Lock the Gate Alliance has written to the NSW government welcoming news that the Water Sharing Plan is being developed, and calling for an embargo on the granting of any new water licences to coal companies until such time as the Plan is gazetted.
At present, coal mining companies are still applying for licences under a water law and there are risks that existing extraction by them is already unsustainable, according to Lock the Gate.
But the NSW Minerals Council said that mining in NSW only accounts for 1.5% of the state’s water use, compared with 49.2% used by agriculture, according to the ABS. And mining only accounts for 0.1% of the state’s land use compared with 76% by agriculture, according to the Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program.
“Our miners make a significant economic contributor to the Hunter Valley, so it should come as no surprise that our mines hold a reasonable share of the region’s water entitlements for mining operations,” the NSW Minerals Council said.
“The mining industry is heavily regulated in NSW.
“Mines must be licensed for any water they use, just like all other water users, so they're subject to the same restrictions and the same controls as other users.
“The majority of the water used at mines is lower quality water not suitable for other uses such as agriculture. And mines recycle and reuse water onsite, so they're not competing for higher quality water.”
The Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme has been successfully operating in the region for more than a decade. The current review of the Scheme has found that it has been successful in reducing salinity levels and that water discharges from mines and power stations only represent 10% of the entire salt load of the Hunter River, according to the NSW Minerals Council.
But Lock the Gate said the Northern Fractured and Porous Rock Aquifers, for which the plan is being developed, include Hunter Valley aquifers that have been heavily affected by open cut mining and currently have no cap on extraction levels or transparent reporting of their exploitation.
“Coal mines are removing large volumes of water from these fractured rock aquifers in the Hunter with little oversight, no sustainable cap and dramatic potential consequences for the region,” Lock the Gate spokesperson Georgina Woods said.
“We estimate that Hunter coal mining companies may already hold water licences allowing up to 81 billion litres of groundwater to be extracted each year for the purposes of mine dewatering under the Water Act 1912.
“In addition to the severe impacts from mine dewatering, coal mining is also causing leakages from rivers and precious alluvial aquifers into mine pits.
“There are new licence applications pending for these hard rock aquifers by coal mining companies and there is a grave risk that any further licences risk breaching sustainable limits and locking in over-exploitation.
“We're really pleased the NSW Government is moving to introduce this Water Sharing Plan, but in National Water Week it must deliver sustainable limits and there needs to be an interim embargo in place on water licences until it is completed.
“The NSW Government also needs to put an end to mining companies being granted permission to mine directly into or very near the alluvial aquifers that provide good irrigation water for our agricultural industries.”
