The impact and risk analysis identified where water resources and water-dependent assets are very unlikely to be impacted (less than 5% chance), or are potentially impacted by coal seam gas (CSG) and coal mining developments in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion. To rule out potential impacts to water-dependent landscapes and assets, such as rivers, wetlands and groundwater systems, the impact and risk analysis used a threshold of at least a 5% chance of greater than 0.2 m drawdown due to additional coal resource development. This threshold is consistent with the most conservative minimal impact thresholds in NSW and Queensland state regulations, and is close to the practical resolution limits of modelled and measured drawdown.
Queensland’s Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) groundwater model (QWC, 2012) was adapted to predict the potential impacts of coal resource development. The coal resource development pathway (CRDP) for the subregion includes five baseline open-cut coal mines, five baseline CSG developments and two additional coal resource developments that are open-cut coal mines: New Acland Coal Mine Stage 3 south-east of Dalby and The Range coal mine in the north between Chinchilla and Taroom.
Product Finalisation date
- 3.1 Overview
- 3.2 Methods
- 3.3 Potential hydrological changes
- 3.4 Impacts on and risks to landscape classes
- 3.4.1 Overview
- 3.4.2 Landscape classes that are unlikely to be impacted
- 3.4.3 'Floodplain or lowland riverine (including non-GAB GDEs)' landscape group
- 3.4.4 'GAB GDEs (riverine, springs, floodplain or non-floodplain)' landscape group
- 3.4.5 'Non-floodplain or upland riverine (including non-GAB GDEs)' landscape group
- 3.4.6 'Human-modified' landscape group
- References
- Datasets
- 3.5 Impacts on and risks to water-dependent assets
- 3.6 Commentary for coal resource developments that are not modelled
- 3.7 Conclusion
- Citation
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors to the Technical Programme
- About this technical product