Their call comes after release of the report “Of droughts and flooding rains”, handed down by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia after its inquiry into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

The report, released last week by the Committee’s chair, Tony Windsor, makes numerous recommendations aimed at limiting any adverse impacts by mining and gas developments on water.

These include ensuring that “no mining activities are approved that impact water resources” until such time as these impacts “are fully understood and able to be mitigated”, and seeing relevant legislation and regulations in place “as a matter of urgency”, to ensure the “long-term health and productivity” of water resources.

The Mid-Western groups came together for a region-wide meeting in Rylstone on the weekend and agreed with the rules.

“What Tony Windsor and his fellow committee members are saying is that water is too precious a resource to be wrecked by mining and coal seam gas extraction. This is what we’ve been saying all along,” said Jolieske Lips, President of the Running Stream Water Users Association.

Interim President of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, Peter Grieve, said no development should take place without a full and rigorous understanding of how local water systems work in total – and we just do not have that information available.

“Going in blind – or even half-blind – is just asking for trouble,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve petitioned the NSW Government for a proper water study before any further development decisions are taken.”

The Rylstone gathering was the first of what is planned to be an ongoing series of collaboration and strategy development between the ever-growing number of groups in the region and surrounding areas concerned about mining and coal seam gas.

Media spokesperson for the Mudgee District Environment Group, Bev Smiles, said the meeting was all about “working smarter, not harder”.