The water supplier recently advertised a Request for Expressions of Interest for construction of Stage One of the Burdekin Pipeline Project which will carry water from the Burdekin Burdekin Falls Dam to the existing Eungella pipeline.

Stage One of the works includes 145 kilometres of lined pipeline, a pump station on the Burdekin River and interconnection to the existing Eungella pipeline at Carborough storage.

Sunwater has already started construction of an 8,000 megalitre off-stream storage at Gattonvale, 40 km south of Collinsville. In the short term this should help ease problems with water availability to central Queensland coal mines such as Goonyella Riverside, Newlands, Collinsville, Moranbah North and Hail Creek - and the Collinsville Power Station.

The Eungella Dam, which supplies the region’s main water needs, is now at only 17% of capacity – dangerously low for a mining area on a growth path. Recent rainfall is expected to extend the water supply past mid year, when it was originally expected to stop.

Longer term, the Burdekin to Moranbah pipeline has been put forward as a solution. “If feasible, it will complement water supplies dawn from Eungella and also enable industries to better plan for expansion in the future,” SunWater CEO Peter Noonan said.

Noonan said the latest inflows into Eungella Dam would offer an immediate benefit to industries such as the Collinsville power station, which, like other industries in the region, were concerned about water supply for their operations.

Natural Resources and Minister Stephen Robertson said the government was committed to ensuring reliable water supplies to Bowen Basin coal mines and communities.

"The Government through SunWater and the Department of Natural Resources and Mines is working closely with the mining industry to progress the Burdekin Falls Dam to Moranbah water pipeline as quickly as possible," he said.

"If feasible, it will complement water supplies from Eungella and also enable industries to better plan for expansion in the future.

The government is addressing the specific long-term water needs of communities and industry in the region through development of the Burdekin Basin Draft Water Resource Plan as well as the Central Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy.

Virtually all major coal mining companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Anglo Coal have been involved in round-table talks with representatives from Sunwater and the Mines and Natural Resources Department about the project, The Courier Mail reported.