A SET of draft 'significant impact guidelines' has been developed by the federal government to provide further guidance around the application of the water trigger under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act to existing and future developments.

The purpose of these draft guidelines is to assist anyone who proposes to take an action that involves a CSG development or a large coal mining development to decide whether the action has or is likely to have a significant impact on a water resource.

The Australian Greens were recently the sole party voting in favour of modifying the EPBC Amendment Bill 2013, with the federal government and the Opposition both choosing not to vote for any further changes to the Bill.

The Greens are in favour of including “protection of groundwater supplies from shale and tight gas extraction alongside protection from the CSG industry”

Departing Labor Senator Stephen Conroy said the purpose of the bill was to let the gederal Environment Minister take into account significant impacts of CSG and large coal-mining developments on a water resource.

This is the water trigger.

The draft significant impact guidelines are available for public comment until July 25.