MARINE WATER MONITORING PLAN

Transcription

1 MARINE WATER MONITORING PLAN POT 1569 REVISION 3

2 CONTENTS 1 Introduction Composition of Marine Waters Objective Scope Monitoring Locations Frequency and Timing of Sampling Equipment and Sampling Approaches Parameters Performance Objectives Reporting References TABLES Table 1: Marine Water Monitoring Locations... 6 Table 2: Marine Water Parameters... 9 Table 3: Marine Water Performance Objectives FIGURES Figure 1: Coastal Habitats in Cleveland Bay... 1 Figure 2: Marine Water Monitoring Locations... 7 Page i

3 1 INTRODUCTION Port of Townsville Limited (POTL) administers the Ports of Townsville andd Lucinda. The Port of Townsville is a general purpose cargo port in North Queensland with a land and sea jurisdiction in excess of 450 km 2. The port is located within an environmentally sensitive area of the coastline in close proximity to mangrove habitats, ecologically important seagrass beds, wetlands as well as fringing coral reefs and in close proximity to residential areas. The Port of Townsville s sea jurisdiction encompassess the Greatt Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, which is also a national heritage place. The port andd its marinee infrastructure are located within an exclusion area from thee Central region of the Commonwealth Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the State Great Barrier Reef Coast Marine Park (Figure 1). Figure 1: Coastal Habitats in Cleveland Bay Due to the potential of port activities to impact on sensitive receiving r environments, POTL has a strategic long-term approach to environmental management and continually reviews projects and programs to ensure POTL meets both its statutoryy responsibilities and corporate objectives. POTL is committed to ensuring that activities within the Port of Townsville which may impact the surrounding marine waters are managed proactively; are sustainable for the Portt of Townsville Limited Document Type Plan A.C..N Only electronic copy on server is controlled. To ensure paper copy is current, check revision number against entry inn Qudos - Master Document List Document D No. POT 1569 Revision R 3 Date D 09/08/2016 Page P 1

4 long term planning, operation, management and development of the port; and are conducted in accordance with relevant Commonwealth and State statutory requirements. This program monitors the ambient marine water within and in the vicinity of the operational areas of the Port of Townsville in Cleveland Bay. 2 COMPOSITION OF MARINE WATERS The composition of marine waters in Cleveland Bay is the result of a number of factors, such as the upstream water sources and land use practices; natural chemical and physical characteristics as well as historical contamination; stormwater discharge and runoff from the wider catchment including the city of Townsville; hydrodynamics such as currents, longshore drift, resuspension etc.; groundwater impacts; port operations including product handling, shipping, tug movements and incidents. Port waters are understood to be influenced by discharges from a number of catchments associated with a variety of differing land uses including: Burdekin River approximate catchment between 110,165 to 130,109 km 2 (NQ Dry Tropics 2015 and WetlandInfo 2015); Haughton River approximate catchment between 2,324 to 4,051 km 2 (NQ Dry Tropics 2015 and WetlandInfo 2015); Ross River approximate catchment 1,250 to 1,340 km 2 (NQ Dry Tropics 2015 and WetlandInfo 2015); Ross Creek approximate catchment 20 km 2 ; and Multiple stormwater catchments on POTL controlled lands approximate catchment 3 km 2. The catchments of both the Burdekin and Haughton Rivers are dominated by agricultural activities, including cattle grazing and crop production, and are subject to high pesticide, herbicide and fertiliser runoff. Generally, impact on marine waters is via diffuse sources of these contaminants. The catchments of Ross River and Ross Creek are dominated by urban activities which may impact on marine water quality through both point and diffuse sources of contaminants. Page 2

5 Townsville is a long established township with a history of urbanisation and industrial activities in the Ross River and Ross Creek drainage system. Contaminants liberated by industrial activities may be transported by stormwater to port areas and Cleveland Bay, particularly during the wet season. Areas of potential contaminants in Townsville include refineries, manufacturing and repair facilities, old rail sidings and industrial areas. Multiple industrial sites are licensed to discharge waste streams into Cleveland Bay east of Ross River (refineries, sewage treatment plant, meatworks etc.) and several landfills (both operating and rehabilitated) are also present in the Ross River catchment. Port operations have the potential to impact on marine water quality through both point and diffuse sources of contaminants. Contamination of marine waters within the port may arise due to activities conducted by or on behalf of POTL or activities conducted by Port Customers. Point sources include spillage of contaminants and bulk products to marine waters such as dry metal concentrates during loading and shipping operations; washing spilt products from berths into marine waters; and stormwater runoff from port facilities. Apart from input from Ross Creek, stormwater entering the Inner Harbour drains from local berth areas only and contaminants from this source would also reflect the products described below. Diffuse source include fugitive emissions; and agitation and redistribution of sediments by vessel movements and dredging activities. The major catchment within the port has a catchment area of around 0.8 km 2 and another large catchment is estimated to have a catchment area of around 0.35 km 2. Two other large catchments are estimated to have areas of around 0.3 km 2 each. These four large catchments are estimated to account for three-quarters of the surface drainage area within the port (excluding the reclamation area). Contaminants potentially associated with operations on land leased from POTL include: Suspended Solids; Nutrients such as Ammonia, Nitrogen, Phosphorus; Metals such as Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc; and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons. Page 3

