Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts

Thursday 27 July 2023

On 25 July 2022 the NSW Legislative Council announced the “Inquiry into current and potential impacts of gold, silver, lead and zinc mining on human health, land, air and water quality in New South Wales”

 


On 25 July 2022 the NSW Legislative Council announced the Inquiry into current and potential impacts of gold, silver, lead and zinc mining on human health, land, air and water quality in New South Wales”


Triggered by community concerns wherever gold, silver, lead or zinc mining exploration is occurring or active mines are established and, the ongoing NSW Environmental Protection Agency investigation of Newcrest’s Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd mine near Orange, the NSW Parliament Legislative Council has acted.


Portfolio Committee No. 2 – Health was established on 10 May 2023 in the 58th Parliament to inquire into and report on any matters relevant to the public administration of:


Health, Regional Health, the Illawarra and the South Coast, Water, Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health, Youth, the North Coast.


The composition of Portfolio No.2 Committee is:


Chair: Cohn, Amanda (GRNS, LC Member)

Deputy Chair: Carter, Susan (LIB, LC Member)

Members: Buttigieg, Mark (ALP, LC Member)

Donnelly, Greg (ALP, LC Member)

Faehrmann, Cate (GRNS, LC Member)

Suvaal, Emily (ALP, LC Member)

Taylor, Bronnie (NAT, LC Member)


On Tuesday 25 July 2023 this Standing Committee created a Select Committee to inquire into and report on the current and potential impacts of gold, silver, lead and zinc mining on human health, land, air and water quality in New South Wales.


Submissions to the inquiry will close on 5 September 2023 and the select committee reports on its findings by 21 November 2023.


Submissions can be lodged via the inquiry webpage at:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=2976#tab-submissions


The Inquiry’s terms of reference can be read abd downloaded at:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2976/Terms%20of%20reference.pdf



This Upper House inquiry is of more than passing interest to Northern Rivers communities given that by 2022 the NSW Government had granted 18 Mineral Mining Leases (MLs) and Gold Leases (GLs) and over 35 Mineral Exploration Licences (ELs) in the Clarence electorate, along with 6 new exploration leases [Clarence Catchment Alliance, retrieved 26.07.23].


Saturday 4 February 2023

Clarence Valley-wide Level 4 Water Restrictions are in place on town water supplies until further notice

 



Clarence Valley Council, 31 January 2023:


Immediate Level 4 (Severe) Water Restrictions

Due to a prolonged dirty water event in the Nymboida River, immediate Level 4 (Severe) Water Restrictions have been introduced in order to avoid the need to call a Boil Water Alert for the whole Clarence Valley water supply system. This does NOT include Minnie Water and Wooli residents.


The Boil Water Alert for Coutts Crossing remains in place…..


Wednesday 1 February 2023 update

What we know

Coutts Crossing is on a boil water alert.

Level 4 restrictions are in place for all town water customers across the Valley.

The return flow from Coffs Harbour was interrupted late last year following a fire at Karangi Dam, and reliance on the water supply was switched to the Nymboida River.

Replenishing water supply has been impacted by dirty water at the Nymboida River intake following rain events.

Daily consumption over the past week has been the highest on record, and stored treated water is quickly depleting.

Since the March 2022 rainfall event, the water in Shannon Creek Dam has been too dirty to use. This is thought to be due to impacts from the 2019 bushfires. 



































Clarence Valley Independent, 2 February 2023:


Residents across the Clarence Valley are being asked to restrict town water consumption in line with Level 4 (Severe) Water Restrictions to avoid an LGA-wide boil water alert.


Currently, only residents in Coutts Crossing are affected by the boil water alert.


This is due to the village’s storage having to be topped up directly from the Nymboida River which had elevated levels of turbidity that exceeded the NSW Health levels for drinking water.


Clarence Valley Council (CVC) General Manager Laura Black said over the past week, the water supply has experienced the highest daily consumption levels in several years which has triggered greater concern over the capacity of stored water supply.


If we are forced to continue to supply the higher demand, we will need to draw dirty water into the system which may trigger the need for an LGA-wide boil water alert,” she said.


The situation has arisen because the water in the Nymboida River has a high turbidity level (dirty) following recent rain events, which impacts council’s ability to draw water directly from that source.


