The executive general manager at Perilya Limited, Paul Arandt, says the company is conservative in its water use, and it takes every opportunity to recycle contained mine water.

The Greens’ mining spokeswoman, Lee Rhiannon, has said some mining companies are keeping water from farm and domestic users and jeopardising the long-term viability of the agricultural sector.

 Perilya uses a combination of fresh and recycled water and is looking at measures to conserve water further say Mr Arandt.

“We’ve talked to Inland Water and Energy in the past about trying to restructure that contract to give us the financial incentive to be able to pay off some of the infrastructure we’d have to set up for that recycling, so while we are in moderate use at the moment we could use less water than we currently do,” he said.

Country Water’s far west manager, Brian Steffan says he is happy to discuss options for water conservation with Perilya Limited representatives.

But he says he is not sure he will commit money to help with water savings.

Mr Steffan says Perilya is one of its biggest customers, and there are plenty of opportunities to reduce water usage and the associated costs.

He says he can provide Perilya with advice on how to decrease water loss.

“That’s why it’s so important to talk, understand our customers’ business and work with ways of helping them save water,” he said.

“I’m not sure I’ll contribute any funding to any works that need to be done on a mining site to save water, but we’ll certainly work in partnership.”