ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
4-1
ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
Section 4
Environmental Setting
PREAMBLE
This section describes the environmental setting within and surrounding the Project
Site for the proposed Green Valley Sand Quarry.
Emphasis is placed in this section on providing information about the
environmental features that would contribute to or influence the assessment of a
wide range of other environmental parameters. Information is provided on the local
and Project Site topography, geology, meteorology, landownership and land use.
Other features of the surrounding environment that would or may be affected by
the proposed quarry are detailed in Section 5 in conjunction with the design and
operational safeguards and impact assessment for those features.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
4-2
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R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
4-3
4.1
TOPOGRAPHY
4.1.1
Regional and Local Topography
ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
The Project Site lies within the South Eastern Highlands Bioregion, which covers the dissected
ranges and plateau of the Great Dividing Range that are topographically lower than the
Australian Alps, which lie to the southwest. The bioregion extends to the Great Escarpment in
the east and to the western slopes of the inland drainage basins.
The regional and local topography of the area consists of broad valleys with undulating
landforms with gentle to moderate gradients. The “Green Valley” property is located in an area
of elevated east/west trending ridgeline (see Figure 4.1).
The “Green Valley” property contains a network of ephemeral drainage lines all of which drain
directly or indirectly into Paddys River. The river lies within the Wingecarribee sub-catchment
and flows westwards then northwards into Wollondilly River, a tributary of the Nepean River
Catchment which is a regional drainage pathway which ultimately reports to Lake Burragorang
(Warragamba Dam), the principal water storage for Sydney’s water supply.
4.1.2
Project Site Topography
Elevations within and surrounding the “Green Valley” property range from approximately
590m AHD at Paddys River to 734m AHD on the top of “Freestone” Hill located just outside
the Project Site boundary on the south east side. The topography of the Project Site is generally
gently-inclined (<5% slope) landforms comprising crests and ridges. (see Figure 4.2). The
highest point within the Project Site is 690m AHD located in the northeast section and the
lowest section lies on the west just inside the Project Site boundary. The extraction area
topography ranges from 690m AHD in the northeast (Stage 6) to 660m AHD in the north
(Stage 7).
The Project Site topography means that creeks and stormwater drain towards Paddys River,
flowing east to west across the Project Site, and subsequently along the area southwest of the
Project Site. The extraction area itself occupies the uppermost section of up to four catchment
areas with gently-inclined crests and ridges sloping increasingly and noticeably away from
extraction areas, particularly to the south and west.
4.2
GEOLOGY
4.2.1
Regional Geology
The Project Site is located on the southwestern edge of the Sydney Basin where the nearsurface bedrock generally consists of Triassic age sedimentary rocks. The Geological Survey of
NSW 1:250 000 Geological Series Wollongong map-sheet indicates that the area is located at
the edge of the outcrop extent of the Triassic Hawkesbury Sandstone Formation, which
unconformably overlies the Permian age Shoalhaven Group. The Hawkesbury Sandstone
outcrops on ridges and hill tops, with the Permian sedimentary rocks outcropping in eroded
valleys.
Isolated igneous rocks occur in the area, consisting mainly of weathered remnants of Tertiary
basalts.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
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ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
The Hawkesbury Sandstone is predominantly a quartz sandstone with some shale lenses. The
Permian sedimentary rocks of the Shoalhaven Group are reported to be typically siltstone, shale
and sandstone.
4.2.2
Project Site Geology
The geology for the Green Valley Project site is based largely on the interpretation of
exploratory drilling by geologist Mr Len Koncek (Koncek, 2008). A total of 22 diamond drill
holes were drilled across the Project Site during 2006 and 2008. These bores were drilled to a
maximum depth of 48m below ground surface, generally penetrating the Hawkesbury
Sandstone (where present) and a short distance into the underlying Berry Formation.
