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Entire Queensland town of Bluff has diarrhoea 'from coalmine'
Tim Cumming said virtually the entire town of Bluff was afflicted after water supplies were contaminated by runoff from the nearby Ensham coalmine.

The Environmental Protection Agency allowed the mine to discharge water this week after heavy rain.

Last summer the mine pit was submerged during major flooding, drowning a $100 million dragline.

The company was allowed to drain the pit into local waterways.

It voluntarily stopped pumping in early September after heavy criticism about poor quality drinking water in towns such as Emerald, Blackwater and Rockhampton.

The company said it had no choice but to resume discharges into the Nogoa River when its three dams filled to capacity after heavy rain.

An EPA spokesman said yesterday the mine might have to discharge 300 to 500 megalitres of water, depending on river flows.

About 40 to 50 megalitres had already been dumped.

Tim Cumming said his town, 20km east of Blackwater, drew its water from the Bedford Weir on the Mackenzie River, downstream of the Nogoa.

"There's about 300 to 400 here and the water is so crook, just about everyone gets gastric sooner or later," Mr Cumming the Courier Mail.

He said Emerald Shire Council (now part of Central Highlands Regional Council) told him that with summer rain there should be enough fresh water to wash impurities away.

"If it's that good how come the mines have been suppling miners with bottled water?" he said.

"Reckon the Government is not looking after its citizens out here. I won't feed it to my dog."

An EPA spokesman said Ensham would ensure salinity levels - such as from sodium, potassium and magnesium - did not exceed 500 microsiemens a centimetre, a standard well within approved limits.

Tests showed water being discharged from the mine was about 300 microsiemens a centimetre.
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