Santos wishes to respond to the comments on our proposal to build a water treatment plant at Leewood.
This is a proposal to use the same technology as is used in major Australian cities to provide residents drinking water and to use that high quality water to irrigate an agricultural crop.
The irrigation water will meet Australian and NSW irrigation standards and is for all intents and purposes potable drinking water.
The treatment and beneficial re-use of water extracted from coal seams has been part and parcel of the successful development of the Queensland CSG industry for many years.
The irrigation activity will be carried out on 98ha of Santos owned land. The proposed activity is clearly of very low environmental risk.
Santos has also made clear commitments in the REF to ensure the proposed activity does not cause adverse environmental impacts. The activity poses no greater risk than any other irrigation scheme.
We note the questions from the various agencies and third party commentators. This is part of the usual government planning process to ensure all the views all collated for consideration before a final determination is made.
We are in constant dialogue with community and government stakeholders and we are confident our discussions will reassure them about the proposal and the safe and sustainable benefits it will provide.
Peter Mitchley, General Manager – Santos Energy NSW