cost, it also provides opportunities for inspections of some large interstate dams and discussions on common site management problems – and thus adding to the DSC’s collective detailed technical knowledge.
“Since 1991 about 1,800 operators in NSW have been trained or retrained in dam safety inspection, resulting in very notable improvements in the dam owners’ routine and other inspection regimes.”
8.1.5. Other Australian States, ANCOLD and ICOLD Matters Various DSC members and staff continue to be involved in Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) matters, through participation in ANCOLD Guidelines working groups (including Messrs Cooper, Himsley and Knight). As also outlined in Section 8.2, in October 2016 several DSC members and the Executive Engineer attended the annual ANCOLD Conference in Adelaide, South Australia. The DSC also was represented by the Chair, another DSC member and the Executive Engineer at the state dam safety regulators’ annual meeting that was held in conjunction with the ANCOLD Conference. The lead-up to this regulators’ meeting involved some liaison and afterwards involved some further information exchange follow-ups amongst the other state regulators.
8.1.6. Other Liaison and Interaction with Stakeholders During the year the DSC continued to foster its close relationship with the State Emergency Service (SES) through liaison activities associated with the DSC’s Emergency Management Sub-committee (EMSC) work. For example, the DSC provided the SES with an annual update of the prescribed dams list plus associated dam location coordinates. The DSC received in return from the SES the local government area (LGA) information for the prescribed dams – for updated data incorporation in the DSC’s database. The DSC also typically provides periodic updated information to the SES on the DSC’s highest risk dams and basins status group. During 2017/18 the DSC liaised with and responded to relevant other government agencies and sections by providing requested pertinent information.
40 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
8.2. Education and Training of Members and Staff and Associated Matters The DSC’s members and staff are required to have extensive and varied experience in dam engineering and mining. However, it is still essential in any organisation to keep abreast of modern developments in all the technical and societal fields related to its functions. This is particularly important in the case of the DSC, because of the diverse technical knowledge required from its staff. Accordingly, the DSC’s members and staff attended relevant conferences and courses during the year. The DSC members kept their knowledge up-to-date through various professional technical activities external to the DSC. Various DSC members and staff continue to be involved in ANCOLD matters, through participation in ANCOLD Guidelines working groups (including Messrs Cooper and Himsley) and/or involvement in running ANCOLD short courses. Some DSC members are or have been involved in ICOLD committees and matters. In October 2017 the DSC Chair Brian Cooper, DSC member Norm Himsley and Executive Engineer Chris Salkovic attended the 2017 ANCOLD Conference & Workshop on Dams in Hobart, Tasmania. Several other DSC members and Sub-Committee members also attended the ANCOLD Conference, courtesy of their employment organisations. They included George Samios, Samson Banzi and Michael Thornton. These annual ANCOLD Conferences provide valuable forums for exchange of information and updating on dam safety issues as well as providing the annual opportunity for dam safety regulators nationwide to meet and review pertinent issues. Messrs Cooper, Himsley, Samios and Salkovic also attended the ANCOLD annual general meeting (AGM) held immediately after the Conference, with Chris Salkovic, as the DSC Executive Engineer, having the responsibility of voting rights at the AGM for the DSC (an organisation member of ANCOLD). On behalf of the DSC, Messrs Cooper, Himsley and Salkovic also attended the state dam safety regulators’ annual meeting held in conjunction with (and on the day immediately prior to) the ANCOLD Conference & Workshop – to discuss and update knowledge of actions undertaken by dam regulators across Australia during the year, various dam incidents and news of importance nationally and also likely upcoming developments in their various dam safety regulatory spheres. There were further information exchange follow-ups amongst the state regulators after the meeting. In April 2018 ANCOLD held a 2-day Dam Operators Forum, based in north west Western Australia, with main organisational assistance provided by WA Water. Although no DSC staff attended this Forum, the DSC supported ANCOLD (at its request) through a group promotional email sent to a selected large group of dam owner representatives. As well as its full organisation membership of ANCOLD, the DSC is also a member for journal and associated subscription purposes of the USA’s Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) and the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD). All of the above mentioned points concerning ANCOLD, ICOLD and various overseas authorities have helped greatly to supply highly valuable information and networking on national and international dam safety practices. In addition, the DSC hosted a half day meeting with a delegation of engineers from China in November 2017 where the various nature of dam safety management in each country was discussed. Quite importantly, all these experiences and other direct significant information sources enable DSC members and staff to improve and update the DSC’s dam safety/surveillance practices and also attain greater understanding of latest national and international practices in dams engineering generally. The knowledge gained is very valuable to the DSC by assisting in further development of its policies, strategies and procedures. The DSC’s expertise in monitoring mining activities near dams using a broad range of techniques continues to be internationally recognised, with international requests for information on DSC practices and procedures for regulating mining near stored waters. As part of the DSC’s policy on staff development, which targets staff training and efficiency, staff attended a variety of in-house and relevant external training courses during the year, including: Lead Auditor Quality Management Systems (Porter, Middleton, Hizbas); Auditing in Quality Management Systems (Maheswari, McDonald); Provide First Aid; Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment (Porter); and USBR Safety of Existing Dams Course in Denver, USA (Salkovic); Ethics Workshop (all staff)
ANNUAL REPORT 41 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 9. Administration and Human Resources DSC members are subject to the Department of Premier & Cabinet Conduct Guidelines and the DSC staff members are subject to the NSW Department of Industry Code of Conduct, which provides an ethical framework for decisions, actions and behaviour for all department and related employees. As an extension of those requirements, the DSC has established policies on Managing Conflicts of Interest, and on Interactions with Stakeholders and the Public. The DSC has a policy of Delegated Authority, with a Schedule of Delegations, to guide members and staff. The DSC has also developed a policy for handling media enquiries, including necessary synchronisation with the overall policy of Dept. of Industry. The DSC rents office space at 10 Valentine Ave, Parramatta from the NSW government. In May 2017 the DSC was moved from the third floor to the eleventh floor of the building and subsequently moved to another section of the eleventh floor in late 2017. The Department of Industry provides the DSC (under cost-effective reimbursement) with financial processing support, maintenance of the accounting system, the payment of invoices, provision of payroll service, receipting, and the provision of associated taxation services. The DSC had been granted general exemption from TPP09-05, Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the NSW Public Sector (see Section 10.4). Several of the organisations that nominate members to the DSC continue to provide technical assistance in specialised areas and in-kind contributions and the DSC wishes to especially acknowledge their valuable assistance. As part of the DSC's administrative alignment with DPI Water (part of the Dept. of Industry) the DSC's Government Information Public Access (GIPA) statistics are published in the relevant Annual Report for that area of the Department. There were no requests to the DSC for information under GIPA legislation during the year. To ensure the maintenance of appropriate standards of Work Health and Safety (WHS) practices in the DSC, the DSC’s WHS practices, with necessary minor adaptations, now align with the Department’s WHS Policy and which in turn accords with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. The DSC also has in place a policy on the WHS roles of its staff and members. In relation to WHS, there were no work injuries in 2017/18. DSC staff and some members also received various items of personal protective equipment, as necessary, for use in site and field inspections. Various staff who required them, acquired construction site “White Cards” via undertaking suitable accredited courses. As part of its contracted administration assistance to the DSC, DPI Water implements the Department’s Employment Opportunity (EEO) and ethnic affairs policies for, and with, the DSC. The DSC is well aware of, and committed to, the associated principles of multiculturalism inherent within these policies. The DSC employs a very culturally and ethnically diverse group of female and male staff as part of the Departmental multicultural policies and services program. The DSC had 7 staff as at 30th June 2018. The staff mix includes 4 males and 3 females. Of these 7 staff, 4 people were born in Australia and the other 3 people were born overseas. The DSC is progressively implementing the Government’s Waste Reduction and Purchasing Policy by implementing more electronic storage of information and use of recycled paper.
A Chinese dams delegation visited the DSC in November 2017 where various dam safety issues in each country were discussed.
42 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 10. Finance
10.1. Independent Auditor’s Report
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT
Dams Safety Committee
To Members of the New South Wales Parliament Opinion I have audited the accompanying financial statements of Dams Safety Committee (the Committee), which comprise the Statement of Comprehensive Income for the year ended 30 June 2018, the Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2018, the Statement of Changes in Equity and the Statement of Cash Flows for the year then ended, notes comprising a Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and other explanatory information.
In my opinion, the financial statements:
• give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Committee as at 30 June 2018, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards • are in accordance with section 41B of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983 (PF&A Act) and the Public Finance and Audit Regulation 2015.
My opinion should be read in conjunction with the rest of this report. Basis for Opinion I conducted my audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. My responsibilities under the standards are described in the ‘Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements’ section of my report.
I am independent of the Committee in accordance with the requirements of the:
• Australian Auditing Standards • Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board’s APES 110 ‘Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants’ (APES 110).
I have fulfilled my other ethical responsibilities in accordance with APES 110.
Parliament promotes independence by ensuring the Auditor-General and the Audit Office of New South Wales are not compromised in their roles by:
• providing that only Parliament, and not the executive government, can remove an Auditor-General • mandating the Auditor-General as auditor of public sector agencies • precluding the Auditor-General from providing non-audit services.
I believe the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my audit opinion.
ANNUAL REPORT 43 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Other Information Other information comprises the information included in the annual report of the Committee for the year ended 30 June 2018, other than the financial statements and my Independent Auditor’s Report thereon. The members of the Committee are responsible for the other information. At the date of this Independent Auditor’s Report, the other information I have received comprises the Statement by the Members of the Committee.
My opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information. Accordingly, I do not express any form of assurance conclusion on the other information.
In connection with my audit of the financial statements, my responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or my knowledge obtained in the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.
If, based on the work I have performed, I conclude there is a material misstatement of the other information, I must report that fact.
