Mr Windsor singled out South Australian Labor MPs for voting along party lines to defeat his amendment that he says would have provided greater knowledge of the groundwater catchment system of the Murray-Darling Basin and could have provided greater security for Adelaide's water supply.

Mr Windsor moved an amendment to the Water Amendment Bill 2008 this morning in a bid to empower the Federal Government to override State mining interests.

It would have committed the Government to holding an independent inquiry into the affects of long-wall mining on groundwater on the Liverpool Plains and other areas that form part of the Murray-Darling Basin catchment.

"The Federal Government has a mandate and responsibility to override the interests of State Governments to ensure the security of the nation's water supply," Mr Windsor said.

"The issue goes beyond the Liverpool Plains and the Murray-Darling Basin catchment.

"It extends to all rivers and catchment systems as part of a national water management strategy."

Mr Windsor moved that: "Prior to exploration licences being granted for subsidence mining operations on alluvial floodplains that have underlying groundwater systems forming part of the Murray-Darling system inflows, an independent study must be undertaken into the impacts of such mining on those systems.”

The Government opposed Mr Windsor's amendment saying that the Bill already allowed for the Minister or the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to cause such a study to happen.

Mr Windsor argued that whilst this may be the case, it does not compel the Minister or Authority to order such a study to be done.

"The people of the Liverpool Plains farming community continue to seek an independent study into the impact of long wall mining under the Liverpool Plains before it commences," he said.