Looks like its not just UCG with the water issue.Government to...

Looks like its not just UCG with the water issue.

Government to spend $3.88m investigating coal seam gas mining effect on underground water supplies

Kerrie Sinclair From: The Courier-Mail April 13, 2010 1:32PM

THE Federal Government today said it will fund research to help government and mining companies better manage the risks to ground and surface water systems from coal seam gas mining.
US, European and Asian energy giants, along with their Australian partners, are moving closer to making final investment decisions on multi-billion-dollar plans that would bring a massive mining expansion to Queensland's Surat and Bowen basins.

Coal seam gas mining involves vast quantities of water being brought to surface to release trapped CSG.

Farmers and other local landholders that are heavily reliant on groundwater want a thorough investigation of the potential water risks before the CSG industry ramps up.

Today Federal Water Minister Senator Penny Wong and her Queensland counterpart Stephen Robertson said up to $3.88 million in new funding would be put toward ''assisting the CSG industry to better manage the risks to ground and surface water associated with its mining activities''.


Mr Robertson said the State Government would work closely with the CSG industry and scientific experts ``to build on our current knowledge''.

Mr Robertson's department last year delivered a submission to a Senate environment committee inquiry into mining impacts on the Murray-Darling Basin, which produces a third of Australia's food and includes the Surat Basin.

The Government's submission said: ``There are concerns about the impacts that extensive dewatering of coal seams may have on groundwater reserves''.

But it said adequate knowledge and data to enable proper assessment of potential groundwater impacts from the CSG industry were ``not available because there has not been a need for it''.

``As a result, it is not possible for the risks to groundwater to be assessed fully in advance of development,'' the Government submission said.

The Senate committee's December 4 final report stated that the scientific knowledge of mining's impacts on groundwater resources was so lacking that it ``can make it hard to know whether (current regulatory compliance) is actually protecting water resources and water quality within the Murray-Darling Basin''.

The Federal Government is yet to respond to the Senate report.

The report recommended that the Federal Government work to ensure the prevention of new mines or extractive industries in the Murray-Darling Basin if impacts on water resources conflicted with MDB management plans.

It recommended state governments not release further mineral exploration permits until regional water plans were established.

Ian Burnett, water policy spokesman for AgForce which represents farmers, today said: ``We welcome the input of funds into this research but we're disappointed it's taken so long.''

``We believe the cumulative effect of this extraction of water from the aquifer should be well studied before it takes place. And there's as yet been no work done on that,'' Mr Burnett said.

Farmers fear if the Great Artesian Basin was seriously damaged, it could take hundreds of years to replenish.