SYDNEY - Australian mining company Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd has been ordered to pay out almost 2.9 million Australian dollars (about $1.9 million), as it drained surface water without a license over five years.

The Natural Resources Access Regulator of New South Wales said that the underground coal mine is at Kembla Heights, west of Wollongong, and the mine's operations caused the incidental take of surface water without a license from 2018 to 2023

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Natural Resources Access Regulator of New South Wales said that the underground coal mine is at Kembla Heights, west of Wollongong, and the mine's operations caused the incidental take of surface water without a license from 2018 to 2023.

Under an enforceable undertaking with NRAR, the company will fund 2,878,138 Australian dollars (about $1.9 million) in a community project benefiting local waterways or wetlands.

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NRAR Chief Regulatory Officer Grant Barnes was quoted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation as saying that the investigation found the mine caused the loss of up to five megaliters a day, the equivalent of two Olympic swimming pools.

"These alleged breaches are very serious and they do concern significant quantities of water, water which is lost from an ecologically sensitive area both to surface creeks and wetlands above the Dendrobium coal mine," said Barnes.

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"It is also important to note that this is within Sydney's drinking water catchment, so any surface water losses are a loss of water that could be used to service Sydney's drinking water needs," he added.