acid sulfate soil manual 1998

The coordination of local government and community projects with research and extension through the state and federal programs has provided a sound basis for on-going management of the soils. However, there is a need for long term commitment by all levels of government to sustain the community’s capacity to manage acid sulfate soil landscapes. The expansion of drainage has been driven by two major factors ie the desire of the community to convert wet swampy lands into more productive agricultural land and to mitigate the adverse effects of major floods on property. Floodplain drainage has increased the rate that both surface waters and ground waters enter coastal estuaries. Enhance drainage rates has increased the degree of aeration of sulfidic marine sediments that underlie large areas of coastal floodplains. These changes have increased the oxidation and mobility of stored acidity causing adverse impacts on estuarine ecology, infrastructure and agriculture. Reports of alum affected land were made in newspaper and government reports in the 1920s. Soil scientist Pat Walker recognised the presence of 'catclays' in northern NSW at Grafton in1960 and Kempsey in 1963 (Walker, 1960; Walker, 1963). However this warning was not recognised by the broader community possibly until the late 1980’s. There was also little follow on research into acid sulfate soils until the late 1980’s. Although the presence of acid sulfate soils were recognised by a few, these soils were not managed by many. Community capacity building is a self-help strategy for addressing a recognised community problem. It assumes the community has assets and strengths which can be mobilised and that those most affected need to be engaged in problem solving and developing solutions. Some of the underlying principles of community capacity building programs are listed in Table 1.

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Wollongbar, N.S.W: NSW Acid Sulfate Soils Management Advisory Committee To learn more about how to request items watch this short online video. We will contact you if necessary. Please also be aware that you may see certain words or descriptions in this catalogue which reflect the author’s attitude or that of the period in which the item was created and may now be considered offensive. Learn more. In Queensland, the following guidelines should be used for acid sulfate soil investigations, risk assessments and management. Sampling guidelines The latest sampling guidelines are the National acid sulfate soil sampling and identification methods manual (PDF, 3.55MB). These have superseded the 1998 Queensland Sampling Guidelines. The national manual describes laboratory methods which can be used to conclusively identify the presence or absence of acid sulfate soils, to quantitatively assess the associated hazards, and includes a section on interpretation of laboratory results. The 2004 Queensland Laboratory Methods Guidelines and Australian Standard AS4969 also include the option of analysing soil using the Suspension Peroxide Oxidation Combined Acidity and Sulfate (SPOCAS) method, which can provide additional information to aid with interpretation of results. If choosing SPOCAS analysis, the methods to calculate net acidity and liming rates must be consistent with the definitions contained within the National Guidance Material. FREE browser upgrades are available for the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer. The general principles of community capacity building programs are outlined in relation to NSW’s acid sulfate soil management strategy. Soil scientists were just one group among many that needed to be involved in the development and evaluation of new management practices.

2003), and industry best management practice guidelines (eg Sugar, Dairy, Tea Tree). This requires development of a communication strategy to provide targeted messages to different groups, and selection of communication styles and language most suitable for that group. Soil scientists associated with ASS have had to participate in communication forums to developers, farmers, local government managers and councillors, excavators, fishers, schools, politicians, agency managers, consultants, extension officers, lawyers, judges as well as other scientists. Pat Walker gave a clear warning of the hazards in the early 1960’s. It may be that the community in the late 1980’s was farm more environmentally aware than in the 1960’s, particularly in Northern NSW. This awareness may have added to the sense of community outrage after the 1987 fish kill. The community in the 1980’s may have also been more prepared to accept that existing management practices needed to change than previous generations who were more orientated to expanding development. Most scientist then publish their findings, mainly in peer reviewed journals or reports before moving on to new projects. However, as the ASS experience demonstrates, to change how the community manages an issue requires not only scientific understanding but that this understanding is developed with involvement of active community groups, including industry and catchment groups and individual landholders. It is these groups who change how they operate with support from scientists and facilitators. This is particularly important for ASS management because the scale of the ASS problem is large and the risks are persistent. There is a need to educate the successive generations of new landholders, developers and managers about this issue. This requires long-term carriage of ASS capacity building strategies and development of sustainable incentive schemes.

These may prove ineffective if conflicting groups maintain ideological positions rather than participate in partnerships to pursue agreed solutions. Soil scientists may comprise just one of the community resources that are required to be activated to address a community problem. This event initiated a process of community capacity building which has resulted in significant changes in how ASS are managed. The ASSMAC’s strategy to manage ASS employed community capacity building principles in the way it operated. The strategy included the activities shown in Table 2. Local action groups now operate in all major river floodplains. They have depended on State and Federal funding to implement planning and works projects. Most of these projects attempted to reduce adverse downstream impacts of acidic drainage by a combination of This has been achieved by reducing drain depth and length, raising drain water levels to reduce the hydraulic gradient towards the drain using weirs and floodgate opening. Floodgate opening also enables fish to passage to avoid acidity. Floodgate opening techniques include automatic tidal gates, manual and automatic sluice gates, and winch gates. Soil scientists contributed as team members through a wide variety of activities including long-term cooperative research with leading farmers; soil mapping; changing development controls and regulations; developing soil testing methods; producing management plans for existing development, new developments and for remediation projects; and participating in awareness, extension and training activities, and representation on ASSMAC. The main role of the soil scientists was to Soil scientist have also contributed to the development of several ASS guidelines eg Acid Sulfate Soils Manual (Stone et al., 1998, currently under revision) ASS laboratory analysis guidelines (Department Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, 2004), drainage systems management guidelines (Johnston et al.

