World Water Day

World Water Day (March 22) is an annual observance day driven by the United Nations to highlight the importance of freshwater. A country like Australia understands this better than most.  

Water is a valuable resource on which we are all reliant. 

The natural gas industry, like the rest of us, is dedicated to protecting this precious resource.  

In addition to the strict processes which are in place to ensure water safety across projects, the natural gas industry also works with communities to provide treated and tested to landholders and graziers.  

In times where water levels are impacted by drought, the industry is providing safe water to be reused. In Queensland, companies in the Surat Basin region continually monitor groundwater, and the water from coal seams is treated and tested before being recycled.  

Did you know that the Great Artesian Basin contain approximately 65,000,000 Gigalitres (GL) of water (this is the equivalent to 130,000 Sydney Harbours)? The industry has steadily extracted 60GL a year through coal seam gas. More than 90 per cent of this is then treated to the strictest water quality standards and reused.  

It can be reused in many ways, such as passing it onto graziers for the livestock, being put back into programs to reduce using freshwater and managed aquifer recharge. This has proven vitally important for individual farmers like Simon from Condabri (click here to read his story), or for entire regions.