A water boring company will be allowed to extract water for bottling from an area near a World Heritage-listed rainforest on the Gold Coast.
The announcement comes as an agreement has been reached between the Gold Coast City Council, the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society (ARCS) and water-boring company Hoffman Drilling.
In 2019 the council rejected an application from Hoffman Drilling to extract 16 million litres of water from a property near Springbrook National Park.
The company filed an appeal with the Queensland Planning and Environment Court in response to the decision.
This led to ARCS joining the case in defence of the council's decision, with concerns the work could jeopardise the values of the neighbouring World Heritage area.
The court case began more than a week ago, but a settlement has since been reached between the parties.
A spokesperson for ARCS, which was represented by Queensland's Environmental Defenders Office, said the agreement meant the company would be allowed to extract 8 million litres of water a year.
The spokesperson said the finer details of the settlement were being worked out, but the company would also need to undertake baseline and ongoing monitoring of the site, reduce the rate of extraction in response to seasonal variations in rainfall, and stop extraction if particular criteria were met.
"This case was about protecting Springbrook, its ecosystems and natural wonders like the Twin Falls," the Environmental Defenders Office said in a statement.
"Thanks to our client's legal action, Hoffmann Drilling has agreed to halve the volume of water it plans to take from 16 million litres to 8 million litres a year, significantly reducing the threat to this delicate environment.
"If necessary, we'll head back to court to ensure they are robust, based on science and strong enough to protect this precious piece of Gondwanan rainforest."
In a statement, the council said that Hoffman Drilling was "proceeding on a revised proposal" that reduced the amount of water extracted, with further conditions of approval to be prepared in accordance with directions made by the court on Tuesday.
"As this matter remains before the court, the council is unable to provide any further comments about the proceeding," a city spokesperson said.
Hoffman Drilling declined to comment.
Community concern
Gold Coast City Councillor Glenn Tozer, whose area takes in the hinterland, said there was a community meeting which discussed the outcome following the agreement.
"There was definitely some sentiment from the community, who were a little disappointed the company is going to be allowed to extract water," Cr Tozer said.
"There's a vast majority of people who choose to live in Springbrook because of the environmental variables around them and they see the environment and the national park as something quite precious."
He said studies were underway to assess the impact of water extraction in the area.
"The jury is still out on the impact on biodiversity of the extraction of a resource like water from that environment, so the science is still being investigated, there's a bit of study being done now," Cr Tozer said.
"Probably quite rightly some members of the community, they remain a bit concerned about that."
He said the court and council need to interpret planning legislation in relation to the application, and the finer points of the case are yet to be finalised.
"We take legal advice and very intelligent barristers argue their points appropriately and we get to a point where, based on what is proposed ... an impact that can be mitigated or not," Cr Tozer said.
"The person proposing to extract the water has agreed to drastically reduced the amount (of water) they are proposing to extract and there has been an agreement about that and other disputed elements can be discussed.
"There are still a significant number of variables are yet to be explored."
