'Hoon' linked to leak

A SUSPECTED hoon motorcyclist may have caused up to 10,000 litres of saline waste to leak from Bendigo Mining's Woodvale pipeline last month.The leak, which was believed to have been caused by a trail bike revving its tyres against the pipeline and melting a joining weld, caused the saline waste to leak onto the Pyramid Hill Road on March 14.Residents who spotted the leak and alerted the authorities are alarmed at the failure of the automatic shut-off system of the pumping system and are concerned about the toxic effect of the leak. Woodvale resident Lea Romey, who discovered the leak while driving past about 1am, wants more emergency contact signs set up along the pipe so residents can swiftly notify authorities. She said even after discovering the leak it took almost an hour to contact Bendigo Mining and get them to shut it off. "It was a 400-metre spill of this sticky, smelly sludge that crossed under the road in the culvert and was heading toward the creek," she said."Transport of waste is a risky business and I understand that but I would like to see more signs and definitely more done about the (automatic) backflow stoppers."EPA regional manager Jeff Cummins said the water that escaped was the condensed saline solution from Bendigo Mining's reverse osmosis plant and would not carry dangerous levels of toxins, but the authority would still compile a report on the possibility of damage done to vegetation and a nearby creek bed. Mr Cummins said they were satisfied with the clean-up operation, but would request further assessment of the automatic shutdown system that failed."The pressure differential should detect something is up and shut the pumps down straight away."But he did say water in the pipeline that had already been pumped was likely to continue to drain out, even if this was the case. Mr Cummins said he also remained concerned about the suspected cause and the potential for damage to be done to the pipeline.Bendigo Mining environment manager Andrew Mattiske said inspectors had identified the tracks of a trail bike at the area and on the pipe but the need to inspect and maintain the pipe prevented them from wholly burying it.He said the condensed mine water had only half the salt of sea water and had fortunately leaked into a sparsely vegetated area. "But obviously we take this kind of incident very seriously and will be looking at ways to prevent it from recurring," he said.Mr Mattiske said the company had undergone pressure testing on the pipeline every day since the incident and the automatic shut-down system had worked on every occasion.He said the system was based on the end and start pressure of the 7km pipeline and problems with software settings after several false alarms had caused it to fail to shut off.