‘Intergenerational risk’: Alcoa’s troubled mining could double Perth water bills

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/intergenerational-risk-alcoa-s-troubled-mining-could-double-perth-water-bills-20230331-p5cx3t.html

April 3 2023: Peter Milne

Water bills in WA could double if the high-risk mining practices of Alcoa near a number of Perth’s dams results in contamination, according to the state’s Water Corporation.

Water Corporation described the US aluminium giant’s mining of bauxite in the Darling Scarp as a “very significant intergenerational risk to water quality and security of supply in drinking water catchments” in an internal briefing note obtained by a freedom-of-information request from the Wilderness Society.

The water supply is at risk from heavy rain carrying soil from areas cleared by Alcoa into the dams muddying the normally clear water, making existing water treatment facilities ineffective.

Contamination from spills of oil and the forever chemical PFAS from firefighting foam were also identified as a concern in the September 2022 document summarising work Water Corporation did “in response to increasing risks stemming from bauxite operations”.

More sophisticated water treatment facilities for dams that could be affected by Alcoa’s current and planned mining of the ore used to make aluminium would cost up to $2.6 billion, translating into a doubling of water rates.

Jess Beckerling, director of conservation group WA Forest Alliance, said any increase in water charges would be a slap in the face for West Australians.

“Who would the ordinary West Australian prefer be prioritised, our water supplier, or the Aluminium Company of America?” she said.

Runoff from forests collected in dams is making a falling contribution to south-west water supply as rainfall reduces due to climate change. However, the dams are as vital as ever to the water supply system as they store water from desalination plants and aquifers in winter to be used in summer when demand is highest.

If a critical dam could no longer be used due to contamination, a replacement could cost billions of dollars, which would be additional to the spending on water treatment facilities.

If water treatment facilities or more storage were required, they would take years to build, and meanwhile, not all people would be equally affected.

About 250,000 Water Corporation customers can only be supplied directly from dams due to the system of pipelines in place.

People served by those 250,000 connections would likely have to boil drinking water if the dams were contaminated with soil or switch to bottled water if excessive amounts of hydrocarbons or PFAS were washed into the dams, according to a water industry expert who did not wish to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The briefing note gives more detail of the threat from Alcoa’s mining to water supply in the south-west of WA, first revealed by this masthead in February.

An Alcoa spokeswoman said the company remained committed to being a sustainable miner and constantly worked to improve its environmental management.

“While potential long-term risks are proposed, it is important to note that Alcoa has been mining in drinking water supply catchment areas for six decades and has never negatively impacted on public drinking water supply,” she said.

Alcoa has its own mining rules

Water Corporation places the blame for the risks it now has to manage on the unique regulatory arrangements Alcoa enjoys.

“Previous mining operations have not been effectively regulated, primarily due to limitations associated with the outdated management framework associated with the relevant State Agreements,” the note said.

Most mining in WA is governed by the independent Environmental Protection Authority and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.

However, Alcoa’s mining is governed by a committee of bureaucrats led by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation and its minister – Deputy Premier Roger Cook – has the final say.

Each year Alcoa submits a rolling five-year mine management plan to the committee – the Mine Management Plan and Liaison Group – and does not have to seek permission to clear native vegetation under the Environmental Protection Act under an exemption granted in 2004.

 

According to the briefing note, the committee MMPLG has identified increased risks from Alcoa’s mining in recent years that led to “protracted negotiations” before the last two mining plans were approved.

The miner was working closer to dams, in steeper areas more at risk of excessive runoff after a storm, clearing a greater portion of creek valleys feeding the dams, and digging into areas with shallow groundwater.

Plans by Alcoa to go back to areas it previously mined to extract lower grade ore it had left in the past would “create a second wave of disturbance.”

According to the note, Alcoa has cleared more than 220 square kilometres of jarrah forest in the catchment areas of nine Water Corporation dams. More than 50 square kilometres are currently open with no rehabilitation efforts started.

The open area “was a key indicator of risk” for the Water Corporation as this is where water runoff with soil, oil and PFAS is most likely to occur. The area has increased 10-fold in the past 20 years while Alcoa cleared 30 per cent more land than it revegetated.

In the five years to 2022 Alcoa each year on average reported 140 oil spills with a total volume of more than 18,000 litres and 13 spills of PFAS or the less concerning P3 chemical it has used in the past two years.

Failures of drainage works designed to stop water running off the open mine areas were reported an average 42 times a year and “turbidity exceedances” when sediment made water too cloudy were reported an average of 30 times a year.

Since 2020 Alcoa has been restricted to mining areas with less than a nine-degree or (16 per cent) slope no closer than two metres to groundwater, and clear no more than 30 per cent of a creek valley, or sub-catchment, leading to a “reduction in the overall risk profile to the Water Corporation.”

Cook said the Mining Management Plan Liaison Group process allowed relevant experts within the state government to apply the same level of regulatory rigour to Alcoa’s proposed activities that other companies were subject to.

“The state government has made it clear to the company that protecting Perth’s drinking water remains paramount,” he said.

“Alcoa’s current approval to mine is subject to strict criteria that precludes mining in areas of high risk to Perth’s drinking water.”

Cook said a review of the Water Corporation’s monitoring of its dams from mid-2019 to mid-2022 found the water quality was “very good”.

In February, the WA Forest Alliance asked the WA Environmental Protection Authority to review Alcoa’s approved 2022-26 mining plan as well as the 2023-27 plan now under consideration.

The EPA is expected to decide in about a month whether to accept the referral that would subject Alcoa’s mining plans to unprecedented scrutiny and transparency.

In 2020 Alcoa referred a major expansion of its Huntly mine to the EPA and expected to issue an Environmental Review Document for public comment by June 2023.

