Case Study: South Australia's Groundwater

Did you know? - The Great Artesian Basin is the largest groundwater basin in the world. It lies beneath one-fifth of Australia and approximately one-third of South Australia.

Groundwater use in SA

Not surprisingly in a place like South Australia, which doesn't have ample surface water resources, groundwater is vital. It supplies around 65% of our irrigation water and is a major source of water in some regional areas (for instance Mt Gambier). Groundwater underpins the horticultural industry in the North Adelaide Plains and of course is the source of water for the springs and mineral water suppliers.

In the Adelaide metropolitan area, high-quality groundwater from a deep tertiary aquifer beneath the city is used by our soft-drink and beer industries. Many local recreation and sports fields rely on pumped water to stay green. Some households have sunk their own bores to tap into groundwater supplies.

Some of South Australia's important groundwater systems include the South East, the Mallee, the Northern Adelaide Plains, the Barossa, Clare, the Willunga Basin and parts of Eyre Peninsula. The quality of our groundwater varies from highly saline in the western part of the state and parts of Eyre Peninsula to low salinity water of the Great Artesian Basin and the South East.

Water banking

Prompted by the need to make effective and efficient use otherwise wasted stormwater runoff and reclaimed waters, South Australia has been investigating the potential to harvest these resources by 'banking' the reclaimed water in aquifers and later recovering it for use in irrigation. This technology is known as aquifer storage and recovery.

Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems

A wide diversity of ecosystems depend on groundwater in whole or in part as a source of water. There are many examples of ecosystems that are dependent on groundwater in South Australia. These include:

the mound springs and salt lakes of the arid north which are fed by the Great Artesian basin Blue Lake and the RAMSAR-listed Bool Lagoon and other wetlands in the South East which are fed almost entirely from the limestone aquifer of the lower South-east the submarine groundwater discharges of the Nullarbor Plains the streams flowing from the Mt Lofty Ranges.
In addition to the surface ecosystems that depend on groundwater, aquifers also host their own ecosystems such as the unusual stygofauna, which are tiny shrimp-like creatures that live in the fissures and pores of the aquifers.

Cooper Creek just downstream from the gravesite of explorer Robert O'Hara Burke,
near Innamincka in the far north of South Australia

Getting to know the environment

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems are among the most unusual and most biologically productive in South Australia. In the past, the allocation of groundwater was made without taking into account the needs of the environment. New research is attempting to better understand groundwater-dependent ecosystems so that we can better allocate a fair share of the groundwater resource to them. Inadequate management of the groundwater resource will result in the loss of groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Because groundwater systems respond at much slower time scales that surface waters to land-management changes, it is imperative to get it right as the effects are often irreversible.

Native vegetation and groundwater

In some parts of South Australia (e.g. the Paddocks, Barker Inlet, Urrbrae, Warraparinga wetlands and many other urban wetlands), degraded and low-lying areas are being 'redesigned' with a system of natural creeks, mounds, grassed swales and floodways, ponds, wetlands and flood storage areas. These contain stormwater and regulate discharge downstream. During the high rainfall period in winter, excess stormwater, filtered and cleaned by the wetlands, is pumped into the aquifer below the ground.

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