I have nothing to report in this regard. The Committee’s Responsibilities for the Financial Statements The members of the Committee are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards and the PF&A Act, and for such internal control as the members of the Committee determine is necessary to enable the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the members of the Committee are responsible for assessing the Committee’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting except where the Committee will be dissolved by an Act of Parliament or otherwise cease operations. Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements My objectives are to:
• obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error • issue an Independent Auditor’s Report including my opinion.
Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but does not guarantee an audit conducted in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards will always detect material misstatements. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error. Misstatements are considered material if, individually or in aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions users take based on the financial statements.
A description of my responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located at the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board website at: www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar4.pdf. The description forms part of my auditor’s report.
44 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
My opinion does not provide assurance:
• that the Committee carried out its activities effectively, efficiently and economically • about the security and controls over the electronic publication of the audited financial statements on any website where they may be presented • about any other information which may have been hyperlinked to/from the financial statements.
C J Giumelli Director, Financial Audit Services
10 October 2018 SYDNEY
ANNUAL REPORT 45 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
10.2. Finance Report
FINANCIAL REPORT
Dams Safety Committee
Financial Statements
30 June 2018
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46 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE STATEMENT BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
Pursuant to Section 41C (1B) and (1C) of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983 and in accordance with a resolution of the members of the Dams Safety Committee, we declare on behalf of the Committee that, in our opinion:
(a) the accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable Australian Accounting Standards (which include Australian Accounting Interpretations), the provisions of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983 , the applicable clauses of the Public Finance and Audit Regulation 2015 , and the Financial Reporting Directions mandated by the Treasurer;
(b) the accompanying financial statements exhibit a true and fair view of the financial position and the financial performance of Dams Safety Committee for the year ended 30 June 2018;
(c) at the date of signing we are not aware of any circumstances that would render the financial statements misleading or inaccurate.
______Brian Cooper - Chair Dated 02 October 2018
______Jeffrey Gleeson - Deputy Chair Dated 02 October 2018
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ANNUAL REPORT 47 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Beginning of audited financial statements
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
2018 2017 Notes $000 $000 Expenses excluding losses Personnel services expenses 2(a) 1,251 1,652 Other operating expenses 2(b) 199 493 Depreciation and amortisation 2(c) 1 1 Total expenses excluding losses 1,451 2,146
Revenue Grants and contributions 3(a) 1,400 1,769 Sale of goods and services 3(b) 88 450 Investment revenue 3(c) 6 9 Other income 3(d) - 50 Total Revenue 1,494 2,278
Gain / (loss) on disposal 4 - (10)
Net Result 43 122
TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME 43 122
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
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48 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 30 JUNE 2018
2018 2017 Notes $000 $000 ASSETS Current Assets Cash and cash equivalents 5 340 334 Receivables 6 140 132 Total Current Assets 480 466 Non-Current Assets Plant and equipment 7 - 1 Total Non-Current Assets - 1
Total Assets 480 467 LIABILITIES Current Liabilities Payables 8 32 62 Total Liabilities 32 62
Net Assets 448 405 EQUITY Accumulated funds 448 405 Total Equity 448 405 The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
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ANNUAL REPORT 49 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
Accumulated Total Funds Equity $000 $000 Balance at 1 July 2017 405 405 Net result for the year 43 43 Balance at 30 June 2018 448 448
Balance at 1 July 2016 283 283 Net result for the year 122 122 Balance at 30 June 2017 405 405
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
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50 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
2018 2017 Notes $000 $000 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Payments Payments to Suppliers (97) (484) Total Payments (97) (484)
Receipts Sale of goods and services 81 408 Interest received 9 6 Grants and contributions - 99 Other 13 - Total Receipts 103 513 NET CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 9 6 29
NET INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH 6 29 Opening cash and cash equivalents 334 305 CLOSING CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 5 340 334
The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.
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ANNUAL REPORT 51 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (a) Reporting entity The Dams Safety Committee (the ‘Committee’) was constitutedin1979,undertheDams Safety Act 1978, to ensure the owners of the State’s major dams conform to appropriate safety requirements in order to prevent uncontrolled loss of their storages with consequent effects on the community, environment and water supply. Dam owners will continue to be regulated under the existing Dams Safety Act 1978 until such time of full implementation of the new Dams Safety Act 2015 which has yet to be implemented at 30 June 2018. The Committee operates in New South Wales, Australia. The office is located on Level 11, 2-10 Valentine Avenue, Parramatta, NSW 2150. The Committee is a Statutory Body and separate reporting entity. There are no other entities under its control. The Committee is a not-for-profit entity (as profit is not its principal objective) and it has no cash generating units. The financial statements have been authorised for issue by the Chairman of the Committee on the date the accompanying statement by members of the committee was signed. (b) Basis of preparation The Committee's financial statements are general purpose financial statements which have been prepared in accordance with: • applicable Australian Accounting Standards (which include Australian Accounting Interpretations); • the requirements of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983 and Public Finance and Audit Regulation 2015; and • Financial Reporting Directions mandated by the Treasurer. Judgements, key assumptions and estimations management has made are disclosed in the relevant notes to the financial statements. All amounts are rounded to the nearest one thousand dollars and are expressed in Australian currency. (c) Statement of compliance The financial statements and notes comply with Australian Accounting Standards, which include Australian Accounting Interpretations. (d) Income recognition Income is measured at the fair value of the consideration or contribution received or receivable. Additional comments regarding the accounting policies for the recognition of income are discussed below. (i) Grants and Contributions Revenue from grants and contributions are generally recognised as income when the agency obtains control over the assets comprising the grant or contributions. Control over grants and contributions is normally obtained upon the receipt of the cash. (ii) Rendering of Services Revenue from rendering of services is recognised when the service is provided or by reference to the stage of completion (based on labour hours incurred to date). (iii) Investment Revenue Interest revenue is recognised using the effective interest rate method. The effective interest rate is the interest rate that exactly discounts the estimated future cash receipts over the expected life of the financial instrument or a shorter period, where appropiate, to the net carrying amount of the financial asset. (e) Personnel services The Committee does not have any employees and receives administrative, secretarial support and operational assistancefrom the Department of Industry. The Committee is not required to reimburse the Department of Industry for personnel expensesand grant income is recognised for the free services provided. (f) Insurance The Committee's insurance activities are covered by Department of Industry's insurance with the NSW Treasury Managed Fund Scheme of self-insurance for Government agencies. The expense (premium) is determined by the Fund Manager based on past claims experience.
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52 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) (g) Accounting for the goods and services tax (GST) Revenues, expenses and assets are recognised net of the amount of GST, except that: • the amount of GST incurred by the Committee as a purchaser thatisnotrecoverablefromtheAustralianTaxationOffice is recognised as part of the cost of acquisition of an asset or as part of an item of expense; and • receivables and payables are stated with the amount of GST included. The net amount of GST recoverable from, or payable to, the Australian Taxation Office is included as part of receivables and payables. Cash flows are included in the statement of cash flows on a gross basis. However, the GST components of cash flows arising from investing and financing activities which is recoverable from, or payable to, the Australian Taxation Office are classified as operating cash flows. (h) Property, plant and equipment (i) Acquisition of plant and equipment Plant and equipment are initially measured at cost and subsequently revalued at fair value less accumulated depreciation and impairment. Cost is the amount of cash or cash equivalents paid or the fair value of the other consideration given to acquire the asset at the time of its acquisition or construction or, where applicable, the amount attributed to that asset when initially recognised in accordance with the requirements of other Australian Accounting Standards. Plant and equipment acquired at no cost, or for nominal consideration, are initially recognised at their fair value at the date of acquisition. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset in an orderly transaction between market participants at measurement date. Where payment for an asset is deferred beyond normal credit terms, its cost is the cash price equivalent; i.e. deferred payment amount is effectively discounted over the period of credit. (ii) Capitalisation thresholds Plant and equipment and intangible assets costing $5,000 and above individually (or forming part of a network costing more than $5,000) are capitalised. (iii) Revaluation of plant and equipment Physical non-current assets are valued in accordance with the 'Valuation of Physical Non-Current Assets at Fair Value' Policy and Guidelines Paper (TPP 14-01). This policy adopts fair value in accordance with AASB 13 Fair Value Measurement , AASB 116 Property and Plant and Equipment. Plant and equipment is measured at the highest and best use by market participants that is physically possible, legally permissible and financially feasible. The highest and best use must be available at a period that is not remote and take into account the characteristics of the asset being measured, including any socio-political restrictions imposed by government. In most cases, after taking into account these considerations, the highest and best use is the existing use. In limited circumstances, the highest and best use may be a feasible alternative use, where there are no restrictions on use or where there is a feasible higher restricted alternative use. Fair value of plant and equipment is based on a market participants’ perspective, using valuation techniques (market approach, cost approach, income approach) that maximise relevant observable inputs and minimise unobservable inputs. Also refer Note 7 for further information regarding fair value. The Committee revalues each class of plant and equipment with sufficient regularity to ensure that the carrying amount of each asset in the class does not differ materially from its fair value at reporting date. Non-specialised assets with short useful lives like plant and equipment are measured at depreciated historical cost, which for these assets approximates fair value. (iv) Maintenance Day-to-day servicing costs or maintance are charged as expenses as incurred, except where they relate to the replacement of a part or component of an asset, in which case the costs are capitalised and depreciated. (v) Restoration cost The present value of the expected cost for the restoration or cost of dismantling of an asset after its use is included in the cost of the respective asset if the recognition criteria for a provision are met.
