WaterNSW Burrendong Dam Deep Water Storage Access Review of Environmental Factors November 2019 Executive summary WaterNSW is Australia’s largest supplier of raw water, delivering water from 42 dams, state rivers and pipelines to NSW irrigators, licenced authorities, retail suppliers and councils. WaterNSW develops infrastructure solutions to ensure water supply security. WaterNSW operates and maintains dams, weirs and ancillary structures across the Macquarie Valley system in western NSW to deliver water to customers. WaterNSW also works with the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) to assess drought conditions including relating to water allocations to licence holders. The Macquarie River Catchment is regulated and includes cities and towns such as Dubbo, Wellington, Narromine, Warren, Nyngan and Cobar. The main water storages in the catchment are Burrendong Dam, on the Macquarie River upstream of Wellington, and Windamere Dam, on the Cudgegong River upstream of Mudgee. Due to the current drought, inflows to Burrendong Dam between May 2017 – April 2019 are 38% of the previous drought of record. The catchment area is classified as being in a Stage 4 drought – critical drought with storage levels at 4% of capacity on 1 October 2019. The Macquarie River is projected to cease to flow downstream of Burrendong Dam in January 2020 if there are no inflows and in the absence of further drought response works. As a result of the current drought conditions, the relevant water sharing plan for the Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated River has been partly suspended under the Water Management Act 2000 to prioritise water for critical human water needs. WaterNSW, local water utilities (Councils) and DPIE are jointly and individually planning to implement a range of projects and actions in stages to provide emergency water supplies to affected communities under Stage 4 drought conditions. This includes creating access to Burrendong Dam Deep Water Storage (referred to as the ‘proposal’) to supply water to communities that rely on surface water delivered from Burrendong Dam. WaterNSW would notify the Minister for Fisheries in accordance with section 199 of the Fisheries Management Act 1994. Operational impacts would be monitored by implementing water quality and fish ecology monitoring plans that would be developed in consultation with DPIE-Water, DPIE and the Department of Primary Industry – Fisheries (DPIF). The REF assesses the potential impacts of the proposal. It has been prepared in accordance with Part 5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (‘EP&A Act’) and considers the factors listed in clause 228 of the associated Regulation. This REF documents the potential environmental impacts of the proposal, considering both potential positive and negative impacts and recommends management and mitigation measures to protect the environment. Overall, potential negative impacts associated with the proposal can be adequately managed by implementing mitigation measures, and the beneficial impacts are considered to outweigh the adverse impacts. For the reasons described in this report, the proposal is unlikely to have a significant impact on the environment and does not require an EIS to be prepared, or a referral to the Commonwealth under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). If the proposal assessed in this REF changes, WaterNSW would determine whether additional environmental assessment is needed to ensure that their obligations under the EP&A Act are addressed. GHD | Report for WaterNSW - Burrendong Dam Deep Water Storage Access, 12512398 | i Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Overview of the proposal .................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Purpose of this report .......................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. Proposal need and alternatives ..................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Need for the proposal .......................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Water security options ...................................................................................................... 11 2.3 Justification for the preferred option ................................................................................ 16 3. Description of the proposal ......................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Location ............................................................................................................................. 17 3.2 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 19 3.3 Construction ...................................................................................................................... 26 3.4 Operation ........................................................................................................................... 29 3.5 Decommissioning ............................................................................................................... 30 4. Planning context .......................................................................................................................... 32 4.1 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 .......................................................... 32 4.2 Commonwealth legislation ................................................................................................ 34 4.3 NSW legislation .................................................................................................................. 37 5. Consultation ................................................................................................................................. 41 5.1 Community and stakeholder engagement plan ................................................................ 41 5.2 Consultation relating to this REF ....................................................................................... 43 5.3 Future consultation ........................................................................................................... 47 6. Environmental impact assessment .............................................................................................. 48 6.1 Land use ............................................................................................................................. 48 6.2 Traffic and access ............................................................................................................... 49 6.3 Hydrology and water quality ............................................................................................. 50 6.4 Aquatic biodiversity ........................................................................................................... 59 6.5 Terrestrial biodiversity ....................................................................................................... 66 6.6 Topography, geology and soils .......................................................................................... 73 6.7 Aboriginal heritage ............................................................................................................ 75 6.8 Historic heritage ................................................................................................................ 77 6.9 Socio-economic .................................................................................................................. 79 GHD | Report for WaterNSW - Burrendong Dam Deep Water Storage Access, 12512398 | ii 6.10 Air quality ........................................................................................................................... 81 6.11 Noise and vibration ............................................................................................................ 82 6.12 Visual amenity ................................................................................................................... 98 6.13 Waste, contamination and resource minimisation ........................................................... 99 6.14 Cumulative impacts ......................................................................................................... 101 7. Environmental management ..................................................................................................... 103 7.1 Construction environmental management plan ............................................................. 103 7.2 Operational environmental management ....................................................................... 103 8. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 104 8.1 Justification of the proposal ............................................................................................ 104 8.2 Principles of ecological sustainable development