https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/protesters-and-adani-face-off-over-water/3650286/ NOT long ago, central Queensland grazier Simon Gedda would have considered himself a climate sceptic. However, standing alongside more than 70 Defend Our Water campaigners, he said he had seen first hand "the severity of climate change”. Protesters gathered at Mackay District Senior Citizens Club yesterday inopposition to the Adani Carmichael mine project, and expressed their concerns water resources in the region would be tarnished should the project proceed. Their claims the mine would impact water resources and take "billions of litres” of groundwater were strongly refuted by Adani. Rockhampton, Townsville and interstate protesters gathered to launch the Defend Our Water campaign in Mackay. For Mr Gredda, it was the rain from Cyclone Debbie that made the impact of climate change on the region hit home. "It's a case of, we've got this issue of climate change and it's not going to go away,” he said.
"It's speeding up, and I think coal is putting green house gases into the atmosphere and those gases are affecting climate change. "Worse case is more intense bush fires, floods and droughts.” Event organiser Michael Kane said more than 270 billion litres of ground water would be taken throughout the life of the project, along with 12 billion litres of river water each year. "This is a huge amount of water coming from a region where there is already agriculture farmers and graziers who until recently have been in their tenth year of drought,” Mr Kane said. "We're talking about very precious resources for ground water and river water for existing sustaining industries.” An Adani spokesperson said anti-coal "zealots” were twisting the facts and using false information to demonise the Carmichael project. The spokesperson said there was a distortion the mining company could pump out an endless amount of groundwater. "We can only pump water from in and around the mining areas to ensure mining can occur safely and water does not seep into the mine,” they said. "It means we have to use and reuse groundwater efficiently. Claims that we can take 'billions of litres' are straight-out lies.” Mr Kane said they believed the coal mine would permanently damage water resources in the region. He said the region would be turned into a desert and the handful of promised jobs was not worth risking the Great Artesian Basin. However Adani said its licence would allow only up to 12.5 gigalitres of water a year when the river is in flood and it could not take water in drought. "Adani can't just take water from the Suttor River,” the spokesperson said. "In fact, we are at the back of the queue when it comes to allocation. "Farmers get access first and Adani can only take water when the river is in flood.” Mr Kane said protesting would continue in the lead-up to the election.
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January 2020
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