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ANNUAL REPORT 53 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) (vi) Impairment of plant and equipment As a not-for-profit entity with no cash generating units, impairment under AASB 136 Impairment of Assets is unlikely to arise. As property, plant and equipment is carried at fair value or an amount that approximates fair value, impairment can only arise in the rare circumstances such as where the costs of disposal are material. Specifically, impairment is unlikely for not-for-profit entities given that AASB 136 modifies the recoverable amount test for non-cash generating assets of not- for-profit entities to the higher of fair value less costs of disposal and depreciated replacement cost, where depreciated replacement cost is also fair value. (vii) Depreciation and amortisation of plant and equipment Depreciation is provided for on a straight-line basis for all depreciable assets so as to write off the depreciable amount of each asset as it is consumed over its useful life to the Committee. All depreciable assets are depreciated at 25 per cent (i) Leases Adistinctionismadebetweenfinanceleaseswhicheffectively transfer from the lessor to the lessee substantially all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of the leased assets, andoperatingleasesunderwhichthelessordoesnottransfer substantially all the risks and rewards. An operating lease is a lease other than a finance lease. Operating lease payments are recognised as an operating expense in the statement of comprehensive income on a straight-line basis over the lease term. (j) Financial Instruments A financial instrument is any contract that gives rise to a financial asset of one entity and a financial liability or equity instrument of another entity. Financial assets and financial liabilities are initially measured at fair value. Transaction costs that are directly attributable to the acquisition or issue of financial assets and financial liabilities (other than financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss) are added to or deducted from the fair value of the financial assets or financial liabilities, as appropriate, on initial recognition. Transaction costs directly attributable to the acquisition of financial assets or financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss are recognised immediately in net result. The entity determines the classification of its financial assets and liabilities after initial recognition and, when allowed and appropriate, re-evaluates this at each financial year end. (i) Financial assets The classification of financial assets depends on the nature and purpose of the financial assets and is determined at the time of initial recognition. • Receivables Trade receivables and other receivables that have fixed or determinable payments that are not quoted in an active market are classified as receivables. Receivables are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment. Changes are recognised in the net resultfortheyearwhenimpaired,derecognisedorthroughthe amortisation process. Short-term receivables with no stated interest rate are measured at the original invoice amount unless the effect of discounting is material. • Impairment of financial assets All financial assets, except those at fair value through profit and loss, are subject to an annual review for impairment. Financial assets are considered to be impaired when there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected. For certain categories of financial assets, such as trade receivables, the entity first assesses whether impairment exists individually for financial assets that are individually significant, or collectively for financial assets that are notindividually significant. Assets are assessed for impairment on a collective basis if they were assessed not to be impaired individually.
Any reversals of impairment losses are reversed through the net result for the year, where there is objective evidence.
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54 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) (ii) Financial liabilities Financial liabilities are classified as either 'at fair value through profit or loss' or 'at amortised cost'. • Financial liabilities at amortised cost (including trade payables) Financial liabilities at amortised cost are initially measured at fair value, net of transaction costs. These are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, with interest expense recognised on an effective yield basis. Payables represent liabilities for goods and services provided to the entity and other amounts. Short-term payables with no stated interest rate are measured at the original invoice amount where the effect of discounting is immaterial. (k) Equity (i) Accumulated funds The category 'Accumulated Funds' includes all current and prior period retained funds. (l) Comparative information Except when an Australian Accounting Standard permits or requires otherwise, comparative information is disclosed in respect of the previous period for all amounts reported in the financial statements. (m) New Australian Accounting Standards issued and effective for the first time at 30 June 2018 The accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are consistent with those of the previous financial year unless otherwise stated. The following new and revised Accounting Standards were applicable for the first time for the 2018 financial year. However, these standards do not haveanymaterialeffectontheaccountingpoliciesadoptedbythe Committee. Implementation Date • AASB 2016-2 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Disclosure Initiative: Amendments to AASB 107. 1 Jul 2017 • AASB 2016-4 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Recoverable Amount of Non- Cash-Generating Specialised Assets of Not-for-Profit Entities. 1 Jul 2017 (n) Changes in accounting policy, including new or revised Australian Accounting Standards The following new Australian Accounting Standards have been issued but are not yet effective. The Committee has not early adopted any of these new standards or amendments. When applied in future periods, they are not expected to have a material impact on the financial position or performance of the Committee, unless otherwise detailed below: Implementation Date • AASB 9 Financial Instruments 1 Jul 2018 AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers - the mandatory application date has been • deferred for not-for-profit entities. 1 Jul 2019 • ASSB 16 Leases 1 Jul 2019 AASB 2016-3 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Clarifications to AASB 15 - the • mandatory application date has been deferred for not-for-profit entities. 1 Jul 2019 AASB 2016-8 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Australian Implementation • Guidance for Not-for-Profit Entities. 1 Jul 2019 • AASB 1058 Income of Not-for-profit Entities. 1 Jul 2019 AASB 2017-6 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Prepayment Features with • Negative Compensation. 1 Jul 2019
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ANNUAL REPORT 55 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
2. EXPENSES EXCLUDING LOSSES 2018 2017 $000 $000
(a) Personnel services expenses Committee members remuneration - Department of Industry - sitting fees 30 40 Committee members remuneration - Department of Industry - other 24 84 Committee members remuneration - other agencies and organisations 141 114 Salaries and wages (including annual leave) 939 1,067 Superannuation 58 78 Payroll tax 59 77 Redundancy payments - 192 1,251 1,652 (b) Other operating expenses Advertising and promotion -4 Auditor's remuneration 15 14 Computer expenses 7 26 Contractors 46 88 Fees for services 94 Insurance 7 7 Legal services 5 - Other 10 8 Plant and vehicle 1 5 Printing 13 28 Rent - 101 Staff training 20 19 Storage 36 Telephone 25 Training event expenses 20 129 Travel 41 49 199 493 (c) Depreciation and amortisation expense Plant and equipment 11 11 3. REVENUES 2018 2017 $000 $000 (a) Grants and contributions Cash grant from Department of Industry -99 Non cash grants: Personnel services contribution - Department of Industry 1,139 1,509 Personnel services contribution - other agencies and organisations 141 114 Service level agreement - Department of Industry 11 11 Travel - Department of Industry - 18 Travel - other agencies and organisations 19 18 Operating expenses - Department of Industry 90 - 1,400 1,769 (b) Sales of goods and services Course fee revenue 88 450 88 450 (c) Investment revenue Interest 6 9 69 (d) Other income Write back of restoration provision - 50 -50
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56 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
4. GAIN / (LOSS) ON DISPOSAL 2018 2017 $000 $000 Gain / (loss) on disposal Written down value of assets disposed - (10) - (10) 5. CURRENT ASSETS - CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 2018 2017 $000 $000 Cash at bank and on hand 340 334 340 334 Cash and cash equivalent assets recognised in the statement of financial position are reconciled at the end of the financial year to the statement of cash flows as follows: Cash and cash equivalents (per statement of financial position) 340 334 Closing cash and cash equivalents (per statement of cash flows) 340 334 Refer Note 10 for details regarding credit risk, liquidity risk and market risk arising from financial instruments. 6. CURRENT ASSETS - RECEIVABLES 2018 2017 $000 $000 Sale of goods and services 117 106 Accrued income 17 17 Interest receivable -3 Net GST receivable 66 140 132 Details regarding credit risk liquidity risk and market risk, including financial assets that are either past due or impaired, are disclosed in Note 10. 7. NON-CURRENT ASSETS – PLANT AND EQUIPMENT Plant and equipment $000 At 1 July 2017 - fair value Gross carrying amount 10 Accumulated depreciation (9) Net carrying amount 1 At 30 June 2018 - fair value Gross carrying amount 10 Accumulated depreciation (10) Net carrying amount -
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ANNUAL REPORT 57 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
7. NON-CURRENT ASSETS – PROPERTY PLANT AND EQUIPMENT (continued) Plant and equipment $000 Reconciliation A reconciliation of the carrying amount of each class of plant and equipment at the beginning and end of the current reporting period is set out below: Year ended 30 June 2018 Net carrying amount at start of year 1 Depreciation expense (1) Net carrying amount at end of year - At 1 July 2016 - fair value Gross carrying amount 23 Accumulated depreciation (10) Net carrying amount 13 At 30 June 2017 - fair value Gross carrying amount 10 Accumulated depreciation (9) Net carrying amount 1 Reconciliation A reconciliation of the carrying amount of each class of plant and equipment at the beginning and end of the current reporting period is set out below: Year ended 30 June 2017 Net carrying amount at start of year 13 Disposals (13) Writeback on disposal 2 Depreciation expense (1) Net carrying amount at end of year 1
8. CURRENT LIABILITIES - PAYABLES 2018 2017 $000 $000 CURRENT Creditors 15 9 Accrued expenditure 16 24 Accrued personnel services -29 Net GST 1- 32 62
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58 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
9. RECONCILIATION OF CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES TO NET RESULT 2018 2017 $000 $000
Net cash from operating activities 6 29 Depreciation (1) (1) Increase / (decrease) in receivables 8 93 Decrease / (increase) in payables 30 11 Net gain / (loss) on sale of plant and equipment - (10) Net result 43 122
10. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS The Committee's principal financial instruments are outlined below. These financial instruments arise directly from the Committee's operations or are required to finance the Committee's operations. The Committee does not enter into or trade financial instruments, including derivative financial instruments, for speculative purposes. The Committee's main risks arising from financial instruments are outlined below, together with the Committee's objectives, policies and processes for measuring and managing risk. Further quantitative and qualitative disclosures are includedthroughout these financial statements. The Committee has overall responsibility for the establishment and oversight of risk management and reviews and agrees policies for managing each of these risks. Risk management policies are established to identify and analyse the risks faced by the Committee, to set risk limits and controls and to monitor risks. (a) Financial instrument categories Financial Assets Note Category Carrying Carrying Amount Amount 2018 2017 $000 $000 Class: Cash and cash 5N/A 340 334 equivalents Receivables 1 6 Loans and receivables (at amortised cost) 117 109
Financial Note Category Carrying Carrying Liabilities Amount Amount 2018 2017 $000 $000 Class: Payables 2 8Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost 32 62 Notes 1. Excludes statutory receivables and prepayments (i.e. not within scope of AASB 7). 2. Excludes statutory payables and unearned revenue (i.e. not within scope of AASB 7).
