There has been a lot of disinformation spread about the water that Adani will use for the Carmichael Coal Mine.
Most of this disinformation has been spread deliberately by anti coal activists whose aim is to discredit Adani's project anyway they can.
Below we will show the truth of the matter.
Facts Versus Myths
Firstly, we have seen on social media and other media outlets that Adani is supposedly going to get unlimited FREE water? That he is going to drain the Great Artesian Basin? Poison the water!
The facts are - The government issued a licence for groundwater — underground water
which is extracted as the mine is dug — and another restricted licence
for the use of surface water, for which Adani will have to pay a premium
price.
Now, before you all go off about the Ground Water, let's delve further and explain what that means. Firstly, by looking at the difference between Groundwater and Surface water!
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from, and eventually flows to, the surface naturally; natural discharge often occurs at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.
What is surface water?
Surface water is water on the surface of the planet such as in a river, lake, wetland, or ocean. It can be contrasted with groundwater and atmospheric water. Non-saline surface water is replenished by precipitation and by recruitment from ground-water. It is lost through evaporation, seepage into the ground where it becomes ground-water, used by plants for transpiration, extracted by mankind for agriculture, living, industry etc. or discharged to the sea where it becomes saline.
Now that we know the difference between the two, let's go further to explain what and how much Adani will use.
With regards to the Surface Water -
The surface water licence allows the project to use 10,800 megalitres a year at $1866 per megalitre.
Farmers in the lower Burdekin catchment have access to 1.229 million megalitres and pay about $570 a megalitre.
Surface water is water on the surface of the planet such as in a river, lake, wetland, or ocean. It can be contrasted with groundwater and atmospheric water. Non-saline surface water is replenished by precipitation and by recruitment from ground-water. It is lost through evaporation, seepage into the ground where it becomes ground-water, used by plants for transpiration, extracted by mankind for agriculture, living, industry etc. or discharged to the sea where it becomes saline.
Now that we know the difference between the two, let's go further to explain what and how much Adani will use.
With regards to the Surface Water -
The surface water licence allows the project to use 10,800 megalitres a year at $1866 per megalitre.
Farmers in the lower Burdekin catchment have access to 1.229 million megalitres and pay about $570 a megalitre.
Adani must pay $20 million dollars before he can draw any of the Surface Water.
Surface
water, which Adani has to pay three times more for than the local
farmers, is carefully monitored and regulated for all industry — for
agriculture and for mining.
This
needs to be put into perspective: in total, the licences provide the
mine with access to less than 1 per cent of the volume of water that
farmers are able to use in the Burdekin catchment now.
Ground Water
The government has issued a licence for groundwater — underground water which is extracted as the mine is dug.
All underground
mines in Queensland have a regulated right to remove groundwater to
keep their operations safe. And, there are quite a few sitting over top
of the Artesian Basin!! Most of the water will also be re-used.
The Palaszczuk government defended the water licences it granted to Adani, saying the Carmichael mine was likely to draw the
same amount of groundwater that a cane farm uses in a year.
Queensland’s State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and
Mines Anthony Lynham said that modelling had shown the mine would
extract only a fraction of groundwater used by local farmers.
Link to Water Licence : - Carmichael Coal Mine Water Licence
Now let's take a look at the Great Artesian Basin, just so that we can put it into perspective!!
Australia’s Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is one of the largest artesian groundwater basin complexes in the world. It lies beneath 22% of Australia and intersects four Australian State and Territory boundaries.
Fast Facts!
Total Area - 1 700 000 square kilometres
Total Stored Volume - Greater than 65 000 000 000ML
70% of the GAB is in Queensland!
The GAB is recharged mainly along the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Once water enters GAB aquifers, it moves slowly at a rate of one to five metres per year.
Discharge occurs in different ways including through springs, rivers, leakage between aquifers, evapotranspiration and through extraction.
Currently there are around 6500 licences and 21 permits in Queensland.
Licenced water use in the Queensland GAB
For more information about the Great Artesian Basin - GAB Facts
So, as you can see, the basin is huge, and, constantly being renewed with water. Will Adani drain the basin?? Ofcourse not!! The basin is huge! Will the water table be poisoned by Adani's use of the Ground Water? Ofcourse not, many mines are already drawing water from the basin, with no damage at all.
If the activists who are against this mine are so concerned about the water that Adani may or may not use, maybe , they should worry more about the approx 160 uncapped bores that are still out there, spewing out water everyday, wasted!!
So, the next time someone says to you that Adani is going to get unlimited water for free and poison the Ground Water table, please share this information with them.
Facts Matter!!
For more info on the Adani Carmichael Coal Mine and other mines ready to go in the Galilee Basin, please check out our Facts Pages and groups on Facebook. We are also on Twitter!
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