6 3 OBJECTIVE The management of marine water within the Port of Townsville is an area of potential risk that warrants ongoing monitoring and action where necessary. As a land owner and manager of numerous tenancies, there is a level of expectation and responsibility on POTL to ensure that common issues, such as marine water management, are given due consideration and attention. As a land owner of unleased areas, POTL has responsibility to ensure all actions are taken to minimise the potential for environmental harm to occur. POTL will need to be able to demonstrate due diligence for management of the port environment if an incident of environmental harm or infrastructure damage occurs which adversely impacts on marine water quality; to demonstrate what management actions had been taken to minimise the potential for the incident to have occurred; and to demonstrate what actions POTL took to understand marine water quality within port limits. Marine water monitoring at the Port of Townsville is designed to: characterise ambient water quality in the marine environment within and immediately surrounding the port; identify trends across a range of environmental parameters; identify areas of potential concern across the port which may necessitate different management actions (e.g. a product, parameter, nuisance impact or general location etc.); assess whether there is potential for environmental harm or nuisance; and generate a dataset which may assist in establishing marine water quality benchmarks to trigger management actions and to assess future performance measures. 4 SCOPE Since 2004, a long-term marine water monitoring program has been conducted at the Port of Townsville in order to ensure a high standard of environmental protection and to meet relevant approval requirements and conditions. Page 4

7 This program has been designed to characterise water quality in the marine environment within and surrounding the port in order to determine if there are persistent elevated contaminant levels or environmental impacts that could be attributed to port operations and to proactively manage port operations and product handling activities throughout the port. Information from this monitoring program will be used to assist with improving POTL s control measures and those of Port Customers where possible. The marine water monitoring program is subject to regular review to ensure the program takes into account current knowledge, products handled, legislative changes etc. As a minimum, this review occurs every three years. 4.1 Monitoring Locations Routine monitoring will be conducted at 19 locations (Figure 2). These locations maintain a similar spatial coverage as the historical marine water monitoring previously conducted at the port and are related to historical marine sediment monitoring locations. Locations RC04 and RR05 represent the approximate city/port boundary between Townsville City Council and port waters. Locations SJ01 and CB15 represent assessment sites which are unlikely to be influenced by port operations and CB16 represents an assessment site downstream of port operations. GPS co-ordinates for all monitoring sites are included in Table 1. Monitoring may be conducted at other sites as required in response to incidents/complaints or specific activities identified as presenting an unknown risk or a known high risk of generating elevated emissions. Page 5

8 Table 1: Marine Water Monitoring Locations Zone Site Id Site Coordinates Easting Northing Inner Port B06B Inner Port KL Inner Port SB Inner Port SB Inner Port SB Inner Port ST Outer Port OSB Outer Port P Outer Port P Marine Precinct MP Marine Precinct MP Ross River RR Ross River RR Ross River RR Ross Creek RC Ross Creek RC Cleveland Bay SJ Cleveland Bay CB Cleveland Bay CB Page 6

9 Figure 2: Marine Water Monitoring Locations Page 7

10 4.2 Frequency and Timing of Sampling As Townsville is located in the tropics predominant wet/dry seasonality is experienced. The summer wet season from November to April provides approximately three-quarters of the yearly rainfall (and hence runoff). Therefore, monthly monitoring is conducted in the wet season, with bi-monthly monitoring occurring throughout the remainder of the year. Routine monitoring is scheduled in the following months: January; February; March; May; July; September; November; and December. As far as practicable, routine monitoring is undertaken on consistent tidal phases. Ideally, sampling commences on the top of the high tide just prior to Ross River and Ross Creek draining back to the ocean with the order of locations dependent on weather conditions and shipping schedules. Weekend or night time sampling is avoided for safety reasons. A routine monitoring timetable is developed every year to ensure the above considerations are incorporated into the scheduling. 4.3 Equipment and Sampling Approaches Marine water monitoring is conducted via a boat with GPS equipment to locate monitoring locations. A calibrated hand-held water quality meter is used to analyse the physicochemical parameters of ph, dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity, oxygen reduction potential and barometric pressure. Surface water samples are collected in suitable clean, sterile sample containers and transported to a NATA accredited laboratory where they are analysed for the remainder of the parameters. Page 8

