PFA
ENG417/517 Environmental Awareness and Sustainability ENG417 Role Play 2 1 ENG417 Sustainability Role-play 2 PFAS contamination of the groundwater around Katherine, NT Background The residents of Katherine, NT have experienced perfluorooctanesulphonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) contamination, as a result of fire-fighting activities on the local RAAF base at Tindall, of the local aquifer and Katherine River from which the town drinking water supply is drawn. As a result, water treatment measures have had to be implemented at considerable cost. There is now no PFAS detectable at levels exceeding Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Task Investigate alternative sources of water supply, noting that these sources may have had to continue providing water for up to two years until completion of remediation of the aquifer, or upgrading of the treatment plant. To explore alternative water sources further, students will be allocated to one of the following special interest groups: SCADA, and mainframe, IT systems engineer Local Council elected member Swimming pool operator Abattoir (slaughterhouse) operator Environmentalist/green activist Rural resident (needs large amounts of water for fruit trees and grass) Town resident (lives in a small house/unit and has only a small garden) Aboriginal Land Traditional Owner under the provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 No. 110, 1993. NT News Editorial team External students may choose to represent any of the aforementioned special interest groups as the balance of numbers amongst externals is unimportant given that only internal students will actually attend the role- play workshop for which balanced numbers and equal representation are more important. Each student is to prepare a maximum of one A4 page of notes on the probable impact that this scenario will have with regards alternative source(s) of water supply on the special interest group to which they have been allocated. These are to be relatively rough notes, and are certainly not in the form of a formal report/essay. Notes must be submitted electronically in .pdf format through Learnline. After marking (see below), your notes will be placed on Learnline, so that they can be reviewed by all students thereby helping to shape their opinions as well. Marking scheme The written notes should be your own thoughts and deductions from the research you carry out to complete this exercise. No marks will be awarded for material copied from the InterNet or other sources. Your notes will be marked on their depth and extent of factual content, rather than emotive argument. This exercise is worth 5% of the total marks for this unit. Late submissions cannot be accepted, as this will delay the up-loading of your submissions on Learnline.