The Springvale Water Treatment Plant was built after sustained community advocacy and legal action over pollution from Springvale Coal Mine. When it began operating in 2019, the system was presented as a major environmental solution: contaminated water intercepted by the Springvale and Angus Place mines would be treated, reused at Mount Piper Power Station and kept out of the Coxs River catchment. The power station would also reduce its reliance on cleaner river water.
The plant has improved the quality of some mine water, but treatment alone cannot solve the problem. Springvale and Angus Place together generate around 42 million litres of mine water each day. The system must be able to treat that water, find a continuing use for the treated product and safely manage the concentrated salt and contaminant waste left behind. As Mount Piper operates less frequently, its capacity to consume treated mine water also falls.
Excess water is instead directed through Thompsons Creek Reservoir. EnergyAustralia has acknowledged releases of up to 20 million litres a day from the reservoir. This means mine-affected water continues to enter Thompsons Creek and flow towards the Coxs River, despite the original promise of no routine dirty-water discharge. Meanwhile, treatment brine mixed with power-station ash has created further risks where waste was placed in poorly lined repositories.
The issue is therefore not simply whether a treatment plant exists, but whether the entire water-management system can contain and properly treat the volume of pollution mining creates. The NSW Government has now directed Centennial Coal and EnergyAustralia to pursue all feasible solutions and resolve the problem.