Monitoring

On- and off‑site audits monitored a range of environmental factors during design and construction.

Just a few examples of monitoring activities included water and air quality testing, noise and vibration surveys and animal and plant surveys for marine and land work sites.

Site audits check that environmental management systems have been implemented, and document and system reviews are also regularly undertaken.

This monitoring regime continues during the operations and maintenance phase.

The works approval granted by the Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) sets out a number of conditions for the construction and operation of the project. Monitoring is a part of requirements under the Works Approval.

Now that construction has been completed, the EPA continues to play a role in regulating the operation of the plant. The plant is required to operate within the requirements of an EPA-issued licence, which sets out the performance outcomes the plant's operator must meet. These performance outcomes include operating within strict controls on the disposal of any wastes generated by the plant.

The Independent Reviewer and Environmental Auditor (IREA) monitors the project's compliance with environmental management systems and performance requirements.

For example, under the approval conditions for the project a baseline marine monitoring program has been implemented to gather date on the marine environment prior to operation.

The IREA audits the implementation of this program. Marine monitoring to report against baseline information will continue as required by the EPA in the operations and maintenance phase.

More information on the various strategies to manage environmental requirements is available on AquaSure's website.