2.1.6.1 Metgasco West Casino Project

As of January 2016, no water management plan existed for the West Casino Gas Project. The only relevant and publicly available information is Metgasco’s water management plan (WMP) for its 2012 to 2013 exploration programme (Metgasco, 2012). The WMP was prepared for the management of produced water and drilling fluids in Metgasco’s three exploration permits (PEL 13, 16 and 426) in NSW. The West Casino Gas Project is within the area covered by PEL 13 and 16. The WMP can be summarized as follows:

Produced water is temporarily stored in a single dam with a capacity of approximately 3.8 ML.
The produced water is treated by a Reverse Osmosis treatment plant for beneficial reuse.
Treated water is stored in another dam (approximately 4.2 ML capacity) before being transported to an irrigation water storage dam.
Brine concentrate from the water treatment plant is stored in fixed tanks temporarily and is then transported by water truck to a waste disposal facility.
Drilling fluid is stored in a dam for reuse or transport to a waste disposal facility.
The WMP is assessed on an ongoing basis.
A monitoring network has been implemented to evaluate the integrity of the WMP at key control locations. The monitoring network consists of soil moisture level loggers, electrical conductivity loggers, dam piezometers, and monitoring bores and piezometers for groundwater.

In December 2015, Metgasco has decided to discontinue their proposed development of the West Casino Gas Project. This means that there will not be any future water management plans beyond what is described in Metgasco (2012).

Last updated:

8 January 2018

Product Finalisation date

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