Note—Applicants proposing to disturb acid sulfate soils will be required to engage specialists to provide detailed investigations into the above matters and provide an Acid sulphate soil management plan in order to demonstrate compliance with this performance criterion. ? OR The disturbance of acid sulfate soils prevents the mobilisation and release of acid and metal contaminants by: neutralising existing acidity and preventing the generation of acid and metal contaminants using strategies documented in the. January 1 2016 - 3:54PM Picture: Stephen Wark Port Stephens councillor Geoff Dingle has called for acid sulphate testing on soil dumped at Medowie’s Ferodale Park after fill at Salt Ash tested positive. The EPA was called to investigate the dumping in October by Port Stephens Council of up to 2000 tonnes of soil and debris at the Bruce MacKenzie equestrian complex for the development of a BMX track. The council and our geotech provider both believe that the soil contains no acid sulphate and poses no risk to the public,” the spokesperson said. Land uses commonly affected by these soils include urban development (e.g. canal estates, marinas, residential estates, feature lakes), road construction, agriculture, aquaculture, sand and gravel extraction, basement car parks, infrastructure services, golf courses and drainage works. Given that more than 85% of the population live in Queensland's coastal zone, sampling, assessment and management of acid sulfate soils has become an important issue for the development industry and regulatory authorities. Acid sulfate soil management strategies for a site must satisfy the requirements of local and state regulatory authorities, conservation groups, the general public, developers, consultants and industry. Management strategies need to be robust, transparent and effective to achieve acceptable environmental outcomes.

Since ASSMAC ceased operation in 2003, ASS issues have been identified in regional catchment management plans for on-going management. Whilst local government has an important role in regulating developments on ASS and modifying the operation major drainage systems, government agencies remain the appropriate vehicle to sustain coordination and facilitation of the wider community capacity building process and to conduct further research. Awareness raising, participatory learning programs, training and education programs are all essential elements of a self-sustaining community capacity building strategy. NatCAAS, ASSMAC, QASSMAC, QASSIT, SCU. Guidelines for managing floodgates and drainage systems on coastal floodplains. NSW Agriculture. Wollongbar Agricultural Institute. CSIRO Soils and Landuse series no 44. To find out more, read our privacy policy and cookie policy. Apart from 'Strictly necessary cookies', you can change other cookie settings if present, at any time by clicking the 'Cookie Settings' link in the footer of the page. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. This cannot be turned off. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. When using this code, reference should be made to section 5.3.2 and where applicable, section 5.3.3 located in Part 5. 8.2.1.2 Purpose The purpose of the acid sulfate soils overlay code is to ensure that development avoids or manages the risks and consequences associated with the disturbance of acid sulfate soils.Note—The presence or absence of acid sulfate soils is required to be determined prior to the lodgement of a development application. The assessment must be undertaken in accordance with the Guidelines for Sampling and Analysis of lowland acid sulphate soils in Queensland 1998 that forms a part of the Queensland Acid Sulfate Soil Technical Manual.

All acid sulfate soil management strategies must be supported by appropriate site investigations and risk assessments, with the results from the investigation forming the basis for management decisions. It is a requirement in Queensland that all acid sulfate soil management plans be clearly written, well-documented, and effectively implemented at the specific site, with conditions requiring ongoing site monitoring after soil disturbance has occurred. A general management guideline for acid sulfate soils was developed by Ahern et al. (1998) as part of the New South Wales Acid Sulfate Soil Manual (Stone et al. 1998). However, due to substantial expansion of urban and canal developments in Queensland, a more detailed document incorporating the latest research and industry techniques was needed to give clear guidance for industry and regulators in support of Queensland legislation. The Soil Management Guidelines were developed using extensive consultation with researchers, industry, community, government and interstate representatives. This has resulted in widespread adherence and acceptance of the Guidelines by environmental consultants, developers and earthmovers disturbing acid sulfate soil. In order to ensure the Soil Management Guidelines were widely accepted and used by industry, it was decided that a thorough consultative process would be employed to develop the guidelines. This process was very effective at producing a widely recognised publication that documents both practical and best practice environmental management strategies for acid sulfate soils. The Soil Management Guidelines provide technical and procedural advice to avoid environmental harm and to assist in achieving best practice environmental management when disturbing acid sulfate soils. For each strategy, the Guidelines document environmental risk, performance criteria, verification testing, and management issues that need to be considered. The most preferred management strategy is avoidance.

The development of the Soil Management Guidelines is an excellent example of government cooperating with industry, and coming up with scientifically defendable, practical approaches to managing an important issue. There is now clear documentation of management techniques that have been shown to be effective at various sites in Queensland, and there is clear guidance on processes to be followed if alternative or higher risk management strategies are being proposed. This Guideline along with other technical guidelines has helped facilitate consistency in acid sulfate soils sampling, analysis, assessment and management statewide that has been adopted by other Australian states. The Soil Management Guidelines are freely available on the web at. The results show that oven drying and hand grinding of the samples prior to analysis resulted in a decrease in S CR (i.e. up to 20% compared to those of frozen samples). This lower S CR value was partly due to the oxidation of sulfides in the oven. For oven-dried ASS materials, more intensive grinding in a ring mill increased S CR values, most likely by abrading coatings from pyrite grains. For oven-dried mineral ASS materials the highest S CR values were obtained with 1 min of ring mill grinding, but for soils with appreciable organic matter (such as peat), 5 min of ring mill grinding gave the highest values. The results indicate that for some ASS materials, oven drying, regardless of the ensuing grinding procedure, results in underestimated S CR values. This study also demonstrates that an artifact of oven drying ASS materials can be greatly increased water-soluble sulfate contents.