Category: Water

The Esperanza project, set in the Atacama, one of the world’s driest deserts, will pump sea water through 90 miles (145 km) of pipe to an altitude of 7,545 feet (2,300 meters). The average mine requires millions of gallons of water during the course of its life, some 40 years, making access to reliable water increasingly crucial as global warming looms and cities grow.

More mines near the desert coasts of Chile and Peru plan to install desalination plants soon. Costs of the elaborate filtration systems have fallen over the last decade, while lofty global metals prices, boosted by demand from fast-growing Asia, may keep profits high for years to come.

Engineers in Peru from Southern Copper <SPC.LM><PCU.N>, a major metals producer, and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co’s <5706.TK1> Santa Luisa mine have inspected Cerro Lindo’s sea water system as they plan for the future, Arce said.

Chile’s Escondida mine, the world’s biggest copper mine, may expand a desalination system it installed years ago, said a spokesman at BHP Billiton <BLT.L><BHP.AX>, the mine’s owner. "It’s working really well and we are thinking of expanding it," he said. The existing plant supplies a quarter of all water at the mine.

WATER CONFLICTS

Mining drives the Peruvian and Chilean economies, and is chiefly responsible for their exports. But conflicts over water, especially in Peru, where they often turn violent, have delayed billions of dollars of investments in new mines. Poor residents in Peruvian mountain towns, afraid of losing access to fresh water, have delayed Zijin Mining Group <2899.HK> of China’s $1.4 billion Rio Blanco copper project and Anglo American’s <AAL.L> Quellaveco copper project.

Strident communities concerned about pollution have also forced companies to scrap plans for new mines, including Newmont’s <NEM.N> Cerro Quilish gold project, and the Tambo Grande gold project of a small Canadian company. "The scarcity of water will cause economic conflict – it already has in parts of Peru, and it will affect the development of industry," said Jorge Alvarez Lam, climate change specialist with the Peruvian government.

(Additional reporting by Dana Ford in Lima and Pav Jordan in Santiago; Editing by David Gregorio

Business viability threatened: Although the amount of water that could be taken into farm dams had been allowed to be maximised, this amount had been limited due to low inflows over the 2007 winter/spring period. If nothing was done, the viability of farm businesses in the River Clyde Valley would be threatened. This was the second successive year of drought in the Valley, and the release of a limited amount of irrigation water would provide certainty for farmers to maintain fodder and poppy crops over the coming months.

Previous exemption: The Commonwealth Minister had previously exempted (7 November 2007), under section 158 of the EPBC Act, the release of water from Lake Crescent for critical human and stock needs (total volume up to 2,000 megalitres) from the usual requirements of assessment and approval under the Act. If approved, the referred action to release 3,300 megalitres of water from Lake Crescent for irrigation purposes would be managed concurrently with the release of water for critical human and stock needs.

Reference: Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999; Release of water from Lake Crescent, Tasmania for the purpose of irrigation. Referring party: Hon David Llewellyn MHA, Minister for Primary Industries and Water. First Floor, Franklin Square Offices HOBART TAS 7000
(03) 6233 6454, david.llewellyn@parliament.tas.gov.au.

Erisk Net, 13/12/2007

Senator Wong told those she met yesterday her task was to find long-term solutions for the Murray-Darling Basin.

She said her visit five days after the Bali greenhouse conference showed the priority she gave to hearing from the people who were directly affected.

"I wanted to not just speak to the scientists and experts, but hear from the people," she said.

The low-interest loan scheme for irrigators to buy water from upstream farmers was championed by South Australian Premier Mike Rann. He told the Howard government it needed to free up $250million immediately for the scheme.

"We’re willing to consider any proposals put to us, but we need to ensure we take an approach that can be delivered nationally and we obviously want to make sure we don’t do anything that’s simply going to increase the price of water," Senator Wong said.

Mr Whetstone said irrigators sought to make the new Climate Change Minister aware of the strain the drought had placed on growers, families and communities.

"Really, we’re under siege at the moment with allocations that are not sustainable," Mr Whetstone said.

"We’re trying to highlight with the minister to let permanent plantings die is not only a huge loss to the economy, but it’s a huge loss to communities and to the specialist industries that we support."

A combination of restrictions and consumer education have cut the use of water on Queensland’s Gold Coast from over 300 litres per person per day to less than 140. Premier Bligh, in a speech about waters critical role in Queensland politics said, “Without a doubt, the most extraordinary achievement in relation to water that we have seen in Queensland this year is the remarkable achievement of the residents of south-east Queensland.” A program entitled Target 140 helped residents shave another 30 litres a day of their water consumption. Level 5 water restrictions had already reduced consumption to 171 litres a day. 3500 workers are involved in water infrastructure projects in South East Queensland including 170 kilometers of pipeline.

Activists opposing plans to pipe water from parched rural centres to Melbourne’s suburbs were advocating disrupting train and water services to Melbourne, and blockading highways and Labor MPs’ electorate offices as the state’s water debate became increasingly bitter.

Instruction leaflets delivered: Leaflets with instructions on how to carry out these tactics had been distributed around rural centres north-west of Melbourne, but they were unsigned, wrote Duncan Hughes in The Australian Financial Review (24/11/2007, p. 4).

Emotions running high: Plug The Pipe, the lobby group attacking the plans for a north-south pipeline, disclaimed responsibility for inciting any violence or damage to private property but warned emotions were running high in a community suffering from the worst drought in a century. It could also provide other drought-stricken communities around the nation with tested tactics on how to combat desperate governments trying to find ways of dividing dwindling water supplies between towns and country.

"Quasi-terrorist" tactics: Water Minister Tim Holding, who was responsible for the $4.9 billion of water infrastructure projects aimed at drought-proofing the state, had accused Liberal federal member Sharmon Stone and failed Liberal candidate Mike Dalmau of stirring up trouble and warned about "quasi-terrorist" tactics.

Debate about 75 GL of water: The first wave of the water wars was being fought over the $2 billion Food Bowl Modernisation Project, based around the Goulburn Murray irrigation district, which was intended to save 225 gigalitres annually by 2012. The debate was about 75 gigalitres of water to flow to Melbourne from savings in the Goulburn Valley. Dalmau, who denounced extreme tactics but admitted to having distributed some controversial literature, said: "They cannot win the argument so they are attacking individuals." Nationals leader Peter Ryan, who wanted an alternative strategy of improved rainfall capture and increased recycling, believed the opponents were "clearly" winning the fight.

The Australian Financial Review, 24/11/2007, p. 4