Water mining near Queensland’s Gondwana rainforest ‘unacceptably risky’, opponents say

Locals and environment groups say climate and drought effects have already been observed at Twin Falls, Queensland. Photograph: Getty Images/RooM RF

A proposed water-mining operation – capable of filling more than 32m plastic bottles a year – on the cusp of the world-heritage-listed Gondwana rainforest is “unacceptably risky” to the health of the ecosystem, say environmental groups fighting a court battle to block the drilling.

On Monday, the Queensland planning and environment court will begin hearings into the plan to extract 16m litres of water from a site 400m from the Springbrook national park. The proposed drilling would take water from an aquifer upstream of Natural Arch and the Twin Falls waterfall.