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The New South Wales Government has been asked by gas giant, AGL to modify the construction approval for its $300 million gas storage plant near Newcastle.
The facility is designed to protect the state against a potential gas supply crisis.
AGL was last year granted approval to build the storage plant at Tomago, to store 30,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas, to supply Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong.
Construction requires about 4,000 cubic metres of concrete to be poured on the site, which is right above a major drinking water source for the Newcastle region, the Tomago Sandbeds aquifer.
The approval includes a requirement that concrete mixers and pump trucks should not be washed out on site, but AGL says that must be waived or concrete supply companies may refuse to deliver.
It says washout facilities could generate up to 30,000 litres of wastewater which it intends to store it in water-tight containers to be emptied off-site.
Both Hunter Water and the Environment Protection Authority have been consulted and say they are satisfied AGL can manage the potential risk to local water supplies.
AGL says bulk earthworks at the Tomago site are now 90 per cent complete and it expects foundation works for the main gas storage tank to start within weeks.
The project is due to be complete in 2015.
Topics: oil-and-gas, water-pollution, tomago-2322, newcastle-2300
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