Perth Laboratory – Public Seminar Series 2010

Groundwater yields in south-west Western Australia under climate change and development

Dr Riasat Ali
CSIRO Land and Water
Water for a Healthy Country Flagship

Thursday 15 April 2010 at 3.30pm, CSIRO Auditorium

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Abstract:
CSIRO recently released the findings of the South-West Western Australia Sustainable Yields Project – the most comprehensive assessment of water yields and demands to 2030 ever undertaken for south-west Western Australia. The project reported on four major components: surface water, groundwater, environment, and yields and demands. This seminar will focus on the results of the groundwater research.

Groundwater is the main source of water in south-west Western Australia supplying about 74 per cent of all water used in this region. Its main uses are drinking water supplies to Perth and towns, self supply for the irrigation of public and private lawns and gardens, horticulture, industry and commerce. Almost all increased demand for water is being met by groundwater so its proportion of total use has been increasing.

The main source of groundwater replenishment in this region is diffuse recharge from rainfall. A marked decline in rainfall occurred since about 1975 and almost all global climate models (GCMs) project a drier and hotter twenty-first century in this region. This may have major implications for groundwater resources of the region and for groundwater dependent ecosystems. This study evaluated the impacts of current and future land use and climate on groundwater yields in south-west Western Australia.

The total study area was about 37,200 km² of which relatively complex multi-layered multi aquifer regional groundwater models were used for scenario modelling in about 20,000 km² area. Altogether five future climate scenarios were considered, two of which assumed continuation of either the historical (1975-2007) or recent past (1997-2007) climates until 2030 and three were projected climates derived from 15 GCMs with three global warmings of 0.7, 1 and 1.3 degrees Celsius by 2030. The current land development and levels of abstraction were assumed in all of these scenarios but in a sixth scenario, groundwater abstraction was increased to full allocation levels under a median future climate.

This seminar will present the main findings of this study.

About the speaker
Dr Riasat Ali was team leader for the groundwater component of the South-West Western Australia Sustainable Yields (SWWASY) project. He has BSc in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan and an MSc and PhD in Agricultural Engineering from Oklahoma State University, USA. He joined CSIRO in 1997 after working as a Senior Engineer for the International Waterlogging And Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI) in Pakistan.

Dr Riasat Ali is currently a senior research scientist in the Groundwater Hydrology Program of CSIRO Land and Water. In addition to the SWWASY project, he leads the South Coast integrated surface and groundwater modelling project.

His research interests are in salinity management in irrigated and dryland systems; modelling climate change impacts on groundwater systems; geochemical interactions between soil and water; simulation-optimisation of groundwater; and drainage discharge management and modelling.

This research was delivered through CSIRO’s Water for a Healthy Country Flagship.

This seminar is the first in a series of four to present the results of the South-West Western Australia Sustainable Yields Project. Next seminars in the series...

Thursday 22 April: Surface Water by Dr Richard Silberstein
Thursday 29 April: Environment by Dr Olga Barron
Thursday 6 May: Water Yields and Demands by Dr Don McFarlane

For seminar information email Perth Seminars or phone (08) 9333 6221
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