Page 64 - Annual Report 2020

1.7.6 Environment continued

We have publicly reported our water metrics and progress on water We seek to minimise our withdrawal of high-quality fresh water,
specific targets for more than 15 years, since the establishment of which is water with low levels of salinity, metals, pesticides and
the Minerals Council of Australia’s Water Accounting Framework bacteria and is relatively neutral (ph. 6-8.5) and use lower quality
(WAF) Input-Output Model. In FY2019 we transitioned our water or saline water instead. Seawater continues to be our largest
reporting to align with the ICMM ‘A Practical Guide to Consistent source of water withdrawal, representing over half of total
Water Reporting’ (ICMM Guidelines), a mining sector framework withdrawals, predominantly for desalination at Escondida.
to allow for comparable water data reporting across the mining Groundwater is our most significant freshwater source, at
and minerals sector. Although the ICMM Guidelines generally align approximately one-third of total water withdrawals, predominantly
with the WAF and the GRI, alignment to the ICMM Guidelines has at WAIO. Surface water withdrawals, largely influenced by rainfall,
resulted in some changes to the way we now report water data. are the primary freshwater source at Queensland Coal. Currently,
A key change is the terminology we use: we now describe our more than 85 per cent of our water withdrawals consist of water
water inputs as water withdrawals; and water outputs as water classified as low-quality. The definitions for water quality types are
consumption and water discharges. provided in section 6.8.2 and a detailed description is available
We report on the following water metrics, as further described in section 2.4 of the WAF.
in section 6.6 and in detail in the ICMM Guidelines and WAF: As we further strengthen our data quality, and our understanding
• water withdrawals (water intended for use by an operated asset) of the influencing factors on water-related risk within the water
by source, quality and asset catchment in which we operate, we will continue to refine our
• water discharges (water returned to the environment) approach to goal and target setting. In our Water Stewardship
Position Statement, we committed to realising our CY2030 vision
by destination, operated asset and quality by setting public, context-based, operated asset-level targets that
• water consumption (water used by the operated asset) will follow on from our current five-year Group-wide freshwater
by the type of consumption (e.g. evaporation, entrainment) withdrawal target. During FY2020, we commenced planning for
• water recycled/reused (water that is used more than once a water resource situational analysis (WRSA) process (defined in
at the operated asset) by quantity and efficiency section 6.8.2), which aims to establish a collective view on the
• water diversions (water actively managed by the operated asset shared water challenges within the regions or catchments in which
but not used for any operational purposes) by quantity we operate. The WRSA process will commence in FY2021 and will
The reported metrics are either measured directly, estimated inform our post-FY2022 water targets, which will vary across our
or simulated. The WAF accuracy statement process is used to operated assets depending on the nature of our interactions with
water and the shared water challenges within each region.
determine level of accuracy for each metric. During FY2020,
we continued to focus on improving the robustness of water data Beyond our operational activities, we have committed to engaging
in line with the ICMM Guidelines. We endeavour to directly measure across communities, government, business and civil society
water withdrawals, water consumption, water discharges, water with the aim of catalysing actions to improve water governance,
diversion and water recycled/reused. This allows us to regularly increase recognition of water’s diverse values and advance
track and monitor data quality and performance. Using the WAF sustainable solutions. We continue to collaborate with the CEO
accuracy statement approach as outlined in the ICMM guidance Water Mandate to support harmonisation of water accounting
(see section 3.3 of the WAF), we evaluated that 80 per cent of standards. We see this as a critical step to strengthening
withdrawal volumes and almost 70 per cent of reported discharge transparency and collaboration across all sectors for
volumes are measured for a majority of sources for the majority of improved water governance, in line with our Water Stewardship
the year, therefore this data is considered to be at a high accuracy Position Statement.
level. We simulate or estimate elements, such as evaporation and
entrainment volumes, at all our operated assets as these are For more information on our approach to water stewardship,
progress against our water strategy and water performance
challenging to measure and vary over time due to seasonal climatic in FY2020, refer to section 6.6.5 and bhp.com/sustainability.
changes and product variability, which results from the changing
characteristics of ore bodies (for example, moisture content and More information on environment is available
whether the ores are located below or above the water table). at bhp.com/sustainability.
Estimation is used in some instances, such as for runoff at
Queensland Coal, for quality categorisation. This focus on
improvements in data quality and understanding, particularly
at WAIO and Queensland Coal, has resulted in restatement
of the FY2017 data that formed part of the FY2017 baseline.

62 BHP Annual Report 2020