The Perrottet government has introduced new rules that will grant coalmines licences for water from the drinking catchment for Sydney and the Illawarra region.
The government quietly gazetted the rules a day before the caretaker period commenced for the New South Wales election campaign.
Environmental campaigners have called the move a “cynical attempt” to legislate practices that had been occurring at mine sites for years.
The new rules direct Water NSW to issue licences to the Dendrobium, Metropolitan, Russell Vale and Wongawilli mines and are intended to deal with surface water that was already running from waterways into the mines.
Under the state’s water management act, such diversions of water require a licence.
While environmental campaigners have been calling for the government to regulate surface water loss at mine sites, they say they are concerned the last-minute changes have been made without clear protections for the catchment or cost arrangements.
They are also concerned about how the water take will be measured and limited.
The government has indicated WaterNSW “may” charge the mines for any water licence provided.
“After years of saying there would be no impact on water supply from these coalmines, the government has now been forced to admit uncontrollable losses of water, due to the cracking of creeks and rivers,” the NSW coordinator for Lock the Gate, Nic Clyde, said.
Clyde said instead of responding to this risk by banning further longwall mining in Sydney’s drinking catchment, the government was instead providing mines entitlements from urban water supplies to “paper over the problem”.
He said with the prospect of a shift to another El Niño cycle, the risk was “immense”.
“Coalmines in the catchment have been effectively taking water unlawfully without proper water entitlements for years now, and this is the NSW government rubber-stamping that behaviour and setting up a scheme so they can continue on unimpeded.”
Justin Field, an outgoing independent upper house MP said by requiring mines to be issued water licences, the government had “finally” acknowledged the effect coal mining had on Sydney’s drinking water supplies.
“However, in their usual fashion the Coalition is handing over a blank cheque to their friends in the coal industry with no limitation on water take, no clear costing mechanisms and no protections for the catchment,” he said.
He said mining under the water supply for the state’s biggest city was “utterly reckless”.
The water minister, Kevin Anderson, said the new water allocation rules would require mines to account for the “incidental surface water they take”.
He said the decision was made in response to issues raised by the independent expert panel for mining.
“It is important these mines account for their water take and pay management charges for this water, just like other water users,” Anderson said.
“This reform is something environmental groups and an independent assessment panel have been calling for.”
He said the new rules would not affect water supply to Sydney and potential effects of mining on the environment and water were rigorously assessed in NSW.
