National Management of GAB

The Great Artesian Basin covers four states; NSW, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. What happens in one state can impact another and yet the states, using different criteria not a standard approach, decide where development can take place. Environmental studies for individual developments do not assess the impacts in other states, or the cumulative impacts on the whole GAB.

Similar to the Murray Darling River system which also covers four states, the water in the GAB has been exploited by successive state governments to fill the coffers with no regard for overall impacts. Without independent management the states bicker over water allocations for short term economic benefit, disregarding long term effects.

Risks to the GAB

Pilliga gas well

A paper published by the CSIRO in 2011 stated that ‘mining, manufacturing, and other industries use about 20% of all water consumed in Australia’. It recognised the fast growing mining industry, the risks it posed by discharging large quantities of water into the environment, and the resulting water management challenges.

Rob Banks’ outlines some of the risks to the Great Artesian Basin in an executive summary in his report on the Great Artesian Basin, published in December 2014.

Origins of the GAB’s Water

Since 1900 some of Australia’s and the world’s most respected scientists have argued about the origins of the water in the Great Artesian Basin. The common assumption was that any water taken out was replenished by rainfall.

Traditionally, the recharge for the GAB has been thought to be 30% of the basin, and that it was significant. The recently published information contained in this report shows clearly that effective recharge (>1 mm/yr) is only 6% of the GAB. (SoilFutures Report, p. 23)

Recent studies reveal that three theories apply to different sections of the basin and although it is replenished by rainfall it is at an alarmingly slow rate compared to the amount of water being taken out. The following are the three theories of the origins of the water in the GAB -

Rob Banks Researches the GAB

Coonamble NSW

Anne Kennedy, an advocate and campaigner for the protection of the Great Artesian Basin, was introduced to soil scientist Rob Banks by Penny Blatchford. Anne employed Rob to do a similar report to Penny’s, on the Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL 238) which covered her property near Coonamble in the West Pilliga district.

Part of Penny’s and Anne’s PELs were on the Great Artesian Basin’s (GAB) recharge areas. Anne’s PEL covered part of the Coonamble lobe area, where artesian water is the only reliable water source. After completing Anne’s study, the NSW Artesian Bore Water Users Association commissioned Rob to study the recharge and discharge areas of the GAB in NSW and the potential risks from CSG.

Meeting a Geomorphologist

Liverpool Plains

Robert Banks is a professional soil scientist and geomorphologist. If you’re like me, you’ll ask, “What’s that?” and now I can tell you, it’s someone who interprets how landscapes have evolved. I spoke with Rob in Gunnedah at the start of my gas tour to The Pilliga and southern Queensland.

Earlier I had studied the maps and read his report on recharge and connectivity in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). I needed some points explained as my aptitude for understanding all things scientific is woeful. Luckily my brains trust has a science background, and this saved Rob from having to answer my first round of inane questions. But that’s what this blog’s about, getting me to understand how the GAB works and how it is being impacted by agriculture and industry. If I can understand it, anyone can!

Third of World's Big Groundwater Basins in Distress

NASA revealed on June 17 that one third of the world’s 37 largest groundwater systems are in distress. Fortunately the Great Artesian Basin is not one of them but two years has passed since the data was collected by satellite. 

Of the 37 aquifers studied 21 have ‘exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted, with 13 considered significantly distressed, threatening regional water security and resilience’. The Canning Basin in Western Australia is one of these.

A companion paper published the same day concluded that ‘the total remaining volume of the world’s usable groundwater is poorly known, with estimates that often vary widely’.

Link to NASA maps and more information. 

Help by Learning About CSG

Drilling rig near Miles, Queensland

I recently drove to Chinchilla in Queensland to find out about the effects of coal seam gas mining on a small country town since production began in 2006. I met Karen Auty, a resident of the town, who knows many people in the area who live on lifestyle blocks, productive farming land and in the town.

I interviewed Karen and am posting her comments along with my observations and research in a series of blogs on CSG education, before and after a gas boom, roads and litter, noise and air pollution, and health impacts, including mental health.