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ANNUAL REPORT 59 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
10. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (continued) (b) Credit risk Credit risk arises when there is the possibility of the Committee's debtors defaulting on their contractual obligations, resulting in a financial loss to the Committee. The maximum exposure to credit risk is generally represented by the carrying amount of the financial assets (net of any allowance for impairment). Credit risk arises from the financial assets of the Committee, including cash, receivables and authority deposits. No collateral is held by the Committee. The Committee has not granted any financial guarantees. Credit risk associated with the Committee's financial assets, other than receivables, is managed through the selectionof counterparties and establishment of minimum credit rating standards. The Committee has no deposits held with NSW TCorp. Cash Cash comprises cash on hand and in the bank account. Receivables - trade debtors All trade debtors are recognised as amounts receivable at balance date. Collectability of trade debtors is reviewed on anongoing basis. Procedures as established in the Treasurer’s Directions are followed to recover outstanding amounts, includinglettersof demand. Debts which are known to be uncollectible are writtenoff.Anallowanceforimpairmentisraisedwhenthereisobjective evidence that the Committee will not be able to collect all amounts due. This evidence includes past experience, and current and expected changes in economic conditions and debtor credit ratings. No interest is earned on trade debtors. Sales are madeon30 day terms. An allowance for impairment has not been established as there is no objective evidence that the Committee will not be able to collect all amounts due. The Committee is not materially exposed to concentrations ofcreditrisktoasingletradedebtororgroupofdebtors.Based on past experience, debtors that are not past due 2018: Nil (2017: $11,380) and past due 2018: Nil (2017: $95,368) but not considered impaired and together these represent 100% of the total tradedebtors.TheCommittee'sdebtorsdonothaveacreditrating. There are no debtors which are currently not past due or impaired whose terms have been renegotiated.
Past due but Considered Total not impaired impaired $000 $000 $000 2018 <3 months overdue --- 3 months - 6 months overdue --- > 6 months overdue ---
2017 <3 months overdue 33 33 - 3 months - 6 months overdue 10 10 - > 6 months overdue 52 52 - (c) Liquidity risk Liquidity risk is the risk that the Committee will be unable tomeetitspaymentobligationswhentheyfalldue.TheCommittee manages risk through the effective application of cash management practices. These practices aim to reduce the exposureto liquidity risk by ensuring the Committee has sufficient funds available to meet supplier obligations at all times. This is achieved by ensuring that minimum levels of cash are held within the Committee's operating bank account so as to match the expected duration of the various supplier liabilities. During the current and prior years, there were no defaults of loans payable. No assets have been pledged as collateral. The Committee’s exposure to liquidity risk is deemed insignificant based on prior periods’ data and current assessment of risk. The liabilities are recognised for amounts due to be paid in the future for goods or services received, whether or not invoiced. Amounts owing to suppliers (which are unsecured) are settledinaccordancewiththepolicysetoutinNSWTC11/12.Forsmall business suppliers, where terms are not specified, payment is made not later than 30 days from date of receipt of a correctly rendered invoice. For other suppliers, if trade terms are notspecified,paymentismadenolaterthantheendofthemonth following the month in which an invoice or a statement is received. For small business suppliers, where payment is not madewithin the specified time period, simple interest must be paid automatically unless an existing contract specifies otherwise.Forpayments to other suppliers, the Head of an authority (or a person appointed by the Head of an authority) may automatically pay the supplier simple interest. The rate of interest applied during the year was 0% (2017: 0%).
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60 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
10. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (continued) The table below summarises the maturity profile of the Committee's financial liabilities, together with the interest rate exposure. Maturity analysis and interest rate exposure of financial liabilities Interest Rate exposure Maturity Dates Weighted Nominal Fixed Int. Variable Int. Non-interest < 1 yr 1 - 5 > 5 yrs Average Amount Rate Rate Bearing yrs Effective Int. Rate $000 $000 $000 $000 2018 Payables 0.0% 32 - - 32 32 - - 2017 Payables 0.0% 62 - - 62 62 - - (d) Market risk Market risk is the risk that the fair value or future cash flowsofafinancialinstrumentwillfluctuatebecauseofchangesinmarket prices. The Committee has no exposure to market risk as it holds no financial instruments that are impacted by market prices. The Committee has no exposure to foreign currency risk and does not enter into commodity contracts. Interest rate risk The Committee does not hold any interest bearing liabilitiesandisnotexposedtointerestrateriskinrelationtofinancial liabilities. Therefore, for these financial instruments, a change in interest rates would not affect profit or loss or equity. A reasonably possible change of + / - 1% is used, consistent with current trends in interest rates. The basis will be reviewed annually and amendedwhere there is a structural change in the level of interest rate volatility. The Committee's exposure to interest rate risk is set out below. Carrying Profit Equity Profit Equity Amount $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 -1% +1% 2018 Financial Assets Cash and cash equivalents 340 (3) (3) 3 3 Receivables 117 - - - - Financial Liabilities Payables 32 - - - - 2017 Financial Assets Cash and cash equivalents 334 (3) (3) 3 3 Receivables 109 - - - - Financial Liabilities Payables 62 - - - -
Other price risk The Committee has no financial assets and liabilities exposed to other price risk. (e) Fair value compared to carrying amount Financial instruments are generally recognised at amortised cost. The amortised cost of the financial instruments recognised in the statement of financial position approximates the fair value, because of the short-term nature of the financial instruments.
11. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND CONTINGENT ASSETS The Committee is unaware of the existence of any contingent liabilities or contingent assets as at balance date (2017: Nil).
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ANNUAL REPORT 61 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
DAMS SAFETY COMMITTEE NOTES TO AND FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018
12. COMMITMENTS 2018 2017 $000 $000 Operating lease commitments Future non-cancellable operating lease rentals not provided for and payable not later than 1 year - 37 Later than 1 year, but not later than 5 years - 25 - 62 Commitments above include input tax credits of Nil (2017: $5,725) that are expected to be recovered from the Australian Taxation Office. The Department of Industry (the Department) and the Committee are in agreement that the Department provides these services to the Committee from 1 July 2017 free of charge. 13. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURE During the period, the Committee expensed $53,840 in respectofthekeymanagementpersonnelservicesthatareprovidedby separate management entities, Department of Industry and other entities. These are all reported in the financial statements as non- cash grants received (refer to Note 3). During the period, the Committee did not enter into transactions with key management personnel, their close family members and controlled or jointly controlled entities thereof. During the year, the Committee entered into transactions with other entities that are controlled / jointly controlled / significantly influenced by NSW Government. These transactions (incurredinthenormalcourseofbusiness)inaggregateareasignificant portion of the Committee's revenue and expenses. The nature of these significant transactions are detailed below:
Entity Nature of Transaction
Audit Office of NSW Provision of independent audit services of the Committee's financial statements Department of Industry Provision of administrative, secretarial support and operational assistance TAFE Commission Provides training services
14. EVENTS AFTER REPORTING DATE There are no events subsequent to the balance date that affect the financial information disclosed in the financial statements.
End of audited financial statements
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62 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
10.3 Internal Audit and Risk Management Attestation for the 2017/18 Financial Year
The Dams Safety Committee (DSC) is funded predominantly from a NSW Treasury approved amount of grants & contributions via DPI Water which is within the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and in turn the wider umbrella of the Department of Industry. The amount of annual grants & contributions is based on an approved budget calculated to allow the DSC to meet the cost of its operations as they are incurred. During 2017/18, DPI Water continued to provide general financial support to the DSC, including the budgetary distribution of grants & contributions and associated internal audit services.
In February 2013 the DSC’s Minister formally supported the DSC’s request for exemption from the Treasury Policy Paper TPP09-05, Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the NSW Public Sector (the Policy) on the basis that compliance with the Policy would impose costs and administrative burden not commensurate with the size and risk profile of the DSC. This exemption had been backed by the then NSW Department of Trade & Investment, the predecessor of the Department of Industry.
After an ensuing application to NSW Treasury by the DSC, in June 2013 Treasury granted the NSW Dams Safety Committee a general exemption from TPP09-05 and the requirement to attest to governance arrangements prescribed by the Policy. The exemption commenced in the 2012/13 financial year and is ongoing. The exemption therefore applied during the 2017/18 financial year.
ANNUAL REPORT 63 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 Appendix A – Dam Owner and Consequence Category Summary - 30 June 2018
Surveillance Reports DSC inspections Dam Owner Prescribed Dams received/reviewed 2017/18 2017/18
Water Corporations (Government owned) (includes WaterNSW, Sydney Water, Hunter 59 14 2 Water) Snowy Hydro Ltd (part Govt. owned) and other 34 4 1 Power Generating Companies Local Government (Councils & Water Utilities) 152 21 16 Other NSW Government Authorities 12 2 2 Mining Companies (Water & Tailings Dams) 115 41 33 Private Owners 33 6 - Others 3 - 1
TOTAL 408 88 55
Notes: 1. The ownership of prescribed dams has been revised and updated, with the numbers of dams amended due to prescription and de-prescription, and as a result differs from previous Annual Reports.
2. A total of 55 dams were inspected, including 55 prescribed dams and nil non-prescribed dams (usually only done as part of investigations for consideration of whether prescription might be required).
