National perspective on the magnitude of river - groundwater interaction
National
Total funding: $1.99 million with $1.35 million funding from the Australian Government and $644,000 in-kind funding from the Queensland and New South Wales Governments.
About the project
This project aims to further advance the current understanding of surface water-groundwater interaction and associated impacts on water resources. It will review previous approaches, research data availability and undertake pilot projects to validate an approach leading to the implementation of a wider scale program in 30 to 40 regional catchments. The project will be a key tool in understanding the connectivity between surface and groundwater resources.
Project benefits
The project will:
- develop methods for quantifying the degree of connection between surface water and groundwater systems, both in a spatial and temporal context;
- improve the understanding of surface water and groundwater connectivity which will assist in addressing double accounting and improve decision making on water resource allocations;
- install the necessary monitoring infrastructure and demonstrate the application of these methods in ten representative eastern Australian catchments with the approach to be applied to 30 to 40 regional catchments;
- provide estimates of the level of connection between major river and groundwater systems in Australia, and the likely level of double accounting of water resources; and
- communicate the project outcomes to local, state and Australian Government decision makers to enable informed water resource management.
The project will contribute to returning over allocated water to sustainable levels, surface and groundwater connectivity, and optimising environmental outcomes of the National Water Initiative.
Progress
The study is progressing well. Field trials have been completed and the results analysed for ten priority catchments. Methods for quantifying the level of connection between river water and groundwater have been developed and a draft report submitted to the department. A draft report has also been prepared examining the level of double accounting between surface and groundwater resources in the ten priority catchments studied. These reports will be made publicly available when finalised late this year.
Water Smart Australia projects are funded by the Australian Government's Water for the Future initiative.
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