High turbidity has been experienced in the Shannon Creek Dam since the 2019 bushfires, exacerbated by the subsequent floods, restricting council’s use of that source also.


Until late last year, Clarence Valley water storage was being supplemented by accessing a return flow from Karangi Dam in Coffs Harbour.


However, things changed late last year when Coffs Harbour Council advised, due to damage to a switchboard, it could no longer provide the Clarence Valley with return flow, leaving the Nymboida River as the only drinking water source.

In response CVC approved the implementation of a number projects including:


· Construction of settling pond at Rushforth Road Water Treatment Plant (RRWTP), which will enable the drawing of water from the Nymboida River and/or Shannon Creek Dam when turbidity is higher than is currently acceptable.


· Hire and installation of filtration units in the villages of Coutts Crossing and Glenreagh, both of which are affected by the raw water supply to Coffs Harbour.


These activities were commenced prior to Christmas and are nearing completion (weather permitting).


Over the Christmas and summer period daily consumption, dirty water levels at the intake, and stored and treated water levels have been monitored around the clock to mitigate risk of water restrictions and a boil water alert with the assistance of the NSW Departments of Planning, Industry and Environment and Health staff,” Ms Black said.


In other positive news, recommencement of the return flow of water from Coffs Harbour was negotiated this week.


This, coupled with the works already in train at RRWTP, Coutts Crossing and Glenreagh, is indicative of Council moving quickly to respond and resolve the current situation while causing the least amount of inconvenience to residents.


CVC Mayor Ian Tiley said the governing body has been kept abreast of the situation since it changed last year, and is appreciative of the staff effort to manage the situation and avoid water restrictions or boil water alerts over the Christmas period.


Staff are monitoring the turbidity at the Nymboida River intake and as soon as it is safe to do so will draw more water into the system,” he said.


I am confident the inconvenience will be short-lived.”

In the meantime, residents are asked to be patient and abide by the water restrictions.


Wednesday 2 November 2022

So why did the NSW Perrottet Government compose and compile those documents in the 2021 "Flood prone land" package if its regional planning panels are allowed to play fast and loose with the package provisions when considering large scale-large dollar value developments?


"NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has vowed his government will not repeat “the mistakes of the past” in allowing development on floodplains that risks lives and property." [NSW Premier and Liberal MLA for Epping Dominic Perrottet, Financial Review, 22 July 2022]


"the days of developing on floodplains in the state were over" [NSW Premier and Liberal MLA for Epping Dominic Perrottet, AAP 28 October 2022]


Yamba, New South Wales, known to have a permanent First Nations settlement before 1799. Land area is enclosed by Pacific Ocean, Clarence River, Oyster Channel and Lake Wooloweyah. A coastal land corridor to the east of the lake approx. 1.12km wide and 1.13km long anchors Yamba & environs to the NSW mainland. IMAGE: Google Earth, October 2021












On 26 October 2022 Hometown America LLC through its subsidiary Hometown Australia received development consent from the NSW Northern Regional Planning Panel for DA2021/0558, 8 Park Ave Yamba, Multi-Dwelling Manufactured Housing (136 dwellings, clubhouse, community facilities for the over 50s).


This development consent was a split decision 3 to 2 – with the three permanent panel members Paul Mitchell, Steven Gow & Penny Holloway (or alternate) voting down the serious concerns held by the panel’s two local government area members, Clarence Valley Council Mayor Ian Tiley and Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy.


NOTE: Northern Rivers Planning Panel (NRPP) is constituted for local government areas of Armidale Regional, Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour City, Glen Innes Severn Shire, Gunnedah, Gwydir, Inverell, Kempsey, Kyogle, Lismore City, Liverpool Plains, Moree Plains, Nambucca, Narrabri, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Richmond Valley, Tamworth Regional, Tenterfield, Tweed, Uralla and Walcha.


Around 42 concerned Yamba residents  plus representatives of YambaCAN and Valley Watch, along with NSW MLC Cate Faehrmann and Yamba residents CVC Crs. Debrah Novak & Karen Toms  were online for this NRPP virtual public meeting.


