Water and CSG

Singaporeans drink treated sewage water. South Queenslanders voted not to do so.
Some farmers think ORG's treated water is fine for irrigation and animals, but this one does not.............

CSG means the grass is no greener

• THE AUSTRALIAN
• OCTOBER 04, 2014 12:00AM

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Sue Neales

Reporter - Rural/Regional Affairs

Cattle breeder Joe Hill, on his grey clay Queensland plains, does not trust the water bonanze offered by CSG drilling. Source: News Corp Australia
QUEENSLAND cattle breeder Joe Hill admits to a little envy at the limitless water gushing from the Origin Energy pipeline into the large new dam on his neighbour’s cropping farm near Miles.
On his own 800ha “Wandaloo” on the Western Downs, it hasn’t rained much in 18 months and the grey clay plains are parched and cracked.
But overriding Mr Hill’s desire for drought-time “liquid gold” is a bigger concern that the irrigation water supply may not be pure.
The water flowing down the 22km Fairymeadow Road irrigation pipeline to Mr Hill’s boundary fence comes from Origin Energy’s new $1 billion water-treatment plants at nearby Condabri and Talinga, produced in huge volumes as a byproduct of booming coal-seam-gas extraction from aquifers 1km below in the Great Artesian Basin.
Since May, eight farms along the CSG pipeline have enjoyed small amounts of treated water as Origin’s production of coal-seam gas around Miles and Condamine cranks up ahead of the opening of the Curtis Island liquefied natural gas processing and export facility near Gladstone, mid-next year.
The hi-tech reverse osmosis process removes salt and chemicals from the CSG water, meeting international safety and contamination standards and rendering the water clear, clean and usable for irrigation.
Best of all, local farmers get access to limitless water — as much as 15 gigalitres a year during peak CSG production — delivered almost free and capable of transforming their risky, dryland cropping enterprises into lush irrigated cotton, wheat, sorghum, sunflowers and mung-bean fields.
But Mr Hill is adamant he wants no part of this irrigation bonanza. Despite scientific assurances, he fears the treated water is not as pure as claimed or that a mistake at the treatment plant could let chemicals through, potentially poisoning his Angus stud cattle and brigalow country.
“I’d love more water to irrigate fodder crops and give to my cattle if I could be certain it was not contaminated and was legitimately obtained,” says an adamant Mr Hill, who has also blocked CSG gas wells being drilled on his farm.
“But this CSG water and what is in it needs to be researched more, and there must be independent monitoring of these treatment plants, because I know from experience that self-monitoring by these multinationals doesn’t work,” he says.
“The danger is that by the time we realise there is a problem and we have irreversible contamination of our land, the environment and our cattle it will be too late and the clean, green reputation of our entire beef industry will be at risk.”
Nneighbour Ashley Geldard has no such fears. The clear water spilling on to his family farm “Cullingral” is like a miracle to the fourth-generation farmer, who has always depended on the rain to make a living.
Mr Geldard welcomes the huge investment by Origin Energy and has no qualms about the water’s quality or its long-term environmental sustainability.
“The CSG-water is a lifesaver; we can plant crops we never dreamt of growing before. It’s cheap and its guaranteed to be here for the next 20 years,” he says.
However, he has resisted allowing CSG wells to be drilled on his property.
“But there are some challenges; we have to guarantee to take the water every month and manage our cropping regimes accordingly because (the water) can’t go off the farm; when we are taking 2000 megalitres a year we will almost have too much water, which is not a problem many farmers have.”
Mr Hill is also worried about that water: whether the CSG water being sprayed from vast irrigators on his neighbour’s farm or held in the dam could spill or wash on to his farm.
Legal issues surrounding potential contamination risks, liability and compensation remain unclear.
Rebecca Pickering, Origin Energy manager of strategic development, said all treated water supplied through the Fairymeadow Road irrigation project met stringent quality specifications