Of the 408 prescribed dams and basins, the break-down by Consequence Category (CC) is as follows:
Extreme CC = 32 High CC = 183; comprising A. High A = 46 B. High B = 20 C. High C = 117 Significant CC = 161 Low & Very Low CC = 30 (Note: Generally prescribed if height >15m) To be categorised = 2 TOTAL = 408
64 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 Appendix B – Current Prescribed Dams in NSW – 30 June 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Western Sydney Parklands Abbotsbury Park Pond 2 F10 1970/2004 TE 6 18 Trust Adelong Tailings Dam H8 - ER 14 280 Challenger Mines Pty Ltd Consolidated Pastoral Company Aldridges Creek Dam* D11 1994 TE/ER 23 1,250 P/L Antiene Lease Tailings Dam* E11 1999 TE/ER 35 10,000 Liddell Coal Operations Pty Ltd Ashton Coal Clean Water Dam 1* E10 1985 TE 15 360 Ashton Coal Operations Pty Ltd
Avon Dam* G10 1927/71/95 PG/ ER 72 214,400 WaterNSW Bagnalls Beach Road Basin E12 2002 TE 3.5 22 Port Stephens Council Bakers Road Detention Basin C13 2010 TE 6.5 200 Coffs Harbour City Council
Bamarang Dam* G10 1983 TE 26 3,800 Shoalhaven City Council Banks Rd Basin F10 1997 TE 3 60 Liverpool City Council Barden Ridge Lower Dam* F10 2008 PG 22 36 Sutherland Shire Council Barina Park Detention Basin (R) G10 1982 TE 7 5.4 Wollongong City Council
Bayswater Ash Dam* E10 1985 TE 39 22,000 AGL Macquarie Ltd Bayswater Brine Decant Dam* E10 1986 TE 22 650 AGL Macquarie Ltd Bayswater Cooling Makeup Dam* E10 1984 TE 11.5 460 AGL Macquarie Ltd Bayswater Main Dam* E10 1979 TE 20 1,120 BHP Billiton Beardy Waters Dam* B11 1932/60/87 VA 8.5 480 Glen Innes Severn Council Beargamil Dam F8 1912/1924 TE 16 480 Parkes Shire Council Ben Boyd Dam* J9 1978/82 TE 29 800 Bega Valley Shire Council Bendeela Pondage* G10 1973 TE/ER 15 1,200 WaterNSW Bengalla CW1 Dam*^ E10 2016 TE 13.5 900 Bengalla Mining Company Bengalla DW1 Dam*^ E10 - TE 17.9 300 Bengalla Mining Company Bengalla Stage Discharge Dam*^ E10 2000 TE 10 280 Bengalla Mining Company Bennetts Road Detention Basin C13 2013 TE 7 160 Coffs Harbour City Council Bethungra Dam*^ G7 1895 PG 13 600 NSW Department of Lands Lend Lease Communities Bingara Gorge Pond 1 G10 2011 TE 4.6 20.5 (Wilton) Blackbutt Reserve* G10 1957/95 TE 6 17 Shellharbour City Council
Blackwood Pit Tailings Storage D1 - ER 10 2200 Broken Hill Operations Pty Ltd Facility^
Bloomfield U Cut Tailings Dam* E11 2010 TE 15 4,000 Bloomfield Collieries Pty Ltd Blowering Dam* H8 1968/2011 TE/ER 114 1,631,400 WaterNSW
Boorowa Dam* G8 1937, 1992 PG/TE 7 180 Hilltops Council Bootawa Dam* D12 1968 TE 25 2,280 Midcoast Water Borenore Creek Dam* F8 1928/43 VA 17 200 Cabonne Shire Council Bosnjak Park US F10 1980 TE 1.9 22.5 Fairfield City Council Bowra Dam* C12 2015 TE 22 4,500 Nambucca Shire Council
Brennans Creek Dam* G10 1976 DR 17 320 South32 - Illawarra Coal Pty Ltd Brogo Dam* I9 1976 DR 43 8,980 WaterNSW Brokers Road Retarding Basin* G10 1999 TE 7.5 70 Wollongong City Council Brooklyn Retarding Basin* F11 1995 ER 4.8 3.7 Railcorp
ANNUAL REPORT 65 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Broughton's Pass Weir* G10 1885 PG 6 50 WaterNSW Broula King Mine Tails Dam 2 F8 - TE/ER 18 25 Broula King Joint Venture P/L
Bucklands Retarding Basin G10 1992 TE 5 2 Matt Crossingham Bulga CHPP Dam*^ E11 2008 TE 14 3,000 Bulga Coal Management P/L Bulga Mine Water Dam*^ E11 - TE 20 3,000 Bulga Coal Management P/L Bulga Northern Tailings Dam A E11 - TE 55 3400 Bulga Coal Management P/L
Bulga Old Tailings Dam*^ E11 1981 TE/Claylined 14 1,750 Bulga Coal Management P/L Bundanoon Dam* G10 1959 VA 35 2,000 Wingecarribee Shire Council Burrendong Dam* E9 1967/2011 TE/ER 76 1,190,000 WaterNSW
Burrinjuck Dam* H8 1928/57/94 PG 93 1,026,000 WaterNSW Cadia Nth Waste Dump Det Basin^ F8 2003 ER 18 50 Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd
Cadia South Tailings Storage F8 2001- TE/ER 69.5 75,000 Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd Facility*^
Cadia Tailings Dam*^(R) F8 1997- TE/ER 82 93,000 Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd
Cadiangullong Dam*^ F8 1997 PG 43 4,200 Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd Camberwell Tailings Dam 2* E11 1995/2004/2013 TE/ER 33 5,300 Bloomfield Collieries Pty Ltd Cambewarra Dam G10 Pre 1930 TE 8.4 50 Shoalhaven City Council Campbelltown Link Area Basin 1 G10 2004 TE 5.7 30 Campbelltown City Council Campbelltown North Detention G10 2000 TE 5.4 28 Campbelltown City Council Basin Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Captains Flat Dam* H9 1939/95 PG 16 820 Council Carcoar Dam* F9 1970 VA 52 35,800 WaterNSW Carrington In-Pit Tails Storage* E10 - TE 20 14,700 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd Cascade Dam 1* F10 1905/15 VA 15 159 WaterNSW Cascade Dam 2* F10 1926 TE 26 318 WaterNSW Cascade Dam 3* F10 1938 TE 30 1,700 WaterNSW Cataract Dam* G10 1907/1987 PG 56 94,300 WaterNSW Cecil Hills Basin 100 F10 2001 TE 2.6 29 Liverpool City Council Cecil Park Basin 3A* F10 1952/2007 TE 6.1 310 Liverpool City Council Cecil Park Basin 3B F10 2014 TE 7.2 250 Liverpool City Council Centennial Pk Res No. 1* F11 1899/92 PG 7 81 Sydney Water Corporation Centennial Pk Res No. 2* F11 1925 PG/ TE 10 89 Sydney Water Corporation Chaffey Dam*^ D11 1979/2004/11/16 TE/ ER 56 62,000 WaterNSW
Chichester Dam* E11 1923/84/94/2003 PG 44 22,000 Hunter Water Corporation Ltd
Chifley Dam* F9 1957/2001 TE 35 31,000 Bathurst Regional Council Chinamans Dam G8 Pre 2012 TE 4.5 65 Hilltops Council
Clarrie Hall Dam* A13 1983/2014 DR 43 16,000 Tweed Shire Council Clear Paddock Creek Basin C F11 2004/09 TE 5.2 82 Fairfield City Council
Clear Paddock Creek Basin W2 F10 2009 PG 3.3 60 Fairfield City Council Clear Paddock Creek Basin W3 F10 2004/09 TE 2.6 47 Fairfield City Council
Coalcliff Dam* G10 1971/98 TE 9 97 Illawarra Coke Company
Cochrane Dam* I9 1958 TE 29 4,320 Cochrane Dam Pty Ltd Colongra Creek Ash Dam* F11 1965 TE 5.7 5,500 Delta Electricity
66 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML)
Comberton Grange Ret. Basin G10 1991 TE 15 65 Shaolin Temple Foundation Ltd
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Comin Place Detention Basin F10 2000 TE 4.5 20 Fairfield City Council Company Dam* F8 1867/2005 TE 5 95 Weddin Shire Council Connors Creek Dam C10 1934 VA 9 360 Tamworth Regional Council
Copeton Dam* B10 1976/2012 TE/ ER 113 1,365,000 WaterNSW Cordeaux Dam* G10 1926/77/88 PG 57 94,000 WaterNSW Corindi Stage 3 Dam B13 - TE 9 900 Vitalharvest Ltd Cowal Gold Mine Reservoir D9^ F7 2007 TE 7 800 Evolution Mining Pty Ltd
Cowal Integ. Waste Landform*^ F7 - TE 33.5 62,600 Evolution Mining Pty Ltd Cowal Northern Tailings Dam*^ F7 2005/09 TE 18.2 19700 Evolution Mining Pty Ltd Cowal Southern Tailings Dam*^ F7 2007 TE 18.4 19,300 Evolution Mining Pty Ltd
Port Macquarie Hastings Cowarra Dam* D12 2002 TE 41 10,000 Council DPI – Lands, NSW Department Cowarra Creek Tailings Dam* H9 1986/11 ER 23 52 of Industry Crookwell Dam* G9 1937 PG/VA 15 450 Upper Lachlan Shire Council CSA South Tailings Dam* D5 1960/71/07/14 TE 16 6,000 CSA Mine - Glencore CSIRO Retarding Basin F10 1993/2003 TE 6 124 Stockland Cumnock Tailings Storage E10 2013 ER 10 1,500 Ravensworth Operations Pty Ltd Facility Cumnock Tailings Storage E10 - TE 7 2,500 Ravensworth Operations Pty Ltd Facility No. 3* Danjera Dam* G10 1971 CB/ER 30 7,800 Shoalhaven City Council Dargues Reef Gold Project H9 - TE 30 640 Diversified Minerals Tailings Dam* Anglo Coal (Dartbrook Mgt) Pty Dartbrook Mine Water Dam* E10 2000/06 TE 11 450 Ltd Daruk Park Retarding Basin F10 1987 TE 2.5 48 Liverpool City Council Deep Creek Snowy Dam I8 1961 PG 21 8 Snowy Hydro Limited Deep Creek Dam* H10 1984 TE 32 4,900 Eurobodalla Shire Council
