Can our Northern Rivers cope with the amount of water extraction required by foreshadowed mining ventures?

 

NSW Coal, Mineral & Petroleum Mining Titles October 2012

Click to enlarge

 

Perhaps questions should be asked about the average number of dams per operational mining license, as envisaged by the NSW Government, and tally them up across each Northern Rivers catchment as to expected total dam volume and estimated megalitres of extracted river water required over the life of each mining venture.

Can highly variable and environmentally sensitive river systems cope with this additional water extraction?

 

NSW Legislative Council 2012 Adequacy of water storages in NSW (Inquiry):
 

Given the historical long term and recent increasing trends (as noted above), the DSC expects that the number of prescribed dams will continue to grow – particularly for the following reasons:

 

The current on-going significant activity and development in the mining industry, involving the continued evolution of mine tailings and storage dams.

 

Investigation and development of coal seam gas extraction – which will require some holding reservoirs for the water that is obtained as part of the extraction process……..

 

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/2a2ecc1c47e1a218ca257a7d0018f77f/$FILE/AQO-Dams%20Safety%20Committee.pdf