BHP has been sucking up to 42 million litres of water per day out of the Great Artesian Basin for its giant Olympic Dam underground copper and uranium mine since 1988. There is increasing awareness that pumping so much water from the great artesian basin is unsustainable.  But BHP is a very thirsty beast, and is looking to find an alternative water source through the Water Supply Project, a partnership between the South Australian Government, OZ Minerals, BHP and SA Water.