Two new research reports into the Great Artesian Basin are set to build on our understanding of one of the country’s most important water resources.

Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water, Amanda Rishworth, released the Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment and the Allocating Water and Maintaining Springs in the Great Artesian Basin research project.

The two reports were welcomed by Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke, who said that they will revolutionise our understanding of the water network.

“Since 1980 the Great Artesian Basin has generally been thought of as a large, connected groundwater flow system. We now know that the structure of the Basin is far more complex,” Mr Burke said.

“It can take many thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years for water to travel from its recharge areas in Queensland to discharge areas such as the mound springs in South Australia. The value of this assessment is that we now more fully understand how complex these flow paths are and we can use that knowledge to better manage these resources.”

The advanced understanding gained by the Assessment reveals the Great Artesian Basin to be an extensive and complex groundwater system heavily influenced by geological features including faults, ridges and connections with other geologic basins. These features all interact to influence actual groundwater and flow conditions.

For more information about the Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment, visitwww.csiro.au/en/Organisation-Structure/Flagships/Water-for-a-Healthy-Country-Flagship/Sustainable-Yields-Projects/Great-Artesian-Basin-Assessment.aspx 

For more information about the Allocating Water and Maintaining Springs in the Great Artesian Basin research projects, visit http://archive.nwc.gov.au/library/topic/groundwater