We use sustainable practices to reuse the water extracted during natural gas production.
We have established irrigation projects at our Fairview and Springwater properties, near Injune in south-west Queensland, to reuse water extracted from coal seams.
The project involves pivot irrigation of forage crops and drip irrigation of a locally adapted native tree species, mainly Chinchilla White Gums.
The irrigation has been used successfully to establish and sustain more than 500 hectares of Rhodes grass and leucaena pastures. These pastures produce high quality forage that helps us value-add to our own cattle operations, which we run on properties we have purchased to locate major gas processing infrastructure.
The more than 1.5 million Chinchilla White Gums we have planted absorb an estimated 6,500 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year.
The Mount Hope Pilot Project, established in 2009, was the first agreement of its kind in Queensland, representing a partnership between a landholder and a natural gas business to reuse coal seam water for enhancing an agribusiness
Several key areas of Santos GLNG’s gasfields are located on Mount Hope Station, a family-owned agricultural business. We have worked closely with the landholder to develop a plan to use water produced from coal seams to both benefit the farm business and facilitate ongoing field development.
The project demonstrates how coal seam water can be beneficially reused to establish a significant area of long-lived (over 30 years), productive, and sustainable dryland pasture for the landholder.
Two treatment processes are being used – desalination and water amendment – to irrigate102 hectares of legume and grass pastures, through:
- Centre pivot irrigation of a 72-hectare area
- Sub-surface drip irrigation of a 30-hectare area
We manage dust generated from vehicle movements on unsealed roads by suppressing the dust using water extracted from coal seams.
The water is also used for various construction and field development work requirements.
Santos GLNG has approval to release an average of 12.5 ML/day of treated coal seam water into the Dawson River, under a water reuse scheme which has commenced this year.
The scheme is a great example of how water generated by our operations can be beneficially reused, delivering benefits for landholders, the local community and the environment.