Of those Yamba and Northern Rivers residents who had registered to speak at the meeting not one voiced support for the creation of this manufactured home estate. In fact the only persons appearing before the panel who supported this development were council staff and those employed by or representing the interests of Hometown America LLC – the most egregious of which was Bewsher Consulting Pty Ltd.


As an online observer of that meeting it is my opinion that neither Hometown Australia nor Clarence Valley Council staff offered solid proof that the planned development:


(i) “will not adversely affect the environment in the event of a flood”;


(ii) as “senior housing” did not fall within the existing Department of Planning, Industry and Environment category of “Sensitive and Hazardous Development”;


(iii) was not within one of those “areas with evacuation limitations”;


(iv) by adding another 136 dwellings to the existing 4,073 residential dwellings within town precincts [ABS, 2021] would not be increasing overall dwelling densities which would have “a significant impact on the ability of the existing community to evacuate using existing evacuation routes within the available warning time”. [DPIE, “Considering flooding in land use planning; Guideline”, July 2021]


In fact there is a strong possibility that this development is/will cause/contribute to all those matters found in the aforementioned (i) to (iv) list.


On completion of construction 8 Park Ave will be Hometown America’s sixth site in the Northern Rivers region – bringing its land lease sites in Yamba to two manufactured homes estates.


It will also increase the Yamba population by between 136 and 272 people over 50 years of age, in a town where 57.50% of the population are already aged 50 to 85 years of age and older [Australian Census, August 2021].


This development will also increase the population in the 0.37sq.km SA1 statistical precinct it lies within  from 654 persons to between 790926 persons depending on number of occupants per dwelling at 8 Park Ave. 


Note: This statistical precinct is bounded by sections of Park Ave, Wattle Drive, Gumnut Road, The Links, The Mainbrace, Shores Drive and Yamba Road and currently contains more than 200 houses, townhouses and apartments/units. Along with one childminding centre and one motel [maps.abs.gov.au, 2021]


The current dwelling density within town boundaries is est. 345.7 per sq. km. It is not outside the realms of possibility that over the next 28 years dwelling density may rise as high as >400 per sq. km, given the cumulative effect of land release zoned for or under residential development elsewhere in Yamba. [IDcommunity: Demographic Resources, Clarence Valley Council Social Atlas, 2021]  


Sadly, it will also add to Yamba’s climate change risk as it places more pressure on the town’s only evacuation route in times of flooding-storm water inundation or storm surge. A route which has repeatedly failed during previous flood events given the number of locations floodwater cuts Yamba Road within township boundaries and beyond.


Over the course of the next 28 years the NSW Government’s so-called strategic planning for regional urban expansion apparently intends to increase the population of Yamba & environs by at least another 4,000 men, women and children.


They will all still be expected to travel along this road during high rainfall events, storm surge and/or flooding.



Yamba Road heading towards Oyster Channel Bridge, March 2022, IMAGE: March 2022, YambaCAN


Cross this bridge













Oyster Channel bridge linking Yamba with the wider Clarence Valley
IMAGE: March 2022,  supplied
















And traverse causeways across two other river channels  the first of which is frequently cut during major flood events. 









This journey is the only option in any effort to find dry land and safety in the wider Clarence Valley, which itself would have been flooding for days ahead of any emergency services advice to evacuate all or part of Yamba township.


Yamba Road itself is a two lane undivided road carrying between 10,000 t0 17,000 vehicle movements a day as it crosses over Oyster Channel [Transport NSW July 2021]. Within town limits the road currently experiences est. 10,573 vehicle movements a day in the vicinity of its intersection with Treelands Drive and it has AM and PM peaks of 750 veh/hour for traffic travelling in both directions. The expectation it that traffic volume on Yamba Road is growing 3.5% annually [Geolink, March 2022].


This main road varies between 1.4mAHD and 2mAHD in height which mean it can be cut by flood water in one or more of at least five points along its length within the town before Oyster Channel bridge and a number of points after the bridge along that section from Micalo Island to Maclean township limits. This road can be inundated somewhere along its length in 1 in 10 ARI and greater flood events. 


