The State Government will expand its pilot schemes for mine water releases in central Queensland.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says the Government is working on long-term solutions to protect catchment water and support the mining industry.

Last year, the State Government allowed four BMA mines to release excess water into the Fitzroy Basin.

Mr Seeney says it was done with consideration to the environment and future releases will be approved on a case-by-case basis.

"A condition for other mines to be involved with the pilot scheme's extension next year will be for those mines to have done everything they can to minimise the amount of water they store and they have to release," he said.

"We are going to insist the mining industry play their part to ensure that the amount of water that needs to be released to the river is kept to a minimum."

Mr Seeney says the Government will be consulting with industry about how to minimise environmental impacts.

He says amendments to the scheme will be finalised before the next wet season.

"We very deliberately have taken a whole-of-basin approach - the previous regime didn't do that - to understand the impact on the system as a whole," he said.

"We have made a lot of progress towards solving the problem that was a real threat to the central Queensland economy and to the Queensland economy generally."

Queensland Resources Council (QRC) spokesman Andrew Barger says mines are getting more savvy about accumulated water and only discharge it as a last resort.

"Ultimately the issue is that if you're collecting water you could be covering up coal and impeding your operations," he said.

"Companies are investing major amounts of money in their measurement methodologies, in the treatment of the water and [getting] sophisticated with which they predict how flows will occur."

More research needed

However, Capricorn Conservation Council coordinator Michael McCabe says more research is needed if mines are able to release more water.

"While we want to see something done about that mine water, this water is likely to be there in a sense forever unless we do something about it," he said.

"Our concerns are that we still don't know what the actual trigger point limit is for the system's capacity to absorb the salts and the toxins that may coming out."

Mr McCabe says the flow-on effects to the Great Barrier Reef need to be researched.

"Really the key issue of the science is we need far more research and data into what all of these water quality parameters do to the basic ecology of the river," he said.

"There are some efforts by the Central Queensland University and by the mining industry itself, but we need far more effort put into that ecological assessment."