TIG 1 - Water Management and Environmental Sustainability

Scope

Objectives:

Geothermal operations are planned and implemented sustainably.

  • Foster positive attitudes towards the geothermal energy industry by increasing stakeholder awareness and understanding of the benefits and risks associated with geothermal energy exploration and extraction. 
  • Generate industry wide impetus to identify and address existing and emerging water management issues.

Terms of Reference  (.PDF - 20 KB)

Initiatives

Complete: Radon gas FAQ sheet

In progress:

Community Engagement
Draft a series of best pratice guidance notes on stakeholder engagement:

  1. Why is stakeholde engagment good?
    • Do's and Don'ts of community engagement
    • Resources and tools
  2. Stakeholder Identification and management
    • Who you should engage
    • How to engage various stakeholders, individuals and groups
  3. Key messages.
  4. Skills required for effective stakeholder engagement.
  5. Informating stakeholders of the risks and ipacts of your project.
  6. Media Management.
  7. Outrage Management.
Water Usage
Gather actual data and develop estimates for life cycle quantification of impacts on water resources for EGS and HAS geothermal developments.

Ground water contamination
Develop a generic risk assessment that idenitifes and mitigates water contamination hazards.

List of sub-TIG Topics

Possible future topics for TIG -1 include:

Water licensing and allocation processes
 Management of effluents and emissions
Wellsite abandonment and rehabilitation
 Legislative definition of water as 'geofluids'
Activity approval requirements and process Water chemistry database
Water injection and disposal

Tabulation of Projects 

Project Name
 Summary of key project objectives, key contacts and links to details
 Research Partners
Fact Sheet - Radon Gas Emissions
 A Report and Fact sheet has been developed to define potential risks associated with radon (and other NORM issues) relating to the production of geothermal reservoirs. This follows Geoscience Australia's July 2007 assessment of the risk of radioactivity associated with circulation in deep hot rock geothermal systems.
  • University of Adelaide (Ashman & Battye)
  • Geoscience Australia (Budd)
  • PIRSA (Malavazos & Love)

AGEG TIG Report Meeting #5, 20 - 21 November 2008

Radon and other Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in enhanced geothermal systems

PIRSA commissioned the University of Adelaide to provide a research report and fact sheet on Radon and other Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in enhanced geothermal systems. The report ‘An Assessment of Radiological Hazards in Hot Rock Geothermal Systems’ and fact sheet ‘Radiological hazards associated with hot rock geothermal systems’ both by David Battye and Peter Ashman from the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide are now available for review. The report found that it was unlikely that hot rock geothermal power would create any radiation hazards.