High court blocks plan to extract two Sydney Harbours’ worth of groundwater from the desert

The 30-year licence was granted grow fruit and vegetables but native title holders say it threatened sacred sites and the fragile desert environment Native title holders have won a high court appeal, overturning the largest groundwater license ever granted in the Northern Territory, which would have allowed an agricultural company to extract 40 gigalitres of groundwater – equivalent to draining Sydney Harbour twice – every year for 30 years. The massive water allocation was granted to Fortune…