Groundwater spring, Great Artesian Basin.
Groundwater Hydrology: ensuring sustainable groundwater resources
Our expertise in groundwater hydrology provides robust science to underpin effective water resource planning for the sustainable use of Australia’s groundwater resources.
- 12 January 2011 | Updated 24 January 2012
Overview
Page 1 of 6
Groundwater is, hidden out of sight, difficult to access, and challenging to measure its extent and fluxes. For these reasons it is often thought of as the poor cousin of surface water and given far less attention.
Groundwater provides about 22 per cent of Australia's annual water consumption, though this fraction is much higher in dry years when surface water supplies are stretched. It is the only water supply for much of Australia’s dry interior.
Groundwater resources in Australia underpins a range of agricultural and mining industries, is a major water supply for Perth and regional centres, and supports many environmental assets particularly in Australia's dry interior.
The persistent drought in south-east Australia throughout the first decade of the 21st century has highlighted the value of this critical resource as a secure water supply.
Groundwater resources are likely to be increasingly attractive in the future due to threats from projected lower and less reliable surface runoff in southern Australia.
Development drivers such as expanding urbanisation, increasing food production for population growth, and increasing legislative requirements for environmental flows will also put pressure on groundwater.
The Groundwater Hydrology Program works in the Australian context where subdued topography and high rainfall deficit is manifested as low and episodic recharge, very low hydraulic gradients and large variability in salinity.
Our aims are twofold. The first aim is to understand and quantify the biophysical processes at a range of scales that support the capacity for long-term use of groundwater without unacceptable or inadvertent impacts on surface water, the environment, groundwater levels, or water quality.
The second aim is to understand the extent to which terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems depend on groundwater and to evaluate management options at the surface water-vegetation-groundwater nexus, particularly with respect to salinity impacts.
