Water Mining? Only in the Territory - Don't Frack the Roper

WATER MINING? ONLY IN THE TERRITORY - DON'T FRACK THE ROPER - TAKE ACTION NOW

This is urgent. Add your name and join the Territorians telling the Water Controller that they won’t accept water mining.

Only in the Territory will you find natural springs like Bitter Springs. These spectacular springs are iconic, and are fed by the vast Tindall aquifer that keeps the Roper River flowing all year round. Unfortunately these springs – and the Roper River - are at risk from industry plans to take vast amounts of water for fracking.

A company called Terrritory Sands has applied for a licence to extract 1.2 billion litres of groundwater every year from the Tindall aquifer, near Larrimah. This water will be used to clean sand for a huge sand mine which may supply up to 100 million tonnes of sand to fracking companies in the Beetaloo Basin.

Here's the thing. The only way this water can be made available is if the Northern Territory Government changes the water allocation rules to allow unsustainable “mining” of the aquifer. As we revealed earlier this year, the Government is now using the so-called “Arid Zone” contingent allocation rules for water licences in this region, which allow up to 80% of an aquifer’s storage to be extracted, instead of 20% of an aquifer’s annual recharge. These rules are unsustainable, because they allow water to be extracted at a faster rate than it can replenish. If they are used for water allocations across the Beetaloo Basin, this could have devastating impacts on Bitter Springs, and the dry season flows of the Roper River.

As water law expert Dr Erin O’Donnell has stated, this is “really dangerous decision-making”.

Let the Water Controller know that Territorians won’t accept water mining for fracking, or any other industry. There’s simply too much at stake.

Don't let them frack the Roper, make sure you sign our submission before 2 September 2022.

The stakes are high, and I really need you to take action and ask the Water Controller to reject this water licence or have the sand mining project referred for a full environmental assessment.

Submissions are due on Friday, 2 September, so you don’t have long to act.

Please click the button below and sign the submission now. Make sure to introduce yourself at the start of the submission and add your name and suburb at the end of the submission.

Act now to Save the Roper, before its too late.

As you know, the Roper River is treasured by Territorians for fishing, camping, tourism, and its stunning natural values. Water from the Tindall aquifer discharges into Bitter Springs and maintains the flow of the Roper River through the dry season.
 
I am concerned that Territory Sands’ water licence, if granted, would permit unsustainable water extraction from the Tindall aquifer. This could have catastrophic impacts on the Bitter Springs complex, the Roper River and users downstream (including pastoralists and Indigenous communities).

You should reject the licence for the following reasons:
   
•	You should not apply the “Arid Zone contingent allocation rules” in the NT Water Allocation Planning Framework to assess the consumptive pool available for extraction in the Larrimah zone of the Mataranka Tindall Limestone Aquifer. Using these rules would permit unsustainable “mining” of the aquifer, and could have significant and irreversible cumulative impacts on Bitter Springs and the Roper River.

•	Applying the Arid Zone rules would be contrary to the recent decision of Minister Fyles (and the Water Resources Review Panel) with respect to a groundwater licence granted to NT Land Corporation in the same zone. Minister Fyles overturned the licence on the basis that the Arid Zone rules had been incorrectly used, and that utilising the “Top End” contingent allocation rules, the aquifer was close to full allocation. Applying the same reasoning, Territory Sands licence application should be rejected. If you properly apply the “Top End” contingent allocation rules to determine the consumptive pool available, it is clear there is insufficient water available in the Larrimah zone of the Mataranka Tindall Limestone Aquifer.

•	Applying the Arid Zone rules would be contrary to the findings and recommendations of the Fracking Inquiry, which found that use of the arid zone rules permitted ecologically unsustainable “water mining”.

•	The application does not address the cumulative impacts of the proposed water licence together with other water licences (granted and applied for) authorising extraction from the Tindall aquifer, nor the cumulative impacts of utilising the Arid Zone rules in the Larrimah zone (including on Bitter Springs and other groundwater dependent ecosystems, the Roper River, and downstream communities such as Ngukurr);
 
•	Recent research undertaken by the Commonwealth indicates that there is a high degree of horizontal and vertical connectivity between aquifers in the Beetaloo Basin. This research suggests that these aquifers should be considered as an interconnected system, and that there may be risks to other parts of the groundwater system and the Roper River itself if water is over-extracted in one location. A conservative approach is therefore required;
 
•	The Fracking Inquiry recommended that water allocation plans be declared across the Beetaloo Basin (recommendation 7.7), and that “sustainable extraction limits should be set on the basis of the outputs from a regional numerical groundwater model developed as part of the strategic regional environmental baseline assessment (SREBA)”. The SREBA is currently incomplete (including the calibrated groundwater model). Until the SREBA is completed, the calibrated groundwater model finalised, and a water allocation plan declared for the resource, no water licences should be granted from the resource.

•	Territory Sands’ water licence application reveals their plans for a very significant (up to 100 million tonne) sand mining operation. It is inappropriate to grant a water licence until the environmental impacts of the sand mining proposal have been referred and assessed under the Environment Protection Act, and potentially the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

I therefore request that you reject the licence. Alternatively, Territory Sands’ project as a whole should be referred for assessment under the Environment Protection Act.

WATER MINING? ONLY IN THE TERRITORY - DON'T FRACK THE ROPER - TAKE ACTION NOW

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