Figure 4.3 displays the mapped boundary of the Hawkesbury Sandstone and the occurrence of
both the Hawkesbury Sandstone and Berry Formation across the “Green Valley” property.
The Hawkesbury Sandstone underlies elevated parts of the Project site (i.e. mostly in the central
part of the “Green Valley” property). The Hawkesbury Sandstone on this site typically
comprises friable, fine- to coarse-grained quartzose sandstone. The majority of the sandstone
has been logged by Koncek (2008) as soft and friable, very weathered and porous sandstone,
with the weathering profile extending fully to the base of the sandstone unit. Some horizons are
finer in grain size and clayey, grading to a siltstone. Some coarse-grained sandstone and pebbly
horizons have also been noted. Occasional iron-rich (ironstone) horizons have also been noted.
Figure 4.3
Project Site Geology
A5 Colour
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
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ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
The less-elevated parts of the property are underlain the Berry Formation, which comprises
siltstone, sandstone and shale, as discussed previously. The Berry Formation is part of the
Shoalhaven Group and comprises the Budgong Sandstone and an undifferentiated member
comprising siltstone, sandstone and shale, which is the unit that is present beneath the Project
Site.
The Golder investigations for the Penrose Sand Quarry revealed friable, relatively permeable
Hawkesbury Sandstone up to at least 84m in thickness beneath the Penrose site to the west,
unconformably overlying the less permeable Permian siltstones and shales. Weathering in the
Hawkesbury Sandstone varied from extremely weathered to slightly weathered to fresh, and the
sandstone contained zones of iron-staining and iron-induration.
4.3
METEOROLOGY
4.3.1
Introduction
This section provides a summary of the meteorological data relevant to the Project Site and the
environmental issues considered in the various Specialist Consultant Studies and Section 5 of
this document. The information provided in this section has been presented to provide an
overview of meteorological conditions within and surrounding the Project Site undertaken by
specialist consultants may include the following data sets however, may also include additional
data sets.
4.3.2
Climate Data
Climatic data collected over a 138 year period are available from the Bureau of Meteorology
meteorological station located at Moss Vale (Hoskins Street – Station Number 068045),
approximately 23km northeast of the Project.
The closest meteorological station to the Project Site to provide suitable wind data was located
at the Crossroads (collected in 1992 for the Electricity Commission of New South Wales)
approximately 7km to the northeast of the Project Site. Measurements were made at an
anemometer height of 30m. The Bureau of Meteorology also maintains a meteorological station
(Station No. 61351) near Penrose.
Table 4.1 presents temperature, humidity and rainfall data collected at Moss Vale, Hoskins St
for 138 years between 1870 and 2008 (Bureau of Meteorology, 2009). A site was operated at
Penrose (Station Number 068051) until 1975. This site was approximately 8km to the southeast
of the Project Site and therefore the rainfall data from this site have been included. Temperature
and humidity data consist of monthly averages of 9:00am and 3:00pm readings. Also presented
are monthly averages of maximum and minimum temperatures. Rainfall data consist of mean
and median monthly rainfall and the average number of raindays per month.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
4-8
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
Table 4.1
Temperature, Humidity and Rainfall Data
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec Annual
9am Mean Temperature (ºC) and Relative Humidity (%) - Moss Vale (Hoskins Street)
Dry-bulb
18.5
18.4
16.8
13.1
9.2
6.5
5.5
7.1
10.7
13.7
16
18.2
12.8
Humidity
70
75
81
80
82
81
79
73
66
64
60
62
73
10.5
11.5
14.6
17.0
19.4
21.6
17.0
11.8
13.4
16.7
19.9
22.6
25.0
19.2
3pm Mean Temperature (ºC) - Moss Vale (Hoskins Street)
Dry-bulb
22.9
22.6
20.8
17.9
