Preserving the landscape
Northern Water is being designed and constructed to minimise the impact to the unique and valuable Upper Spencer Gulf and Far North environments.
The Project will prepare Construction Environmental Management Plans and subplans that set requirements for soil, weed and vegetation management, and support natural regeneration. These will help to meet Project requirements and approval conditions throughout construction and operation.
Terrestrial environmental investigations
We have undertaken ecological investigations across the Project area including:
- vegetation mapping
- habitat surveys focused on threatened and Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 listed species, including:
- Plains Mouse habitat assessment and camera trapping survey
- Western Grasswren targeted survey
- migratory bird desktop assessment
- bird surveys and song meter deployment.
Mitigation and management approaches
The Project is committed to avoiding, mitigating and managing impacts on the terrestrial environment. This will be achieved by:
- aligning the pipeline and infrastructure to avoid, where possible, remnant vegetation and natural waterways , and prioritising previously cleared or disturbed areas
- implementing construction techniques that reduce environmental impacts
- restricting the width of the construction corridor, while maintaining safe pipeline installation, to minimise vegetation removal and avoid areas of cultural and environmental significance
- minimising the spread of weeds, disease and pests through vehicle checks, washdowns and surveillance monitoring.
To encourage natural regeneration of local species, rehabilitation processes are carried out during and after construction. This includes:
- low impact vegetation removal
- topsoil retention
- progressive rehabilitation of disturbed areas
- weed management.
Fun facts
Song meter deployment has been carried out across the Project area. Ecologists set up sound recorders that capture bird calls and songs, helping identify and classify different species.
Camera trapping does not involve capturing animals. Instead, it uses remotely activated cameras triggered by motion or heat sensors to take photos or videos of wildlife. This allows for non-invasive monitoring of animals in remote areas without human presence.