Mintabie water supply comes from a well in the opal workings which are on a small plateau. Six SADME wells and a number of private wells have failed to find an alternative supply. Wells on the lower lying areas yield small supplies of saline water. Most wells on the plateau are shallow and have small yields of water under 1500 mg/L TDS. However 2 wells drilled on the plateau to below 30 metres have yields over 1 L/s, and TDS of 1200 mg/L and 2700 mg/L. All wells with under 1500 mg/L TDS have nitrate contents between 80 and 160 mg/L. This is characteristic of waters recharged through soils in this region. It is unlikely that water with both TDS under 1500 mg/L and nitrate under 45 mg/L exists in this area, but there is a good chance of locating useful supplies less prone to pollution than the present well.