Mining is an intensive resource development industry, where operations are often of relatively short duration and can result in dramatic impacts on the natural environment during the operational period and for many years post mining. An integral component of all mining operations is water - through exploration, resource definition, mine development and operation, rehabilitation and the long-term post-mining land use. Water is a basic requirement in the provision of worker amenities, in drilling, as a means of dust suppression, as a medium for washing or processing the mine product, and as an aid in establishing vegetation on post-mining landforms. Water also plays an important role in mobilising environmental contaminants and is the primary medium for the transport of contaminants off the mine or processing site into the wider environment. It is for this second reason that the mining industry considers water management as a key component of mine management. Cost-effective water management relies on planning that incorporates a total mine system approach commencing prior to exploration and continuing through to rehabilitation and decommissioning. One of the primary considerations that will provide confidence to both government and community at the time of mine closure and lease relinquishment, will be the evidence that any water originating from, or passing through, the mine site is of a quality that will not have any negative impact on the surrounding environs into the future._x000D_
The role of vegetation in stabilising disturbances to a landscape is well known, as is the recognition of vegetation being a fundamental component of the water cycle through the physiological processes resulting in the transfer of water back to the atmosphere through transpiration._x000D_
In terms of water management at a mine site, the two crucial issues are the quantity' and quality' of water that enters a receiving off-lease' catchment. In terms of tolerances of the receiving environment, the total load of potential contaminants becomes critical, a reduction in which can be achieved through reduced volumes of water discharged, reduced chemical and physical concentrations of contaminants in that water, and ideally, both. This paper examines the potential role of vegetation in reducing the quantity of water released from a site, and secondly considers vegetation in the role of influencing the quality of that water.