A residents’ group on Eyre Peninsula says big mining plans for the region threaten its entire water supply.
The group says modelling has been done which backs its concerns about extraction of water for open-cut iron ore mining in South Australia.
Milton Stevens from the Saving Our Sustainability group says SA Water already struggles to maintain local supplies from underground aquifers and mining could tip the region over the edge.
“Mining is short-term, some mines only last 20 years, is it worth risking the sustainability of the water supply for the whole peninsula for some commercial interests and for overseas export into China?” he said.
“The Chinese aren’t going to replace our water. They’re just going to thank you nicely for the oar and paddle off.
“With the volume of water that those guys are going to have to be pumping out to de-water their open-cut mines, if their claims are wrong it will severely impact on the whole water aquifers for all of Eyre Peninsula and the whole peninsula will potentially be threatened.”
