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Our drinking water, our rivers and even our World Heritage areas are threatened by longwall coal mining in the greater Sydney region.
Right now, South32, Wollongong Coal and Hume Coal are all pushing ahead with proposals for new coal mining inside Greater Sydney’s water catchment.
On top of that, Peabody Coal have applied to explore for more coal near Woronora Reservoir.
It’s time that Premier Berejiklian declared Sydney's drinking water catchment a no-go zone for coal mining.
• After studying the water pollution impacts of coal mining on Greater Sydney region’s rivers, creeks and streams over the last 30 years, Dr Ian Wright says he is “yet to see a coal mining operation that’s effectively regulated”.
• NSW’s Chief Scientist said that our catchment is the only publicly owned drinking water catchment in the world where coal mining is allowed.
• A NSW Chief Scientist study estimates that surface water losses from existing mines in the Special Areas of the catchment is approximately 8 megalitres (ML)/day, with about 60% of this water loss (up to 5 ML/day) coming from a single mine - South32’s Dendrobium Mine. That’s almost 3 billion litres per year (or enough water to supply 60,000 people for a year in a time of drought).