13.7
11.2
Daily Maximum Temperature (ºC) - Moss Vale (Hoskins Street)
Mean
25.8
25.2
23.1
19.2
15.3
12.3
Daily Minimum Temperature (ºC) - Moss Vale (Hoskins Street)
Mean
12.4
12.6
10.8
7.4
4.3
2.3
1.3
2.0
4.0
6.5
8.8
11.1
7.0
Monthly mean (mm) 100.7 110.5 99.1
81.9
85.5
92.2
75.0
60.6
56.4
82.7
74.6
96.8
1016.0
82.4
85.4 100.7 76.3
64.1
61.0
76.3
73.2
76.3
989
48.8
58.0
85.4 115.9 152.5 189.1
1282
Rainfall (mm) - Penrose
Rainfall (mm) - Moss Vale
Rainfall (mm)
88.5
94.6
91.5
Evaporation (mm) - Goulburn
Evaporation (mm)
192.2 167.8 125.1 79.3
33.6
36.6
Station Number: 068045 Commenced 1870; Last record 2008; Elevation: 675m; Latitude:-34.54ºS; Longitude: 150.38ºE
Source: Bureau of Meteorology (2009)
4.3.3
Temperature and Humidity
The annual average maximum and minimum temperatures experienced at Hoskins Street are
19.2°C and 7.0°C respectively. On average, January is the hottest month with an average
maximum temperature of 25.8°C. July is the coldest month, with average minimum temperature
of 1.3°C.
The annual average humidity reading collected at 9:00am at Hoskins Street is 73%. The month
with the highest humidity on average is May with a 9:00am average of 82%, and the lowest is
November with an average of 60%.
4.3.4
Rainfall
Rainfall data collected at the Penrose site shows that February is the wettest month, with an
average rainfall of 110.5mm. The driest month is September with average monthly rainfall of
56.4mm. The average annual rainfall is 1016.0mm.
Rocla already experiences substantial downturns (and periodically closures) at its other quarries
on days when the substantial rainfall events have closed building and construction sites
throughout Sydney which in turn results in no concrete being required and consequently no
demand for concrete sand. Closures of building and construction sites during such periods also
remove the need for delivery of mortar sand.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
4.3.5
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ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
Evaporation
The nearest meteorological station with long term continuous evaporation data is Goulburn
(No. 070037) which is approximately 40km south west of the Project Site. The station has
recorded evaporation data from 1978 to the present day. Table 4.1 shows the calculated average
monthly evaporation for the Goulburn Bureau of Meteorology site. Annual evaporation for the
site averages 1 282mm, evaporation exceeds rainfall during all the months except April to
August. For the remaining months, monthly evaporation is exceeded by monthly rainfall.
4.3.6
Wind
Figure 4.4 shows the annual and seasonal wind roses compiled from the Crossroads
Meteorological Station (maintained by Electricity Commission of New South Wales) data from
June 1991 to May 1992. On an annual basis, the data show a high frequency of winds from the
west and to a lesser extent the southeast and north-northeast. In the summer and autumn
months, winds are predominantly from the southeast, north-northeast and west. During the
months of spring, winds tend to be mainly from the west and the north-northeast. Winds during
the winter months are from the west, with very few winds from other directions. On an annual
basis, the mean wind speed for the Crossroads site is 4.2m/s and the percentage of calms (wind
speeds less than 0.5m/s) is 2.0 percent.
4.4
LANDOWNERSHIP AND SURROUNDING RESIDENCES
The existing landownership surrounding the “Green Valley” property is shown on Figure 4.5
and landowners are listed in Table 4.2.
Residences on properties surrounding the “Green Valley” property are shown in Figure 4.5. A
total of three residences are located within 1km of the proposed extraction area all of which are
located on the northern side of the Hume Highway. A further 14 residences are located between
1km and 2km from the proposed extraction area. Table 4.2 lists the approximate distance and
direction of each of the residences shown on Figure 4.5 from the closest part of the proposed
extraction area. It is noted that Residence A is a building used as workers’ quarters by the
owner of the “Green Valley” property and hence is Project-related.
