This was the key point to be made during a public presentation by AGL Energy representatives last night on the company’s Putty Road, Bulga, property Windermere.

AGL gas manager Mike Moraza told The Argus the company began a groundwater monitoring and investigation program at Broke in March 2009.

Eventually nine wells at Broke and Bulga were tested at a variety of depths down to 400 metres.

The tests included the extraction of 160,000 litres of groundwater over 12 days to see if shallow aquifers drained into the deeper coal seams.

Mr Moraza said the program was developed in consultation with members of the Bulga community consultative committee and was endorsed by “peer reviewer”, Newcastle University Professor Garry Willgoose.

Prof. Willgoose’s initial report found “there is no evidence in the water level monitoring data at any of the monitoring bore sites to suggest there is any drainage or connectivity with deep aquifers”.

The report concluded that AGL’s exploration activities were “very unlikely to have any effect” on surface aquifers in the Broke area.

Based on the company’s investigation, “gas exploration activities are considered to have negligible efect on the local productive alluvial and shallow bedrock groundwater supplies”, the report said.

Mr Moraza said: “There are quite a few alarming things being written and said about coal seam gas exploration.

“However, not all of it is balanced and much appears to be based on a misunderstanding of how natural gas is extracted in Australia.

“It is hard to get a proper picture of the impacts without an understanding of what is actually going on.”

Mr Moraza said he hoped the information meetings, which would also be held at Denman and Scone, would clarify AGL’s exploration in the Hunter and contribute to informed opinions on groundwater in the region.