For 140 years, the well on fourth-generation farmer Peter Keogh’s property produced “crystal clear” water.
But he has not drunk from it since 2019, when he alleged the water turned muddy, milky and cloudy after test pumping on the neighbouring property.
“It took months to recharge, months of good rainfall,” Mr Keogh said.
“You can’t do much on this land without water.”
The well water has not been the same since test pumping on the neighbouring farm, Mr Keogh alleges. (ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray)
The property beside Mr Keogh’s farm in Elbow Valley on Queensland’s Southern Downs is at the centre of a years-long dispute between farmers, local council and a Chinese-owned developer that plans to build a water extraction and bottling plant.
Joyful View Garden Real Estate Development Resort Co Pty Ltd, which owns Cherrabah Resort on the neighbouring property near Warwick, about 180 kilometres south-west of Brisbane, has government approval to extract 96 million litres (ML) of water.
Peter Keogh fears the water extraction and bottling plant next door will impact his spring-fed wells. (ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray)
But farmers like Mr Keogh fear it will drain the aquifer and impact landholders’ ability to water their crops and stock.
Rural to industrial zone
The company secured a commercial water licence from the state government in the late 2000s initially to extract 25ML, which was later increased to 96ML by the then-Labor government.
It allowed the company to extract and use water for any purpose, including the resort.
More than a decade later in 2019 the Southern Downs Regional Council approved the company’s application to build water extraction and purification facilities on Cherrabah Resort amidst a severe drought in rural Queensland.
Council approves removal of water from drought region
After community backlash, the company pledged to donate some of its water allocation to local charities.
In September 2025 the company submitted an amendment to council to change the existing approval to also include a bottle-making, storing and exporting facility on Cherrabah Resort.
It would change the lot from a rural zone to a high-impact industrial zone.
No commercial extraction has yet taken place at the site.
Council will consider the application at its monthly meeting on Wednesday.
A water extraction and bottling plant is proposed for Cherrabah Resort on Queensland’s Southern Downs. (ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray)
Farmers rally over change
More than a dozen farmers have met regularly since the end of 2025 to share their concerns and to petition local politicians to intervene.
Farmer Andrew O’Dea was concerned that drawing 96ML a year from the ground could increase the severity of the next drought.
“I can see us going into drought a year before we would normally go into drought, and I can see us not coming out of drought a year later because it would take so much longer for our spring water to recharge,” he said.
More than a dozen farmers met to discuss ways to fight the development application. (ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray)
He said the proposed expansion was “another kick in the guts”.
“A 70 by 50-metre industrial facility a couple hundred metres from the road, and to claim it won’t be noticed on the landscape, [as well as] the 30-odd semitrailers running up and down the road … it just beggars belief,” Mr O’Dea said.
Joyful View Garden Real Estate Development Resort Co Pty Ltd was approached for comment.
In its most recent hydrology report to council in 2019, the company said its proposal did not conflict with the natural resources of the area.
“The groundwater associated with the fractured rock aquifer of the Stanthorpe granites is not connected to the overlying alluvial and perched water tables that are accessed by local rural industries,” the report said.
“As such, the take of water from this source will have no impact on the surrounding water users.”‘Bad decision’, local member says
The state government is responsible for authorising commercial licences for the extraction of groundwater, while councils can indirectly regulate the activity through development application approvals.
Residents opposed to the bottling plant have contacted Water Minister Ann Leahy and local member James Lister for support.
While Mr Lister said he hoped council would block the application, both he and the minister said the decision rested with council.
“The original increase to Cherrabah’s water licence from 25ML to 96ML was a bad decision, but Labor approved it, and it’s now a matter for the council to deal with the application before them,” Mr Lister said.
Southern Downs Regional Council will discuss the development application on Wednesday. (ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray)
Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Melissa Hamilton said groundwater licensing came under the state’s jurisdiction.
“I hope all of the concerns being raised by the residents, including as to the recharge rate of the aquifer, are being properly considered by the department,” she said.
Expert says 96ML ‘very small amount’
It is not the only area where water mining has been a contentious issue.
Recently the City of the Gold Coast released the results of a million-dollar study that found that water extraction from underground aquifers at Springbrook National Park could threaten the region’s ecosystem.
Across the border, the New South Wales government banned the expansion of new water bottling facilities in rural areas of the Tweed Shire.
Water consultant and lawyer Matt Donovan said in the grand scheme of things 96ML is not a lot of water. (ABC News: Stephen Cavenagh)
Queensland Water Consultancy owner Matt Donovan said the 96ML licence was a “very small volume” of water compared to other commercial uses in Queensland.
“If you consider [that amount of] water for irrigation purposes, it would water a crop size of maybe 20 hectares,” Mr Donovan said.
“[The company has] a legal authority to take the water and use it for that purpose.”
Additional reporting by Dan McCray