April 3 2023: 13 PFAS and P3 spills Alcoa (Western Australia)

‘Intergenerational risk’: Alcoa’s troubled mining could double Perth water bills

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/intergenerational-risk-alcoa-s-troubled-mining-could-double-perth-water-bills-20230331-p5cx3t.html

April 3 2023: Peter Milne

Water bills in WA could double if the high-risk mining practices of Alcoa near a number of Perth’s dams results in contamination, according to the state’s Water Corporation.

Water Corporation described the US aluminium giant’s mining of bauxite in the Darling Scarp as a “very significant intergenerational risk to water quality and security of supply in drinking water catchments” in an internal briefing note obtained by a freedom-of-information request from the Wilderness Society.

The water supply is at risk from heavy rain carrying soil from areas cleared by Alcoa into the dams muddying the normally clear water, making existing water treatment facilities ineffective.

Contamination from spills of oil and the forever chemical PFAS from firefighting foam were also identified as a concern in the September 2022 document summarising work Water Corporation did “in response to increasing risks stemming from bauxite operations”.

More sophisticated water treatment facilities for dams that could be affected by Alcoa’s current and planned mining of the ore used to make aluminium would cost up to $2.6 billion, translating into a doubling of water rates.

Jess Beckerling, director of conservation group WA Forest Alliance, said any increase in water charges would be a slap in the face for West Australians.

“Who would the ordinary West Australian prefer be prioritised, our water supplier, or the Aluminium Company of America?” she said.

Runoff from forests collected in dams is making a falling contribution to south-west water supply as rainfall reduces due to climate change. However, the dams are as vital as ever to the water supply system as they store water from desalination plants and aquifers in winter to be used in summer when demand is highest.

If a critical dam could no longer be used due to contamination, a replacement could cost billions of dollars, which would be additional to the spending on water treatment facilities.

If water treatment facilities or more storage were required, they would take years to build, and meanwhile, not all people would be equally affected.

About 250,000 Water Corporation customers can only be supplied directly from dams due to the system of pipelines in place.

People served by those 250,000 connections would likely have to boil drinking water if the dams were contaminated with soil or switch to bottled water if excessive amounts of hydrocarbons or PFAS were washed into the dams, according to a water industry expert who did not wish to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The briefing note gives more detail of the threat from Alcoa’s mining to water supply in the south-west of WA, first revealed by this masthead in February.

An Alcoa spokeswoman said the company remained committed to being a sustainable miner and constantly worked to improve its environmental management.

“While potential long-term risks are proposed, it is important to note that Alcoa has been mining in drinking water supply catchment areas for six decades and has never negatively impacted on public drinking water supply,” she said.

Alcoa has its own mining rules

Water Corporation places the blame for the risks it now has to manage on the unique regulatory arrangements Alcoa enjoys.

“Previous mining operations have not been effectively regulated, primarily due to limitations associated with the outdated management framework associated with the relevant State Agreements,” the note said.

Most mining in WA is governed by the independent Environmental Protection Authority and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.

However, Alcoa’s mining is governed by a committee of bureaucrats led by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation and its minister – Deputy Premier Roger Cook – has the final say.

Each year Alcoa submits a rolling five-year mine management plan to the committee – the Mine Management Plan and Liaison Group – and does not have to seek permission to clear native vegetation under the Environmental Protection Act under an exemption granted in 2004.

According to the briefing note, the committee MMPLG has identified increased risks from Alcoa’s mining in recent years that led to “protracted negotiations” before the last two mining plans were approved.

The miner was working closer to dams, in steeper areas more at risk of excessive runoff after a storm, clearing a greater portion of creek valleys feeding the dams, and digging into areas with shallow groundwater.

Plans by Alcoa to go back to areas it previously mined to extract lower grade ore it had left in the past would “create a second wave of disturbance.”

According to the note, Alcoa has cleared more than 220 square kilometres of jarrah forest in the catchment areas of nine Water Corporation dams. More than 50 square kilometres are currently open with no rehabilitation efforts started.

The open area “was a key indicator of risk” for the Water Corporation as this is where water runoff with soil, oil and PFAS is most likely to occur. The area has increased 10-fold in the past 20 years while Alcoa cleared 30 per cent more land than it revegetated.

In the five years to 2022 Alcoa each year on average reported 140 oil spills with a total volume of more than 18,000 litres and 13 spills of PFAS or the less concerning P3 chemical it has used in the past two years.

Failures of drainage works designed to stop water running off the open mine areas were reported an average 42 times a year and “turbidity exceedances” when sediment made water too cloudy were reported an average of 30 times a year.

Since 2020 Alcoa has been restricted to mining areas with less than a nine-degree or (16 per cent) slope no closer than two metres to groundwater, and clear no more than 30 per cent of a creek valley, or sub-catchment, leading to a “reduction in the overall risk profile to the Water Corporation.”

Cook said the Mining Management Plan Liaison Group process allowed relevant experts within the state government to apply the same level of regulatory rigour to Alcoa’s proposed activities that other companies were subject to.

“The state government has made it clear to the company that protecting Perth’s drinking water remains paramount,” he said.

“Alcoa’s current approval to mine is subject to strict criteria that precludes mining in areas of high risk to Perth’s drinking water.”

Cook said a review of the Water Corporation’s monitoring of its dams from mid-2019 to mid-2022 found the water quality was “very good”.

In February, the WA Forest Alliance asked the WA Environmental Protection Authority to review Alcoa’s approved 2022-26 mining plan as well as the 2023-27 plan now under consideration.

The EPA is expected to decide in about a month whether to accept the referral that would subject Alcoa’s mining plans to unprecedented scrutiny and transparency.

In 2020 Alcoa referred a major expansion of its Huntly mine to the EPA and expected to issue an Environmental Review Document for public comment by June 2023.