11 4.4 Parameters Based on the available information and knowledge of typical products likely to be present on POTL lands, the parameters listed in Table 2 are monitored: Table 2: Marine Water Parameters ph Parameter Relevance Method identifies presence of acids or alkaline Field Measurement substances Dissolved Oxygen (DO) indicates chemical or biological activity Field Measurement Conductivity Oxygen Reduction Potential (ORP) indicates presence of salts / fresh water influence indicates changes in a system Field Measurement Field Measurement Temperature measures temperature Field Measurement Barometric Pressure measures atmospheric pressure Field Measurement Visible Gross Pollutants identifies presence of pollutants Field Observation Visible Oils + Grease Suspended Solids Total Metals/Metalloids Suite (Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc) Dissolved Metals/Metalloids Suite (Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc) Total Phosphorus + Filterable Reactive Phosphorus Total Nitrogen + Ammonia + Oxidised Nitrogen Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons identifies presence of oil-related pollutants and trigger if PAH analysis is required identifies degree of catchment disturbance or variety of particulate pollutants indicates total concentration and amount of metals/metalloids in the water column, which may be toxic to marine life indicates dissolved concentration and amount of metals/metalloids in the water column, Whilst dissolved samples are collected, they are only analysed if total metal/metalloid results are above guidelines for any given location indicates total concentration and amount available for direct plant/algal uptake indicates total concentration and amount available for direct plant/algal uptake indicates presence of oil-related pollutants, which can be toxic to marine life (MP02, MP04 and RR07 only) Field Observation Laboratory Analysis Laboratory Analysis Laboratory Analysis Laboratory Analysis Laboratory Analysis Laboratory Analysis Page 9

12 5 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES Marine water quality parameters are assessed by POTL against relevant guidelines and water quality performance objectives, unless there is no set guideline or trigger value, when general comparison and rationale is utilised. National guidelines for water quality are the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council Guidelines (ANZECC 2000, Appendix A). The ANZECC 2000 guidelines are general in nature and are not regional specific, however they can be used where regional guidelines are not adequate or available, for example when assessing toxicants such as metals and metalloids. With respect to metals/metalloids in marine waters, the ANZECC 2000 guidelines provide four levels of protection for different ecosystems (80%, 90%, 95% and 99%). For Cleveland Bay, which is considered to be slightly to moderately disturbed, the 95% protection level is commonly applied. Regional values have been developed for all Queensland regions and are contained in the Queensland Water Quality Guidelines (QWQG) The Townsville Ross River basin falls within the Central Queensland Coast region and the parameters covered are nutrients and physico-chemical parameters. Local Ross River Basins environmental values and water quality objectives have been prepared and are scheduled under the Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009 (Ross River Basin and Magnetic Island Environmental Values and Water Quality Objectives, 2013). These form sub-region guidelines for Townsville. POTL analyses results for compliance against the performance objectives listed in Table 3. Page 10

13 Table 3: Marine Water Performance Objectives Parameter ANZECC 2000 Marine Water 95% Guideline for slightly to moderately disturbed systems QWQG 2009 Central Coast, Enclosed Coastal Ross River Townsville Port Sub- Zone Waters ph 7.0 to to to 8.5 Dissolved Oxygen >6.0 mg/l* % saturation % saturation Suspended Solids - 15 mg/l mg/l Dissolved Cadmium 0.7 µg/l µg/l Dissolved Chromium 4.4 µg/l - <4.4 µg/l Dissolved Copper 1.3 µg/l - <1.3 µg/l Dissolved Lead 4.4 µg/l - <4.4 µg/l Dissolved Nickel 7 µg/l - <7 µg/l Dissolved Silver 1.4 µg/l - <1.4 µg/l Dissolved Zinc 15 µg/l - <15 µg/l Ammonia as N 910 µg/l 8 µg/l <20 µg/l Total Nitrogen as N µg/l <220 µg/l Total Phosphorus as P - 20 µg/l <30 µg/l 6 REPORTING POTL produces a summary of the marine water monitoring results. 7 REFERENCES ANZECC Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality. Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand. EPP (Water) Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009: Ross River Basin and Magnetic Island Environmental Values and Water Quality Objectives Basin No. 118 including all waters of the Ross River Basin, and adjacent coastal waters (including Magnetic Island). Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Page 11

14 NQ Dry Tropics Burdekin Dry Tropics Catchment Areas, NQ Dry Tropics. QWQG Queensland Water Quality Guidelines. Department of Environment and Resource Management, WetlandInfo WetlandInfo Facts and Maps, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government. Page 12