Reading the little that is written by local and state governments, emergency services and property developers about emergency evacuation from Yamba, it appears that from now into the foreseeable future the entire town population of est. 6,405 men, women and children along with the town's visitor population which can range anywhere between a few hundred to thousands of holidaymakers, are expected to immediately respond to advice to evacuate the predominately low-lying areas of the town.


Even on a fine day without the river in flood, with Yamba on the move in est. 4,180 vehicles accompanied by an untold number of visitor cars (some towing caravans or boats) on that one westbound lane of a two lane road, just how long would it take to first clear the town limits and then continue on that approx. 19km stretch of Yamba Road to reach Maclean or the turnoff to the Pacific Highway? In a high rainfall event with advice to evacuate ahead of a major flood? I suspect that there would be multiple intersection traffic snarls within the first hour.


An evacuation situation which is not supposed to be allowed to develop under official planning policies, guidelines, orders and directions found in the NSW Government “Flood prone land package”.


As an alternative to a closed evacuation route heading out of town, in a major flood local residents are expected after registering at the Bowling Club to head for the only high ground in Yamba – Pilot Hill and environs.


A hill with the Pacific Ocean at its foot. A hill historically known for increased groundwater levels during days of sustained rain or heavy rainfall events. Events which have been associated with land slumping, scouring, earthslides, earthflows and landslides on the marginal stability slopes.


A hill with a mapped landslip risk area which includes much of the community land/open space available to persons seeking safety during times when there is widespread flooding in the low-lying residential sections of the town.


The highlighted area shows Crown land/community land & properties in the Yamba landslide risk zone, as defined by Clarence Valley Council in March 2017














So how big a burden can this hill physically carry when it comes to evacuees? There is no answer to that question that I can find. Perhaps the question is yet to be asked by federal, state and local government or emergency services.


All I know is that even if one only calculated on the basis of average body weight of 3,000 adults [ABS 2011-12] and average unladen weight of 750 full-sized sedan motor vehicles [AuotChimp 2022], then a mass evacuation of less than half the resident population to Pilot Hill and environs and congregating there on community land in the absence of sufficient emergency accommodation, this would place an additional surface weight stress of est. 1,560 tons. A weight which would be moving and vibrating not only on the geologically safe section around the water tower but also on land having marginal stability in adverse weather conditions.


I cannot state my opinion any clearer than this  any large scale emergency evacuation of the Yamba population is highly likely to fail because of city-centric policymakers basic lack of informed understanding of vulnerabilities in the local road network, continued bad urban development planning loading a higher population into a town known to become isolated in natural disasters and, insufficient understanding of changing sea rise, storm surge and flood behaviours. Lives will inevitably be lost if or when situations become catastrophic.

 


BACKGROUND


Hometown America LLC is a residential land lease company operating over 60 manufactured home sites in the U.S. styled as affordable housing.


The corporation is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and has two business divisions – the Hometown America Family Communities and Hometown America Age-Qualified (55+) Communities.


Its current CEO/President is Richard Cline.


Hometown America has been the defendant in multiple legal actions principally brought by individuals and groups of individuals who were residents in its U.S. land lease-manufactured home sites.


Hometown America is the parent company of Hometown Australia headquartered in Queensland and when it was establishing itself in Australia was composed of the following entities:


A.C.N. 626 522 085 Pty. Ltd – registered in NSW on 31 May 2018

Hometown Australia Management Pty Ltd (ACN 614 529 538 )

Hometown Australia Nominees Pty Ltd (ACN 616 047 084) atf Hometown Australia Property Trust (Hometown).


Through its Australian subsidiary Hometown Australia this U.S. corporation currently operates est. 51 sites in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales, marketed as affordable housing and lifestyle living for the over 50s. Including 4 sites in the Northern Rivers regions.


Hometown America’s land-lease sites in NSW are governed by the provisions in the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013.


Real Estate agents Kevin Tucker and Stuart Long appear to be joint managing directors of Hometown Australia.


In the first financial year Hometown America LLC was operating in Australia 2019-20 its local arm Hometown Australia Holdings Pty Ltd declared an income of $185,480,667 with no taxable income and no taxes paid. In 2020-21 its second financial year its local arm declared  $314,117, 781 in income with no taxable income or tax paid. [Australian Taxation Office, Data SetsCorporate Tax Transparency, Report on Entity Tax Information 2019-20 & 2020-21]


Hometown Australia is gaining a similar reputation to its U.S. parent company when it comes to resident’s complaints and concerns about its business practices – particularly in relation rent increases and poor maintenance of community facilities [media report 2020, media report 2021 & media report 2022].