4.5
LAND USES
4.5.1
On-site Land Uses
The “Green Valley” property is used by the landowner principally for forestry purposes.
Figure 5.14 displays an aerial photograph taken in 1979 displaying the area used by the
landowner for forestry purposes. The last logging on the property occurred in the late 1990s.
Logging campaigns are undertaken on a cycle, typically between 7 and 14 years. The cycle
would continue ahead of the proposed clearing associated with the Proponent’s Project.
The forestry operations are managed by contractors and/or employees of the landowner. Whilst
on site, all workers reside in the on-site accommodation referred to as Residence A on
Figure 4.5.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
4.5.2
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ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
Surrounding Land Uses
Land use to the east of the Project Site comprises land partly cleared for grazing as well as sand
extraction undertaken by Boral Resources (NSW) Pty Ltd (Boral) which in turn is bordered to
the east and south by Penrose State Forest. Boral’s Penrose Quarry is currently closed,
however, is approved to operate the western quarry (see Figure 2.12) between 7:00am and
7:00pm Monday to Saturday. Products are able to be despatched 24 hours per day except on
and immediately before and after public holidays. The Hume Highway forms the northern
boundary of the “Green Valley” property. The land uses north of the Hume Highway comprise
a mixture of natural bushland and land partly cleared for grazing, horticulture, market
gardening and rural-residential uses.
Part of the Crown Land to the west of the “Green Valley” property is designated as reserve for
recreational purposes, although it is currently not used for that purpose. This area of land is
also a designated wildlife refuge.
Dense native bushland is located to the east, south and southwest of the defined resource area.
Land south of Paddys River comprises mainly cleared land for grazing with remnant patches of
various sizes of native bushland. Various rural-residential lifestyle blocks are also located
within this area.
It is noted that each of the above land uses are either sufficiently distant from the proposed
activities or there are appropriate topographic or vegetated barriers between adjoining land uses
to avoid adverse impacts upon the adjoining land uses. Each of the potential impacts are
discussed further in Section 5.
4.6
BUSHFIRE HAZARD
The existing bushfire hazard of the Project Site was assessed using the guidelines designed for
proposed residential dwellings adjacent to vegetation (Planning for Bush Fire Protection, NSW
Rural Fire Service (2006)). It is a useful tool for the assessment of the bushfire hazard of the
Project Site in the absence of guidelines specifically designed for assessments of locations in
rural areas with no proposed residential dwelling construction activities but only proposed
establishment of processing facilities.
In completing the assessment, a number of parameters that could influence bushfire hazard
within the Project Site were considered and these are discussed below.
Vegetation
The Project Site is located on land that has previously been cleared or is highly modified and
although a large part of that land is now well forested with an old pine plantation there is very
little native woodland. Such a plantation is assessed as a bush fire hazard with a fuel load of
20t/ha, and calculated to approximately 1520t fuel load for the Project Site given that the site
area is 76ha. However, since the Project Site would be cleared of the existing vegetation the
fuel load would be considerably less than this number.
