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Sustainable Water in Mining? The Importance of Traditional Owner Involvement in Commercial Water Use and Management in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.1002/ocea.5390
Authors
Emma Garlett · Sarah Elizabeth Holcombe
Reported year
2023
Reported language
en
Source type
article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
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Institutions reported by the source

Curtin University · The University of Queensland

Documentary abstract — original language

Abstract The mining industry is a significant water user, an issue that gains a particular prominence in arid zone mining regions, such as the Pilbara region in Western Australia (WA). Mining companies extract vast amounts of water from the groundwater aquifers to access orebodies and to dewater the mine pits. Much of this water is dumped in creeks, injected back into the aquifer downstream or used in mining processing. There is increased awareness from community members for sustainable water use in mining beyond life of mine, and the emergence of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles in the mining and metals sector signals a shift towards recognizing the importance of water stewardship. Much of the land subject to dewatering in the Pilbara is also subject to native title determinations. For Traditional Owners, important cultural values are associated with water. However, water is not adequately covered in native title, especially in relation to commercial use. We argue that Traditional Owner involvement in design and management of the use of excess water from a mining proponent's water licence (dewatering) can assist in sustainable use of groundwater, as well as provide opportunities in social and economic enterprises. As a provocation style piece, this paper is based on secondary literature, rather than ethnographic data. It explores the political and regulatory landscape of mine dewatering and outlines the limitations that have existed historically and currently and which inhibit Traditional Owners to participate in water management or commercial water interests. We also provide a high‐level analysis of several mining proponents' public policy commitments to water stewardship to assess the sustainable use of water which involves stakeholders such as Traditional Owners in water decision‐making. Finally, we identify possible opportunities and provide some recommendations, for water futures in this dry region where iron ore mining and gas extraction, already massive, are expanding further.

Identifiers

OPENALEX
W4390930128
DOI
10.1002/ocea.5390

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
article
Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources
AU
Natural entities mentioned
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Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

Documented bibliographic relations

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  • openalex:w124467128 · CITES
  • openalex:w1720997786 · CITES
  • openalex:w1963295039 · CITES
  • openalex:w1970609562 · CITES
  • openalex:w2014334328 · CITES
  • openalex:w2148605782 · CITES
  • openalex:w2239085248 · CITES
  • openalex:w2617638311 · CITES
  • openalex:w2727604066 · CITES
  • openalex:w2758840248 · CITES
  • openalex:w2919798588 · CITES
  • openalex:w2967815400 · CITES
  • Recognizing the Martuwarra's First Law Right to Life as a Living Ancestral Being · CITES
  • openalex:w3125165340 · CITES
  • openalex:w3136936214 · CITES
  • openalex:w4413569837 · CITES
  • openalex:w580167863 · CITES
  • openalex:w839008889 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary field provenance

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Cite this reference

Emma Garlett; Sarah Elizabeth Holcombe. Sustainable Water in Mining? The Importance of Traditional Owner Involvement in Commercial Water Use and Management in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5390

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APA
Emma Garlett; Sarah Elizabeth Holcombe. (2023). Sustainable Water in Mining? The Importance of Traditional Owner Involvement in Commercial Water Use and Management in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5390
Chicago
Emma Garlett; Sarah Elizabeth Holcombe. Sustainable Water in Mining? The Importance of Traditional Owner Involvement in Commercial Water Use and Management in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5390
ISO 690
Emma Garlett; Sarah Elizabeth Holcombe. Sustainable Water in Mining? The Importance of Traditional Owner Involvement in Commercial Water Use and Management in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5390

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. Sustainable Water in Mining? The Importance of Traditional Owner Involvement in Commercial Water Use and Management in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-d04e010e60929acb785eae84b5ebe021/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version 43aaf555f8f37df4 · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
Authors
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
Year
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
Identifiers
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
Source URL
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00
Source-reported author ORCID
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00

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eb0a2a6614469904 · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00

38d84b5f02a70fde · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00

d81ebf0b342978cf · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00

43aaf555f8f37df4 · 2026-11-09T19:17:55.257658+00:00

Frozen-version metadata

Research dossiers and documentary relations

AU ·

Curtin University

The University of Queensland

Emma Garlett

Sarah Elizabeth Holcombe

Source roles

Discovery source · https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5390

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W4390930128

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