Friday 21 October 2022

No sign of a break in widespread rain across NSW and road damage toll mounts

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 October 2022:


Holidaymakers heading into regional NSW over the next few months have been told to brace themselves for longer journeys on more dangerous roads after a year of record rain and flooding.


The severe weather has caused billions of dollars in damage to local roads across the state, bringing regional councils to “their knees” as they struggle with repairs, and heaping pressure on the state government to intervene…..


NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the damage to roads across the state posed a safety risk heading into the summer and councils needed more state and federal funding to ensure their roads were safe after the rain.


The roads are not great, they are littered with potholes and are severely damaged, but also roadworks will be taking place, which means people will need to slow down for those as well,” he said.


There are safety risks when it comes to roads that are so badly damaged. It is easier to lose control, especially on high-speed roads.


It’s going to be a challenging period and it’s not going to get better until the rain stops.”


The NRMA roadside assistance team was receiving almost twice as many call-outs for tyre and wheel damage in NSW compared with last year.


NSW Farmers fears the state of regional roads will impede the harvest of this year’s winter crops, due to start in NSW in the next few weeks, because heavy vehicles and machinery will struggle to get to farms and then get the crops to market…...


Local Government NSW said some councils were now spending up to 90 per cent of their capital works budgets on road repairs and this year’s rain had caused $2.5-$3 billion worth of damage to local roads.


It reiterated its call for the state government to act on its 2019 election promise and take over 15,000 kilometres of country roads owned and repaired by councils.


A spokesman said the government’s failure to do so had “heaped more pain on many regional and rural councils, who are financially on their knees due to rising repair costs”.


Almost 80 councils have identified 500 roads they want the state government to reclassify or take over. So far, the government has said it will take on five roads – totalling 391 kilometres – identified in a priority audit, but the transfer of ownership will take time. An independent panel is reviewing the remaining nominations……


The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) expects this current bout of rain to continue falling over the Northern Rivers region at least until Thursday 27 October.


BOM advice as of 19 October 2022 was:


Significant rain and thunderstorms are continuing to spread across eastern and south-eastern Australia and will continue into next week.


Rain and thunderstorms with heavy falls over South Australia and Queensland are due to spread into northern and western New South Wales towards the South Australian and New South Wales border on Wednesday night.


Severe thunderstorms are also likely across Queensland and northern New South Wales, with heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding, damaging winds and large hail. Heavy falls across inland South Australia could also lead to flash flooding.


Thursday will see widespread thunderstorms across eastern Queensland, New South Wales, northern Victoria, and far eastern parts of South Australia, with isolated heavy falls.


Inland Queensland and New South Wales are also likely to see some severe thunderstorms with heavy rain, damaging winds and large hail, with giant hail also possible.


Further rainfall in coming days for southern inland Queensland, on and west of the ranges in New South Wales and northern Victoria is likely to lead to widespread moderate to major flooding impacting already flood affected communities.


On Friday and leading into Saturday widespread showers and thunderstorms will continue for eastern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as humid and unstable conditions persist across eastern and south-eastern Australia.


Severe thunderstorms are likely across eastern Queensland, New South Wales, and parts of Victoria, bringing more large hail, damaging winds, and heavy rainfall.


Severe thunderstorms are likely across eastern Queensland, New South Wales, and parts of Victoria, bringing more large hail, damaging winds, and heavy rainfall.


Widespread rainfall totals of 25 to 50 mm are likely across South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria this week and into the weekend, with 50 to 100 mm falls possible in southern inland Queensland, on and west of the ranges in New South Wales.


This rain and storm activity will lead to renewed river level rises and widespread moderate to major flooding across southern Queensland, inland New South Wales, and possibly northern Victoria…...


For all the latest warnings see National Warnings Summary.


8-DAY TOTAL RAIN FORECAST




Australian Bureau of Meteorology, rain map, issued 7:43am AED Thursday 20 October 2022