Coalmine Granted Unlimited Water Access for 60 Years

Environmental and legal groups fear the impact on groundwater and accuse Queensland government  (Australia) of giving Indian mining company 'Adani' special treatment.

Adani’s controversial $21bn Carmichael coalmine has been granted an unlimited 60-year water licence in what environmental and legal groups say is another example of governments giving the company special treatment.

The associated water licence, signed by a Queensland government representative the day after Cyclone Debbie tore through the state’s north, allows Adani Mining to take water from or near the Betts Creek formation when removing or draining water from the mine.

The licence acknowledges this will “have an impact on the underground water levels in the region of the mine” both during and after the planned Carmichael coalmine’s years of operation.

“Certainly the severe implications are that if the groundwater is taken, then it’s not available for other more long-term or sustainable uses,” said Jo-Anne Bragg, the chief executive and solicitor at the Environment Defenders Office Queensland. “This would be an irreversible serious consequence of these enormous coalmines.”

Adani’s permit is valid through to 2077 and its 100 conditions provide no volumetric limits on the amount of groundwater, or any triggers to halt mining operations. It rather requires Adani to monitor the effects of its project on water levels and respond with “make-good agreements” with any affected landholders.

Environmental and legal groups said that would potentially be too late to reverse any damage caused to the region’s farms and land titles. “Our experience is that this is no substitute for sustainable water resources for landowners,” Bragg said.

“There’s an issue about whether this controversial company will even be in existence to honour make-good agreements over that time and practical issues such as where the water would be supplied from.”

An accompanying environmental impact statement reportedly includes a prediction from Adani that by 2029 it will be drawing 26m litres of water a day, and about 355bn litres over its lifetime.

Queensland’s natural resources and mines minister, Anthony Lynham, defended the licence and said more than 100 of the 270 conditions on the project applied to groundwater.

“These safeguards will ensure that water resources are protected, and that this critical project progresses sustainably,” he said.

Lynham said the licences provided Adani with about 1% of what farmers are now able to use in the Burdekin catchment, and that Adani has to pay about three times what farmers do to use surface water.

Read more: The Guardian

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Taxonomy

• Resource Management
• Hydrogeology
• Mine Water Management
• Water Management
• Consumption
• Hydrology
• Hydrologist
• Hydrogeologist
• Mine Drainage
• Impact