Snowy Monaro Regional Council - Delegate Flood Retarding Basin* J8 1985 TE 5 200 Bombala Branch DEP Retarding Basin F10 1993/2005 TE 9.5 250 Blacktown City Council Diamond Circuit Detention Basin E11 2005 TE 2.7 5.01 Maitland City Council
Dobinson Retarding Basin G10 TE 8 3 Roads and Maritime Services Dover Heights Reservoir* F11 1928 PG/ TE 8 85 Sydney Water Corporation
Drayton Coal (Drayton Mgt) Pty Drayton Water Supply Dam* E10 1980 TE 13 780 Ltd Dumaresq Dam*(R) C11 1896 PG 12 380 Armidale Regional Council
Dungowan Dam* D11 1957/1992 TE 31 6,300 Tamworth Regional Council Duralie Coal Auxiliary Dam No. E11 2009 TE 20 500 Stratford Coal Pty Ltd 1* Duralie Coal Auxiliary Dam No. E11 2011 TE 30 2,900 Stratford Coal Pty Ltd 2* Duralie Coal Mine Water Dam* E11 2003 TE 18 1,405 Stratford Coal Pty Ltd
ANNUAL REPORT 67 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) East West Road Dam C12 - TE 6 61 Roads & Maritime Services Edgewood Detention Basin G10 2002 TE 4.8 19.2 Wollongong City Council
Edgeworth Detention Basin E11 - TE 2.6 12 Lake Macquarie City Council Edmondson Park Basin 12 F10 2013 TE 3.9 48 Liverpool City Council Elanora Country Club Main Dam F11 2002 TE 10 80 Elanora Country Club El Klaros Dam E11 1993 TE 20 200 Mawipalivier Pty. Limited
Elura Tailings Dam E11 1997 TE 8 19,000 Endeavor Operations Pty Ltd
Emerson Street Reserve F10 2015 TE 2.75 13.4 Fairfield City Council Emigrant Creek Dam* A13 1968/2002 TE/ PG 13 820 Rous County Council
Emma James Basin A13 - TE 3.6 14 Central Coast Council Eraring Ash Dam* F11 1982 TE 25 21,000 Origin Energy Eraring Attemperating Cooling F11 2010 TE 32 820 Origin Energy Water Dam* Eurobodalla South Storage I10 _ TE 35 3,000 Eurobodalla Shire Council
Eucumbene Dam*^ I8 1958/78 TE/ ER 116 4,800,000 Snowy Hydro Limited Fairfield Golf Course Basin [R] F10 Prior to 1980s TE 2.1 152 Fairfield City Council Fitzroy Falls Dam* [R] G10 1974 TE/ ER 14 23,500 WaterNSW Floraville Road Det. Basin [R] F11 1992 TE 4 20 Lake Macquarie City Council Foothills Estate Ret. Basin 1 G10 1995 TE 7 21 Wollongong City Council Foothills Estate Ret. Basin 3 G10 1995 TE 7.8 21 Wollongong City Council Foothills Rd Basin G10 1979/95 TE 4 17 Wollongong City Council Fountaindale Dam* G10 1915 VA 15 18 Kiama Municipal Council Fox Hills Retarding Basin F10 1990 TE 3.3 230 Blacktown City Council Freislichs Dam D1 1976 TE 13 230 University of New South Wales Gannet Place Retarding Basin G10 1993 TE 5 5 Wollongong City Council Garden Suburb Det. Basin No. 2 E11 2000 TE 9 14 Lake Macquarie City Council Geehi Dam* I8 1966 ER 91 211,000 Snowy Hydro Limited George Bass Drive Det. Basin H10 1990/08 TE 2.5 10 Eurobodalla Shire Council Georgia Terrace Detention Basin F10 - TE 4 2 The Hills Shire Council Glenbawn Dam* E10 1958/87 TE/ER 100 750,000 WaterNSW Glenmore Park Retarding Basin F10 1997 TE 5.5 270 Penrith City Council 4 Glennies Creek Dam* E11 1980-83 DR 67 283,000 WaterNSW Glenquarry Cut Control G10 1974 PG 18 24,100 WaterNSW Structure* Gooden Reserve Det. Basin F10 1997 PG 5 380 The Hills Shire Council Googong Dam* H9 1977/92/2010 ER 66 124,000 Icon Water Limited
Gosling Creek Dam*^(R) F9 1890 PG 8 650 Orange City Council Grahamstown Dam* E11 1964/96/01/05 TE 15 185,000 Hunter Water Corporation Ltd
Greaves Creek Dam* F10 1942 VA 19 310 WaterNSW Green Meadows Retarding Basin G10 1981/93/03 TE 5.4 120 Shellharbour City Council Greenway Drive Retarding Basin F10 1995/96 TE 4.5 132 Liverpool City Council 10 A-B
Gunyah Park Basin G10 1993 TE 4 4.5 Wollongong City Council
68 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Guthega Dam* I8 1955 PG 34 1,830 Snowy Hydro Limited Hamilton Valley Retarding Basin I6 1995 TE 3.3 130 Albury City Council 5 Hamilton Valley Retention Basin I6 1995/09 TE 4.8 164 Albury City Council 5A Hera Tailings Dam* C6 2014 TE 9 1700 Aurelia Metals Ltd Hillgrove Eleanora Dam* C11 1980 TE/ER 10 68 Hillgrove Mines Pty Ltd
Hillgrove Tailings Dam No. 1* C11 1982 TE/ER 45 1,200 Hillgrove Mines Pty Ltd Hillgrove Tailings Dam No. 2* C11 2007 TE/ER 15 280 Hillgrove Mines Pty Ltd Honeysuckle Creek Dam F11 1984/91 PG 9.3 12 Killara Golf Club Ltd Horningsea Park Det. Basin G10 2011 TE 3.5 36 Liverpool City Council Anglo American Metallurgical Houston Dam E10 - TE 2.0 2275 Coal
Howell Close Retarding Basin F11 - TE 2.5 4.6 Pittwater Council Hoxton Park Basin 6 F11 2012 TE 5.7 142 Liverpool City Council 1936/67 Hume Dam*^ I7 /87/2003/11 PG/TE 51 3,050,000 Murray-Darling Basin Authority /2013
Humphries Creek Tailings Dam* A12 1989 TE/ ER 17 1,100 White Rock Minerals Ltd Humphries Creek Dam* A12 1989 TE 15 680 White Rock Minerals Ltd Hungerford Hill Dam* E11 1970 TE 7 300 Roche Group Hunter Valley Nth Pit Tails* E10 - ER 45 21,000 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd Hunter Valley Operations Lake E11 2010 TE 8 715 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd James* Imperial Lake Dam* (R) D1 1967 TE 8.2 700 Essential Water Island Bend Dam I8 1965/2001 PG 49 3,020 Snowy Hydro Limited
Jindabyne Dam*^ I8 1967/2008/2014 ER 72 690,000 Snowy Hydro Limited Maryland Development Jordan Springs Village Lake F10 2013 TE 5 55 Company Ltd Jounama Dam*^ H8 1966/68 TE/ER 44 555 Snowy Hydro Limited Junction Reefs Dam* F8 1898 MB 19 2,500 DPI - Lands Kalingo Dam* E11 1920/2012 TE 9 110 Austar Coal Mine Pty Ltd Forest Grove Community Kanahooka Retention Basin G10 1993 TE 1.5 20 Association Kangaroo Pipeline Control G10 1975 ER/PG 19 24,000 WaterNSW Structure* Karangi Dam* C13 1980/96 TE/ER 38 5,600 Coffs Harbour City Council Keepit Dam*^ C10 1960/2011 PG/ TE 55 424,000 WaterNSW Kensington Centennial Park F11 1966 TE 2.3 150 Transport for NSW Pond. Kentucky Creek Dam* C11 1942/84 PG 12 500 Uralla Shire Council
Khancoban Dam* I8 1966 TE 18 21,500 Snowy Hydro Limited Killara Reservoir* F11 1930/95 PG/ TE 11 166 Sydney Water Corporation King Park Basin (R) F10 - TE 1.7 102.5 Fairfield City Council
Knight Park F10 _ TE 3.4 2.2 Fairfield City Council Korrumbyn Creek A13 1918 VA 14 27 Tweed Shire Council Lake Canobolas*^ F9 1918 VA/PG 13 450 Orange City Council
ANNUAL REPORT 69 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Lake Endeavour* F8 1940/2016 TE 21 2,400 Parkes Shire Council Norske-Skog Paper Mills (Aust) Lake Ettamogah Winter Storage* H6 1994 TE 13 2,100 Ltd Lake Inverell* B11 1940/45 PG 11 1,500 Inverell Shire Council Lake Medlow* F10 1907 VA 20 300 WaterNSW Lake Parramatta* F11 1857/98 MB/VA 15 590 Parramatta City Council Lake Rowlands* F9 1954 CB/TE 20 4,000 Central Tablelands Water
Lake Tullimba C11 1982 TE 18 1,200 University of New England
Leewood Ponds* C9 2014- TE 5 800 Santos Ltd
Lemington Mine Tailings Dam E10 1991 TE/ ER 8 1,000 Coal & Allied Operations Pty Ltd
Lidcombe Basin No. 6 F11 2003 TE 3.6 11 Cumberland Council Liddell Ash Disposal Dam* E10 1971/82/13 TE 41 28,500 AGL Macquarie Ltd Anglo Coal (Drayton Mgt) Pty Liddell Ash Levee* E10 1988/2003/12 TE/ER 16 29,000 Ltd Liddell Cooling Water Dam* E10 1968 TE 44 150,000 AGL Macquarie Ltd Liddell Water Supply Dam* E10 1970 TE 31 4,500 AGL Macquarie Ltd Lithgow Dam No. 2* F10 1907/14 VA 26 440 Lithgow City Council
