In a report released last week, commissioned by Lock the Gate Alliance, it states 95 per cent of high security water licence access below Glennies Creek dam to the confluence with the Hunter River is owned by mining companies.

A similar situation exists above that dam and below Glendawn dam with mining companies controlling 76 per cent of high security water licences.

According to the report, which has the provocative title Unfair Shares: How Coal Mines Bought the Hunter River, coal mining companies in the Hunter Valley are licensed to extract a total of 143,000MLpa of water from groundwater and surface water sources.

“Whenever the next drought occurs, there is no doubt that the massive thirst for water by Hunter Valley coal mines will result in direct competition for water with other users, and given the resources available to the mining industry and the historical trends, it is the other users who will lose again," the report states.

“In a system already under stress and with the possibility of approaching drought and flow-reduction, further mining approvals that contribute to increased salinity levels or impact on existing Hunter Valley water users should not be contemplated.”

The report prepared by Hydrocology Consulting and reviewed by Monash University, Department of Civil Engineering, senior lecturer Dr Gavin Mudd, was dismissed by the NSW Minerals Council who said it was commissioned by an anti-coal mining lobby group.

There is no doubt the report is critical of the way mining companies have been able, through their vastly superior income streams, to buy water licences when they become available.

“The further expansion of mining in the region will inevitably continue to force up water prices for the remaining water dependent industries, who are already burdened by the most costly water in NSW," according to the report.

Recommendations contained in the report include the establishment of no-go zones for mining within two kilometres of streams, in productive groundwater sources and on productive agricultural land.

Plus the report asserts no approvals should be granted to coal mines unless operators provide evidence of sufficient water entitlements to cover estimated water use for effective dust suppression during conditions of the worst drought on record.

Another major concern of the report is the voids left from open-cut mining practices.

“These voids will continue to impact on alluvial and surface flows in the Hunter for centuries to come and mining companies must be made to rehabilitate them fully.”

The reports talks about the other industries impacted by mining, most notably agriculture saying Hunter farmers, thoroughbred breeders, wine producers and wine tourism operators inject over $1.8 billion into the NSW economy and employ 41,000 people: the share of land and water being consumed by coal mining must be balanced to protect these industries.”