Ampol fuel terminal at Kurnell
An update on the clean-up of the oily wastewater overflow at Kurnell on Thursday 7 April.
Oily wastewater overflow
Early on Thursday 7 April, some parts of the Kurnell area were affected by an overflow of oily wastewater from the treatment plant at Ampol’s terminal which spilled onto Captain Cook Drive and surrounding areas. We issued Ampol with a legally binding clean-up notice requiring it to properly clean up the oily wastewater and impacted areas.
We regularly inspected the area and took samples of water and soil during the clean up. The results are available here. Ampol also released data from its samples which can be found on their website.
In June, we inspected and sampled waterways at key locations within the clean up area to verify the effectiveness of the incident clean up. We are satisfied the clean-up works have been undertaken in accordance with the notice and that the clean up phase is now complete. Final verification sampling results are available here.
Investigation and regulatory action
We are continuing to investigate the incident at Kurnell and will consider regulatory action if breaches of the environment protection legislation are found.
Pollution reduction program
We sampled the water in the Kurnell wharf stormwater drain at Silver Beach in April which detected fuel residues above water quality guidelines. In response to these results and community concern we have amended Ampol’s environment protection licence, requiring Ampol to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the stormwater drain through a pollution reduction program.
This requires Ampol to engage an independent expert to undertake routine monitoring of discharges from the drain as well as air monitoring over a three-month period.
Ampol must submit a report to us detailing the results, including consideration of community observations, and proposed next steps. We are aware that a consultant has been engaged and monitoring is currently underway.
The pollution reduction program is legally binding and will help to identify any impacts to the water quality in the drain and potential measures to ensure the beach water quality is not being impacted in the long term.
| Location | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Analyte |
Units |
SW01 |
SW02 |
SW03 |
SW04 |
SW05 |
SW06 |
|
>C10 – C16 |
mg/L |
1.9 |
<0.5 |
<0.5 |
<0.5 |
<1.0 |
<0.5 |
|
>C16 – C34 |
mg/L |
2.1 |
<1.3 |
<1.3 |
<1.3 |
<2.5 |
<1.3 |
|
>C34 – C40 |
mg/L |
<1.3 |
<1.3 |
<1.3 |
<1.3 |
<2.5 |
<1.3 |
| Location | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Analyte |
Units |
SW01 |
SW02 |
SW03 |
SW04 |
SW05 |
SW06 |
|
1.2-Dichloroethane-D4 |
% |
124 |
119 |
116 |
128 |
128 |
117 |
|
Toluene-D8 |
% |
119 |
111 |
113 |
123 |
127 |
114 |
|
4-Bromofluorobenzene |
% |
116 |
111 |
109 |
118 |
124 |
114 |
| Location | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Analyte |
Units |
SW01 |
SW02 |
SW03 |
SW04 |
SW05 |
SW06 |
|
C6 – C9 Fraction |
ug/L |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
|
C6-C10 Fraction |
ug/L |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
|
C6-C10 Fraction minus BTEX |
ug/L |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
<20 |
|
Benzene |
ug/L |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
|
Toluene |
ug/L |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
|
Ethylbenzene |
ug/L |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
|
Meta- ¶- Xylene |
ug/L |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
|
ortha- Xylene |
ug/L |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
|
Total Xylenes |
ug/L |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
<2 |
|
Sun of BTEX |
ug/L |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
<1 |
|
Naphthalene |
ug/L |
<5 |
<5 |
<5 |
<5 |
<5 |
<5 |
Air sampling results – 22 April
Ambient air
| Location | Sample | PID Reading (ppm) |
|---|---|---|
|
Adjacent to Roundabout |
AMF1 |
0.2 |
|
Adj to Roundabout |
AMF2 |
0.2 |
|
Marton Field Child Care Centre |
AMF3 |
0.2 |
|
Marton Field BBQ Area |
AMF4 |
0.2 |
|
2 Solender St |
ASOL1 |
0.2 |
|
3 Solender St |
ASOL2 |
0.3 |
|
133 Captains Cook Drive |
ACC1 |
0.2 |
|
99 Captains Cook Drive |
ACC2 |
0.1 |
|
101 Captains Cook Drive |
ACC3 |
0.1 |
|
Dampier St, near school |
AD |
0.1 |
|
Silver Beach |
ASB |
0.1 |
|
34 Tasman Street |
AT1 |
0.1 |
|
33 Tasman Street |
AT2 |
0.1 |
|
3 Tasman Street |
AT3 |
0.1 |
|
49 Bridges Street |
AB1 |
0.1 |
|
9 Bridges Street |
AB2 |
0.1 |
|
Torrens Street (adjacent to Milkhouse) |
ATDR |
0.1 |
|
55 Torrens Street |
ATDR2 |
0.1 |
|
90 Prince Charles Pde |
APCP |
0.1 |
|
20 Silver Beach Road |
ASB2 |
0.1 |
Soil vapour results – 22 April
Soil samples were taken by putting soil into zip lock bags, allowing 10 minutes for volatiles to accumulate and then reading with the PID. Maximum readings are shown.
| Location | Sample | PID reading (ppm) |
|---|---|---|
|
North of Marton Field |
MF1 |
0.4 |
|
Marton Field Child Care Centre |
MF2 |
0.1 |
|
Marton Field Swings |
MF3 |
0.2 |
|
Approaching south-eastern corner of roundabout |
MF4 |
1.4 |
|
South-eastern corner of roundabout, close to road |
MF5 |
52.3 |
|
Drain on Captain Cook Drive, west of roundabout |
Drain |
1.3 |
|
Towards the south of the roundabout |
MF7 |
7.7 |
|
Further south of the roundabout |
MF10 |
7 |
|
Western side of Captain Cook Drive approx.. directly south of roundabout, close to road. |
MF11 |
91.7 |
|
Western side of Captain Cook Drive approx.. 10m south of roundabout, close to road. |
MF12 |
8.1 |
|
Western side of Captain Cook Drive approx.. 30m south of roundabout, close to road. |
MF13 |
11.2 |
|
Approx 80m south of roundabout on Captain Cook Drive |
MF14 |
3.7 |
|
Drain on Captain Cook Drive, south of roundabout |
Drain |
1.5 |
|
Telstra Pit on Captain Cook Drive, south of roundabout |
Telstra Pit |
3.1 |
