Mining Values Water
Newcastle Herald
Friday February 2, 2007
NEW research shows the minerals industry beats agriculture when it comes to creating value from the water it uses.
In a report that also points to ways industry can reduce water use, researcher Terry Norgate has found that every cubic metre of water the mining and minerals industry uses creates an economic value of $80.Agriculture creates an economic value of about $5 per cubic metre of water and the general industrial sector, $40 per cubic metre, the research shows.Using what he called life cycle assessment or LCA, Mr Norgate compared industries and the value gained from the water they consumed.Analysing separate 2002 CSIRO data specifically relating to coal, Mr Norgate said yesterday he estimated the coal industry produced $45 in value per cubic metre, a figure he said could be much higher by now.He said water consumption was one of the least-reported operating parameters of a plant or process, and that understanding water use could help to reduce water consumption.Mr Norgate said his was the first study to assess water use and associated economic value but he stressed that social and environmental issues, including the value of food produced by agriculture, should be considered.LCAs assessed the environmental effects of a process or product to improve environmental performance."LCAs can drive the environmental debate by replacing emotion with objectivity and information, allowing groups with different objectives to find common ground in approaching a problem like increasing demand for water," Mr Norgate said. Using 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, Mr Norgate estimated that mining accounted for 2.2 per cent of Australia's total water consumption, compared with the agriculture industry, which used 65 per cent.
© 2007 Newcastle Herald