Effective Upslope
Slopes within the Project Site are generally 5º.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
4 - 13
ROCLA PTY LTD
Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
Table 4.2
Landownership
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
SF
Landowner
VSSV Pty Ltd
Crown Land
Wingecarribee Shire Council
RTA
VSSV Pty Ltd
Technico Pty Limited
CPM Developments Pty Limited
C.M. Lewin
A & R Donadon
Abret Pty Limited
M & R Graffi
D.M. & A.C. Sainsbury
I.H. Lamond
F.J. & G. Edwards
B.F. Walker
J.S. Weate & A. George
D.A. & B.A. Richards
Penrose Club Holdings Limited
Youth off the Streets Limited
Coca-Cola Amatil (Aust) Pty Limited
Adelaide Brighton Limited
G.C. Keith
R.A. Evans
Boral Resources (NSW) Pty Limited
R.S. Boag
D.I. Singh
R. & M. Pongrass
J.P. & C.F. Conway
C. & F. Bova
K. Watchirs
K. Demetriou
N & R Arnaout
S.M. Peters
G.E. Davies
L & M Foster
Filetron Pty Ltd
S.L. Brandon Holdings Pty Ltd
A.G. & L.J. Kay
R.T. & G.L. Jeffery
P.H. Scott
R.B. Lynam
J & H Nilles
W.R. & C.M. Williamson
R.A. & J.H.A. Palmer
Saltern Pty Limited
G.P. & E Bramley
G.L. Jenkins
V.L. & J.P. Sonderland
D.J. Holland
Penrose State Forest
Ref
A
Residence
1
Distance (m)
450
Direction
SE
K
L
1 050
1 320
WNW
WNW
N
M1/M2
O
P
590
1 430/1 170
390
900
N
NW/N
N
NNE
Q
R
S
T
1 340
1 590
1 530
1 730
NE
NE
NE
NE
U
2 250
NE
V
1 080
NE
B
C
D1/D2
G1/G2
W
I
J
1 940
1 590
3 160/2 700
1 520/2 460
2 450
1 630
1 670
ESE
SE
SE/SE
SSW/SSW
SSW
SW
WSW
E
3 070
S
F
H
3 070
3 410
SSW
SW
1 – Distance of residence to closest point of extraction area
2 – Direction of residence from closest point of extraction area
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Green Valley Sand Quarry
Report No 765/02
4 - 14
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Section 4 - Environmental Setting
Appropriate Fire (Weather) Area
The Project Site is located in the Illawarra / Shoalhaven area under the NSW Fire Areas
classification and thus has a Fire Danger Rating (FDI) of 100.
Appropriate Asset Protection Zone (APZ)
Clearing in advance of quarry development activities would generally provide a buffer of at
least 30m between the undisturbed vegetation and the quarry operations. This buffer would be
used for internal transport, stockpiling of soil and bund construction.
Given that the FDI is 100 and the slopes within the Project Site are generally 5º, the 30m APZ
satisfies the minimum 25m APZ required for pine plantations.
General Conclusion
A review of the four critical parameters for assessing the category of bushfire attack for the
existing Project Site conditions the general conclusion using criteria given in the relevant
appendix (Appendix A3.3 – Determination of Category of Bushfire Attack FDI = 100) of the
document Planning for Bush Fire Protection (NSW Rural Fire Service, 2006) is that it falls
under Level 1 corresponding to medium Flame Zone.
On the basis of the medium hazard category, appropriate precautions and controls would be
implemented to ensure the risk of asset damage or harm to individuals is minimised during the
site establishment phase of the project. However the hazard category would be reduced when
the vegetation has been removed as part of the site establishment activities.
4.7
SERVICES
The Project Site is located in an area that is traversed by a number of communication cables.
Figure 4.6 displays the locations of these cables maintained by both Telstra and Optus both
adjacent to the Hume Highway and en-route to the “Freestone” Hill communication towers.
The communication cables that traverse the extraction area comprise both a buried optical fibre
cable and buried telephone cables. The northern and southern access roads also traverse buried
optical fibre cables in close proximity to the Hume Highway.
Rocla, has consulted extensively with both Telstra and Optus regarding the preferred route for
the relocation of the buried communication cables in the event the Green Valley Sand Quarry
receives project approval from the Minister of Planning. Figure 4.6 displays the proposed
communication cables easement and the relocated access road to “Freestone” Hill both of
which would be located immediately outside the Project Site boundary for the Green Valley
Sand Quarry.
The existing power line that supplies power to the “Green Valley” cottage would similarly be
relocated around the Project Site boundary. The existing buried telephone cable will also be
relocated around the Project Site boundary within the proposed communications cable
easement.
R. W. CORKERY & CO. PTY. LIMITED
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