Santos denies aquifer contamination

Updated March 10, 2014 12:37:29

Audio: Santos denies aquifer contamination (ABC Rural)
Audio: Environmental engineer says fine not enough (ABC Rural)
Audio: EPA says $1,500 Santos fine is adequate (ABC Rural)

Coal seam gas company Santos has denied an aquifer in north-west NSW has been contaminated by water leaking from a storage pond.

Instead, the company says it's bailing out contaminated water from a 'shallow water table'.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined Santos $1,500 for the pollution incident which has been caused by leaks from Pond 3 at the Bibblewindi Water Treatment Plant in the Pilliga.

It stems from routine groundwater sampling by Santos a year ago which revealed elevated levels of naturally occurring elements including arsenic, lead, and uranium.

The company says all concentration levels are below the Australian water quality guidelines for fresh water ecosystems (ANZECC), but admit some are above the recommendations for drinking water.

It says it has previously been 'very clear that the facilities at Bibblewindi constructed by the previous owner, Eastern Star Gas, did not meet company standards'.

Santos hydrogeologist Glenn Toogood maintains that an aquifer is not affected, instead calling the groundwater 20 metres below the leaky pond a 'shallow perched layer'.

"An aquifer in this particular area is something that could sustain a domestic or an irrigation use," said Mr Toogood.

"If you tried to take water out of this shallow perch layer it would dry up very quickly."

Mr Toogood acknowledges that the NSW environmental regulator does refer to the contaminated water source as an aquifer.

"We've had long consultations with the EPA over this. It's a terminology that the EPA has decided to use.

"The NSW aquifer interference policy has clear guidance on what an aquifer is."

In a written statement provided to the ABC, the EPA says Santos has been required by the EPA to develop and implement a groundwater remediation and monitoring plan.

"This will form part of a legally binding pollution reduction program that will be attached to their Environment Protection Licence and will provide a far more effective means of achieving a positive environmental outcome than a fine alone."

Mr Toogood says until a new facility to hold the water is constructed, the polluted water is being transferred back into the leaking pond.

"The water is recirculated back into the pond itself, and that's where we're currently disposing that water to.

"It's very small volumes of water, we're likely to be getting 5-10 litres every couple of days out of that well.

"Currently that's our best strategy to maintain that water, is to relocate it back in the pond."

Monash University senior lecturer in environmental engineering, Dr Gavin Mudd, says putting the polluted water back into the leaking pond is a bandaid solution.

"You've got to also look at that in context. What's the option? Letting it go down a stream, letting it contaminate the aquifer worse?

"At the moment, if they're containing it til they can get better systems in place, better infrastructure, so they can properly clean it up, then sure, that might be ok in the very very short term, but I do stress short term. It is not a long term solution."

Dr Mudd says the $1,500 fine imposed on Santos by the EPA does little to encourage companies to do the right thing.

"I think the fines need to be larger in order to make sure that industry has incentive to do the right thing, because historically we're dealing with a situation where that wasn't the case.

"I'll give Santos credit here; they are actually spending a lot of money to re-engineer the whole site up there, but historically that wasn't the case."

The Environment Protection Authority has defended the time it took to investigate the reports of polluted groundwater in the Pilliga State Forest.

Chief Environmental Regulator Mark Gifford says the EPA sought more information from Santos, and then conducted a thorough investigation.

"We needed to be absolutely certain as to what had occurred, the circumstances, but more importantly, the seriousness of the incident, and that thorough investigation resulted in a determination that there really was a low environmental impact."

Mr Gifford is confident the polluted isn't leaking any further into the underground water table.


"We'll be requiring Santos to develop a thorough groundwater remediation and monitoring plan, which will be a legally enforcable condition of their licence."

Topics: water-pollution, oil-and-gas, mining-rural, narrabri-2390

First posted March 10, 2014 08:59:37