Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps released the Surat underground water impact 2013 report, which delivers on an election promise to monitor the industry.

Cripps said the independent Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment, which prepared the report, was progressing a wide range of research projects in the Surat Basin to better understand groundwater aquifer connectivity and refine the model of likely CSG impacts when the report is updated in December 2015.

“This annual report checks on the progress of how recommendations from the report, approved in December 2012, are being managed, as well as the research activities,” he said.

“Greater understanding of groundwater connectivity through research and monitoring will help us better predict and manage groundwater impacts from petroleum and gas activities in the Surat Basin.”

Cripps said the government was committed to ensuring the petroleum and gas industry developed in a responsible and sustainable way.

“The report will ensure the industry is proactive in not only preventing water supply from becoming impaired but also putting make-good measures in place if water supply does become impaired, as required by the Water Act 2000,” he said.

The annual report findings show that CSG development in the Surat Basin is not commencing as early as was planned and as a result, in the short-term, impacts will be smaller for the most part than previously predicted.

In a few cases the impacts are expected to occur a little earlier.

It is too early in the development of the industry to detect any clear water pressure impacts in aquifers adjacent to coal formations resulting from CSG development, according to the report.

If a bore has been found to be sourcing water from an aquifer that is shallower than the Walloon Coal Measures, the bore will not be affected until a later time and may not be affected at all.