When questioned from commissioners over water loss or depletion potentially at the hands of the Santos project Mr Kitto simply replied "the key mitigation measure would be to deepen the bore" this is the NSW Government's simplistic understanding and response to aquifer water loss should it occur.

Mr Kitto went on to say in regards to proving water loss "no one is expecting landowners to have to prove their water has been adversely affected by the project" and "it will not be up to the landowners to have to fight the case on their own. It really will be the responsibility of government to oversee that".

The words of the state's chief planning honcho who has overseen the calamity of Werris Creek coal mine debacle with potential interference in the Quipolly aquifer zone alongside, with similar issues at Maules Creek, rings hollow and to my horror, that these are the words placed to satisfy the commissioners into the Narrabri Gas project.

I have zero faith in state's ability to understand, mitigate and rectify problems with real solutions after the fact with these large scale developments. We need a better and thorough understanding of managing our greatest and scarcest resource water, in our hunger for secondary resources such as coal and gas that are currently in oversupply and glut.