Alcoa denied groundwater access after campaign by Anglesea residents and council

Southern Rural Water has rejected mining giant Alcoa’s application to use local groundwater to fill an Anglesea coal mine pit that closed in 2015. 

Keith Shipton, co-founder of Friends of the Anglesea River, said members had been “plugging away” at the issue for six years. 

🗣️: “We’ve had a pretty singular focus: operating on the assumption that no good could come to the Anglesea River unless pumping groundwater from the aquifer was ended.” 

Locals and council raised concerns about the environmental impact of extraction during the application process. 

❓What happened: Work has been ongoing to rehabilitate the site of the mine since its closure, and the remaining pit will fill naturally within 26 years. The use of groundwater would have sped up this process. 

• The proposal, if approved, would have seen 1,500 megalitres (ML) extracted per year from the aquifer for 10 years. 

• This is an amount equal to 600 Olympic-size swimming pools. 

• Alcoa has the right to appeal the decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). 

💧 Why it matters: Southern Rural Water said on July 16 the licence would have resulted in a “potentially significant reduction” in groundwater levels and river flows, “increased risk of acid generation” and “no-flow” days in the Anglesea River. 

Surf Coast Shire made a submission to Southern Rural Water expressing concern about Alcoa’s request. 

• Surf Coast Mayor Libby Stapleton told the Brolga “protecting local ecosystems is really important to our community and council should obviously be reflecting the community, so it’s a priority for us”. 

🗣️: “It’s the acidity of some of my grapefruit juice,” Shipton said, comparing Anglesea River water to a beverage of choice. “We’ve got a river with no fish in it.” 

🫂 The local experience: The mine was operational in Anglesea for 46 years, and locals like Shipton claim it’s impacted the water availability and health of the nearby river significantly. He said reduced river flow and increased acid had created a “dead river”. 

Shipton told the Brolga there are many older residents of Anglesea who recall the river being a place to take your kids for a swim. It was also once known as a renowned nursery for Southern Black Bream fish. 

• In the local Wadawurrung language, the river is known as Kuarka-dorla, meaning “place to catch mullet”. 

🗣️: “It’s a matter of leaving to its best devices and allowing equilibrium to be attained again,” he said. He added the soil is naturally acidic in the area, and a reduction in moisture through the extraction of groundwater would make the issue worse. 

Sharing the love: Shipton told the Brolga that rallying the community around the issue was a process of education. 

“When we first started off, we had a big job of education to do. Hydrology is a little bit technical, so we had to educate the people, the local community, as to what was happening here,” he said. “Some were quite sceptical, because Alcoa had been a good corporate citizen here for many decades.”

Shipton said over time the community became well-versed in the dynamics of what was happening to the river. He said the issue has brought together a wide spectrum of residents - from environmentalists with the Extinction Rebellion to ex-Alcoa employees.