Lithgow Dam No. 1 F10 1896/14 VA 12 77 Lithgow City Council
Lostock Dam* E11 1969-71 TE/ ER 38 20,000 WaterNSW Greater Sydney Local Land Loyalty Road Retarding Basin F11 1996 PG 30 1,500 Services Lyell Dam* F10 1983/96 ER 50 34,000 EnergyAustralia NSW Pty Ltd Malpas Dam* C11 1968 TE/ ER 31 12,300 Armidale Regional Council Mangoola Coal Raw Water Dam* E10 2010 TE/ER 26 2,000 Mangoola Coal Pty Limited Mangoola Pit Water Dam* E10 2010 TE/ ER 12 1700 Mangoola Coal Pty Limited Mangoola Start-Up Tails Dam* E10 2011 ER 35 3,900 Mangoola Coal Pty Limited Mangrove Creek Dam* F11 1982 DR 80 190,000 Central Coast Council Manly Dam* F11 1892/1922/84 PG 20 2,000 Sydney Water Corporation Mannering Creek Ash Dam* F11 1963 TE 11 38,000 Delta Electricity Mardi Dam* F11 1962/91/2011 TE 25 7,300 Central Coast Council Maroubra Reservoir* F11 1966 PG/ TE 12 128 Sydney Water Corporation Marrickville Oval Retarding Basin F11 1997 TE 1.8 27 Inner West Council Maules Creek Mine - MWD2* C10 2015 TE 9 400 Maules Creek Coal Pty Ltd Maules Creek Mine - RWD2* C10 2015 TE 6 200 Maules Creek Coal Pty Ltd McCoy Park Retarding Basin F11 1987/2005 TE 5.5 450 Parramatta City Council McKinnons Gold Mine Tails Dam D5 1996 ER 20 4,000 Redbank Mines
Medway Dam* G10 1964 VA 25 1,300 Wingecarribee Shire Council Menindee Lakes Storage* E2 1960 TE 15 2,270,000 WaterNSW
Mimosa Road Basin(R) F10 - TE 1.7 40 Fairfield City Council Mineral Hill Southern Tails Dam* E6 2012 TE 20 1750 KBL Mining Ltd Mineral Hill Tailings Dam* E6 1989 TE 24 1928 KBL Mining Ltd Minmi Road Detention Basin E11 1986 TE 4 46 Newcastle City Council Molong Creek Dam* F9 1986 PG 16 1,000 Cabonne Shire Council
Montrose Dam E10 - TE 18 900 Wambo Coal Mine; Peabody
70 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Energy Australia
Mooney Upper Dam* F11 1961 VA 28 4,600 Central Coast Council
Moore Creek Dam* C10 1898/2007 VA 19 220 NSW Department of Industry - Lands
Mount Owen North Void Tails E10 1998/2008 TE/ ER 14 2,500 Glencore Mt Owen Pty Limited Dam* Mount Owen Rail Loop Tails E10 2003 TE 11.7 5,000 Glencore Mt Owen Pty Limited Dam*
Mount Pleasant Environmental E10 - TE 14 240 MACH Energy Australia p/l Dam 3 Mount Pleasant MWD E10 - TE 19 2000 MACH Energy Australia p/l Mount Pleasant Tailings Dam E10 - TE 32.6 3280 MACH Energy Australia p/l
Mount View Detention Basin E10 1983/2000 TE 5.7 250 Cessnock City Council
Mt Annan Wetland Dam No 1* E11 2006 TE 7 76 Camden City Council
Mt Arthur North Environmental E11 2002 TE 17 1,250 BHP Billiton – Mt Arthur Coal Dam*
Mt Arthur Tailings Storage E11 2013- ER 90 112,000 BHP Billiton – Mt Arthur Coal Facility* Mt Boppy Gold Mine Tailings D5 - DR 19 900 Polymetals (Mt Boppy) P/L Dam*
Mt Thorley Abbey Green South F11 2007 ER 10 5,800 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd TSF* Mt Thorley Central Ramp F11 1993/2001 ER 70 3,500 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd Tailings Dam* Mt Thorley South Out Of Pit D10 2011 TE/ER 20 2100 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd Water*
Muirfield Golf Club F11 1969/85/2013 TE 7 19 Muirfield Golf Club Limited Muirfield Golf Course Detention F11 1969/93 TE 4 12 The Hills Shire Council Basin Murray 2 Dam I8 1968 VA 43 1,800 Snowy Hydro Limited Murrurundi Dam* D10 1984 TE 10.4 180 Upper Hunter Shire Council Divall’s Earthmoving & Bulk Narranbulla Dam G9 1966 TE 7.3 1,450 Haulage
Nepean Dam* (R) G10 1935/47/92 PG 82 70,000 WaterNSW Newstan Southern REA Main E11 2007 TE 33 5,200 Centennial Newstan Tailings Dam* Nixon Dam C10 1971 TE 16 220 J. Nixon Norbrik Detention Pond F10 2010 TE 4 16 Norwest Association Ltd North Turramurra Golf Course F11 2004 TE 4 12 Ku-ring-gai Council
Northmead Reserve Det. Basin F10 1983 TE 6 30 The Hills Shire Council Northparkes E27 - Estcourt E8 2012 TE/ER 20 34,000 Northparkes Mines Tailings Dam*^ Northparkes Infill Tailings E8 - TE and ER 7 1900 Northparkes Mines Storage Facility^
Northparkes Rosedale Tailings E8 - TE 27 51,000 Northparkes Mines Storage Facility*^
Northparkes Tailings Dam*^ E8 1993/94/2009 TE/ER 27 3,900 Northparkes Mines
Northparkes Tailings Dam 2*^ E8 1996 TE/ER 25 3,900 Northparkes Mines Nyngan Evaporation Pond * D6 - TE 5 450 EMC Metals Australia Pty Ltd Nyngan Tailings Storage Facility* D6 - TE 10 800 EMC Metals Australia Pty Ltd
ANNUAL REPORT 71 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Oak Flats Reservoir* G10 1978 TE 11 56 Sydney Water Corporation Oaky River C12 1956 PG/ ER 18 2,700 Essential Energy
Oberon Dam* F9 1946/57/96 CB 35 45,000 WaterNSW Old Quipolly Dam D10 1932 VA 19 850 Liverpool Plains Shire Council Orange Research Station^ F9 1993/97 TE 6.1 200 NSW Department of Industry Palm Tree Grove Ret. Basin (R) F11 1976/90 TE/ER 4 3 Central Coast Council
Parnells Creek Mine Water Dam E10 1993/2002 TE 8 800 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Peak Gold Mine Tailings Dam* D5 1991- TE/ER 5.5 300 Peak Gold Mines Pecan Close Retarding Basin F11 1998/03 TE 5 100 Central Coast Council
Pejar Dam* G9 1979 TE/ ER 23 9,000 Goulburn Mulwaree Council Petrochilos Dam* A12 1969/06 TE 13.3 55 Kyogle Council
Pied Piper playground Det. Basin F11 2010 TE 4 5 Blacktown City Council Pindari Dam* B11 1969/95 DR 85 312,000 WaterNSW Off Pine Trees Detention Basin - TE 1.6 25 Lord Howe Island Board Map Plashett Dam* E10 1987 TE 46 65,000 AGL Macquarie Ltd Port Macquarie - Hastings Port Macquarie Dam* D12 1979 TE 19 2,500 Council
Porters Creek Dam* H10 1968 PG/TE 17 1,900 Shoalhaven City Council
Possum Skin Dam* C11 2004 TE 13.5 1,300 Bloomfield Collieries Pty Ltd Potts Hill Res. 2* F11 1923/2000 PG/TE 5 570 Sydney Water Corporation
Prospect Dam* F10 1888/79/97 TE 26 50,200 WaterNSW Prospect Western Basin F10 1988 TE 6.4 3.3 Blacktown City Council Puddledock Creek Dam*^ C11 1928 VA 19 700 Armidale Regional Council Port Waratah Coal Services PWCS Fines Disposal Dam E11 1990 TE 5 1,800 Limited Pymble Golf Course Dam F11 - TE 5.5 30 Pymble Golf Course Quipolly Dam*^ D10 1955/2012 TE 21 5,400 Liverpool Plains Shire Council Ravensworth Inpit Storage Dam* E11 1994 TE 13 1,000 Ravensworth Operations Pty Ltd Ravensworth South Tailings F10 2008 TE 48 9,000 Ravensworth Operations Pty Ltd Dam* Ravensworth Void 4 East Tails - E11 2007/09 TE/ER 10 5,000 Ashton Coal Operations Ltd Saddle Dam* Ravensworth Void 5 Ash Dam* E11 2013 TBA 70 12,000 AGL Macquarie Ltd
Redbank Creek Dam* E9 1899/2011 VA 16 180 Mid-Western Regional Council North Richmond Joint Venture Redbank Dam 13 F10 Unknown TE 7 15 Pty Ltd
Riverview Void In-pit Water E11 2013 ER 65 6750 RTCA Hunter Valley Operations Storage* Rocky Creek Dam* A13 1953/2010 ER 28 14,000 Rous County Council
Rouse Hill Ret. Basin 13 F10 1994 TE 4.5 90 Sydney Water Corporation Rouse Hill Ret. Basin 16 AB F10 2000 TE 4 17 Sydney Water Corporation
Rouse Hill Ret. Basin 5 F10 1994/95 TE 4.6 140 Sydney Water Corporation Rouse Hill Retarding Basin 9 F10 1994 TE 4.9 46 Sydney Water Corporation Rouse Hill Retarding Basin 9B^ F10 2000 TE 8 90 Sydney Water Corporation Ruby Rd, Rutherford Basin E11 - TE 1.1 2.5 Tacara Pty Ltd
72 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Rushforth Rd 100ML Reservoir B12 1985 TE 8.5 100 Clarence Valley Council Rydal Dam* F10 1957/94 TE 16 370 WaterNSW
