Dams Safety Committee Annual Report 2017 / 2018 Overview by Chair
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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