Vital water study gathers steam

September 3, 2010

It’s had its fair share of stumbling blocks, but the Namoi Water Study reached a milestone this week when the independent expert was finally announced.

It’s been a long and slow process – one that began when the Duddy family established a blockade around two years ago to stop BHP Billiton from exploring for coal on the Liverpool Plains.

It was then that the Caroona Coal Action Group was formed, vowing not to give up on its cause until an independent catchment-wide study, investigating the potential impact coal mining could have on underground water supplies, was commissioned.

Since then, the group and the issue itself has grabbed national headlines.

Debate has raged about whether agriculture and mining can co-exist, governments have been criticised for not excluding the floodplain from the exploration licence, there’s been toing and froing over the study’s terms of reference, several court cases, visit after visit from politicians and just when the finish line was in sight, there was a complaint lodged with the Independent Commission Against Corruption about the study tender process – holding up the announcement of the successful expert for another two weeks.

With that now made public, let’s only hope there will be smooth sailing from here on in and the issue is not politicised any longer.

Those stakeholders at the centre of the study will certainly be anxious to see the outcome – no-one more so than Liverpool Plains farmers and BHP Billiton.

There’s been such uncertainty for both parties for so long, and even though the study will take 18 months to complete, its imperative a thorough investigation is carried out.
Only then will we know whether mining and agriculture can co-exist or if one of the nation’s most important food bowls would be at serious risk.

Only then will we know whether mining and agriculture can co-exist or if one of the nation’s most important food bowls would be at serious risk.