Water Book

  1. Overview
  2. Foreword
  3. Contents, Acknowledgements
  4. Introduction
  5. Chapter 1: Current water availability and use
  6. Chapter 2: Water values
  7. Chapter 3: Water and climate
  8. Chapter 4: Groundwater
  9. Chapter 5: Water quality
  10. Chapter 6: Urban water sustainability
  11. Chapter 7: Future urban water supplies
  12. Chapter 8: Irrigation
  13. Chapter 9: Water for the environment
  14. Chapter 10: Water in mining and industry
  15. Chapter 11: Conclusions
  16. Endnotes, Index

Chapter 10: Water in mining and industry

Page 14 of 16

Two people standing on a beach before the ocean.By Ian Prosser, Leif Wolf, and Anna Littleboy

Mining, manufacturing, and other industries use about 20 per cent of all water consumed in Australia. They use water in cities and in some fully or over-allocated rural systems, placing them under the same pressures as other users to use water more efficiently.

Overview

Water efficiency improvements have been made by adopting new technologies, more efficient processes, incorporating reuse, and recycling and finding alternative sources of water.

Mining is a large industrial water use that is growing fast, and uses water in remote areas where it often ‘self-supplies’. It discharges large quantities of water to the environment, requiring risks to water quality to be managed.

Coal seam gas is an industry set to expand on a massive scale in Queensland and northern New South Wales. It poses several water management challenges, including potential impacts on surrounding aquifers and their water users, and the safe treatment, disposal, or use of the saline water that is extracted.

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