Rylstone Dam* E9 1954/03 VA 15 3,300 Mid-Western Regional Council Sarah Fahey Park Retarding F11 - TE 3.5 5 Central Coast Council Basin Sawyers Swamp Creek Ash F10 1979 TE 40 8,500 EnergyAustralia NSW Pty Ltd Dam* Schofields North Rail Facility F10 - TE 2 10 Transport for NSW Schofields South Rail Facility F10 - TE 2 6 Transport for NSW School House Creek Basin F10 1989 TE 7 65 Penrith City Council SE Tailings Storage Dam* E10 2002- TE/ ER 30 1,200 RTCA Hunter Valley Operations Shannon Creek Dam B12 2008 TE 51 30,000 Clarence Valley Council
Shellcove Estate Det. Basin 1 G10 2005 TE 5 24 Shellharbour City Council Shellharbour City Centre Basin G10 2001 TE 5 41.5 Shellharbour City Council
Sierra Place Detention Basin G10 1989/2001 TE/ ER 8.4 440 The Hills Shire Council Site D Tailings Dam* E1 1996/2009/2015 TE 15 3,000 Perilya Broken Hill Limited
Smiths Creek Ret Basin 1 G10 2001 TE 8.8 70 Campbelltown City Council Smiths Creek Ret Basin 2 C10 1996 TE 7.9 50 Campbelltown City Council Smiths Creek Ret Basin 3 F10 1996 TE 6.4 32 Campbelltown City Council 1930/61 Sooley Dam* G9 PG 20 6,300 Goulburn Mulwaree Council /2005/11 South Bulli Basin 1 G10 - ER 6 50 Allied Coal Pty Ltd South Bulli Stormwater Dam G10 1992 TE 9 60 Wollongong Coal Pty Ltd Spagnolos Road Detention C13 2015 TE 5.5 200 Coffs Harbour City Council Basin* Split Rock Dam* C10 1988/2012 DR 66 397,000 WaterNSW Spring Creek Dam* F9 1931/47/69 TE/VA 20 4,700 Orange City Council Springvale Reject Emplacement F10 - TE 15 1700 Springvale Coal Services Area* St Josephs School Ret. Basin G10 1990/2001 TE 5 16 Shellharbour City Council St Peters Basin - 9SWB01 F11 - TE 5.5 14 Sydney Motorway Company Stephens Creek Dam* D1 1892/1909 TE 15 20,000 Essential Water Steuart McIntyre Dam* D12 2000 TE 24 2,500 Kempsey Shire Council Stockdale Basin [R] F10 - TE 1.6 31 Fairfield City Council Stockton Borehole Tailings Dam* E11 1982/1985 TE/ ER 18 5,000 Macquarie Coal Joint Venture Suma Park Dam* ^ F9 1962/2016 VA 31 18,000 Orange City Council
Talbingo Dam* H8 1970 ER 162 921,000 Snowy Hydro Limited Tallong Railway Dam* G10 1883/1917/75 MB 5 70 John Holland Rail Tallowa Dam* G10 1976 PG 43 90,000 WaterNSW
Tantangra Dam* H8 1960 PG 45 250,000 Snowy Hydro Limited Tarrawonga Clean Water Dam* C10 - TE 4.5 125 Whitehaven Coal Limited
Tenterfield Creek Dam ^ B12 1930/74 PG 15 1,200 Tenterfield Shire Council The Cove Dam* F11 1972 TE 7 140 Old Sydney Town The Gables Lake/Basin F10 - TE 4.9 290 Celestino Pty Ltd Thompsons Creek Dam* F9 1992 TE/ ER 54 28,000 EnergyAustralia NSW Pty Ltd
ANNUAL REPORT 73 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Thornleigh Reservoir* F11 1971 ER 14.3 400 Sydney Water Corporation 1970/94/97 Tilba Dam* I10 TE 18 140 Bega Valley Shire Council /2003 Timor Dam* D9 1962 VA 19.5 1,100 Warrumbungle Shire Council Tomingley Residue Storage E8 2013 ER 15 133 Tomingley Gold Operations P/L Facility*
Tooma Dam* I8 1961 TE 67 28,000 Snowy Hydro Limited
Toonumbar Dam* A12 1971 TE/ ER 44 11,000 WaterNSW Tritton Tailings Dam* D6 2004 TE 14.5 5,500 Straits Tritton Mines Tumbarumba Dam* H8 1972/99 TE 20 70 Snowy Valley Council - Murray Tumut Dam No 2* H8 1961 PG 46 3,000 Snowy Hydro Limited Tumut Dam No 3* H8 1969-71 PG 35 921,000 Snowy Hydro Limited
Tumut Paper Mill Freshwater H8 2001 TE 27 200 Visy Pulp & Paper Pty. Ltd. Dam Tumut Paper Mill Wastewater H8 2001 TE 10 500 Visy Pulp & Paper Pty. Ltd. Dam
Tumut Pond* H8 1959 PG 86 53,000 Snowy Hydro Limited
Umberumberka Dam*^ D1 1914 PG/VA 41 8,000 Essential Water United Colliery Tailings Dam 2* E10 2006 TE 20 800 United Collieries Pty Ltd Upper Cordeaux Dam 2* G10 1915 VA 21 1,200 WaterNSW Upper Rodds Creek^ F8 2001/2012 ER/TE 31 14,500 Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd Upper Shephards Lane C13 - TE 7 100 Coffs Harbour City Council Detention Basin Vales Point Ash* F11 1984 TE 6 42,000 Delta Electricity Valley View Detention Basin F8 2005 TE 5 10 Cowra Shire Council Wallerawang* F10 1978 TE 14.4 4,300 EnergyAustralia NSW Pty Ltd Wambo Hunter Pit Tails Dam*^ E11 2005 ER 50 8,300 Peabody Energy Wambo South Water*^ E11 2010 TE 8 840 Peabody Energy Wambo Tailings*^ E11 1997/2002 TE 50 5,600 Peabody Energy Warkworth Main Water - Dam 1N E11 1980 TE 8 300 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd Warkworth North Pit Tailings*^ E11 1997/2012 TE/ER 65 9,300 Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd
Warragamba* [R] F10 1960/90/2002 PG 142 2,030,000 WaterNSW
Warringah Reservoir* F11 1936/95 PG/TE 9.8 80 Sydney Water Corporation
Waverley Reservoir WS133* F11 1917 PG/TE 8.3 19 Sydney Water Corporation
Wentworth Falls Lake*^ F10 1906/91/2003 TE 10 300 Blue Mountains City Council
Werris Creek Void Water 1* D10 2012 TE 5.4 250 Werris Creek Coal P/L
Werris Creek Void Water 3* D10 2012 TE 5 214 Werris Creek Coal P/L Werris Creek Void Water 4* D10 2012 TE 5 145 Werris Creek Coal P/L
West Epping Park Basin F11 - TE 1.2 1.8 City of Parramatta Whitford Road Retarding Basin F10 1997 TE 2.9 38 Liverpool City Council Widemere Detention Basin F11 2009 TE 9 220 Boral Recycling P/L Wilpinjong TD2* E9 2011 TE 20 4,000 Wilpinjong Coal Pty Ltd Wilpinjong TD6* E9 2013- TE 22 2,000 Wilpinjong Coal Pty Ltd Winburndale* [R] F9 1936 PG 22 1,700 Bathurst Regional Council
74 ANNUAL REPORT NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Map Height Storage Dam Built Type Owner Ref (m) (ML) Windamere* E9 1984 TE/ER 67 370,000 WaterNSW Winding Creek 5 Retarding Basin E11 1994/2011 TE 6.5 240 Hunter Water Corporation Ltd
Wingecarribee* G10 1974/2012 TE/ER 19 31,600 WaterNSW Wollondilly Washery 1* G10 1985- TE/ ER 18 70 Burragorang Valley Coal P/L Wonawinta Tailings* E5 2013 ER/TE 11 1,100 PPB Advisory Woodford Creek* F10 1928/48 VA 16 850 WaterNSW
Woodlawn Mine Evaporation No. H9 1989 TE 6 750 Heron Resources Limited 1*
Woodlawn Mine Evap. No. 2* H9 1989 TE 10 290 Heron Resources Limited Woodlawn North Tailings* H9 1977 TE/ ER 18 2,100 Heron Resources Limited Woodlawn South Tailings* H9 1982 TE/ ER 17 2,400 Heron Resources Limited
Woodlawn Tailings Storage H9 - TE 25 2500 Heron Resources Limited Facility 4 Woodlawn West Tailings* H9 1989 TE/ER 35 2,400 Heron Resources Limited
Woolgoolga* C13 1967 TE 12 270 Coffs Harbour City Council Woronora* G10 1941/88 PG 66 71,800 WaterNSW
Wyangala* F8 1961-71/2015 TE/ ER 85 1,220,000 WaterNSW Wyoming Central Dam E8 2018 TE 6 140 Tomingly Gold Operations P/L Wyong Road Detention Basin F11 1975 TE 2.7 150 Wyong Shire Council Yarrawonga Weir* I6 1939/2001 PG/TE 7 117,500 Murray-Darling Basin Authority Yass* G8 1927/2013 VA/PG 12 875 Yass Valley Council Yellow Pinch* I9 1987 ER 40 3,000 Bega Valley Shire Council Young Retirement Village Basin G8 1980 TE 5 21 Southern Cross Care
LEGEND: Applicable as at 30 June 2018 (not including changes between then and printing of Annual Report)
Dams added this year to Schedule 1 of the Dams Safety Act 1978 are highlighted rows.
*: Dams with Notification Areas ^: DSC inspected – 2017/2018 -: Not Built [R]: Significant Risk Dam or requiring CB: Concrete buttress PG: Concrete Gravity specific investigations for DR: Decked rockfill TE: Earthfill dam particular circumstances ER: Rockfill dam VA: Concrete arch MB: Masonry buttress
ANNUAL REPORT 75 NSW Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018
Hume Dam. This 51m high combined earthfill and concrete dam on the Murray River upstream of Albury is a vital water supply, irrigation, flood mitigation and power supply dam. Significant works have been undertaken on the dam over the last 25 years to upgrade the dam to modern stability, piping and seismic standards.
76 ANNUAL REPORT