WATER DOWN UNDER
Understanding and Managing Australia’s Great Artesian Basin
© Commonwealth of Australia 2011
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ISBN: 978-1-921733-19-2
Text: Carol Booth, Wendy Tubman
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Introduction
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is one of the world’s largest groundwater resources. It lies
under 22% of Australia, stretching from the wet tropics to outback deserts and vast pastoral
areas.
A relatively unsung hero, the GAB has sustained Aboriginal people for thousands of years and
now supports a wide range of communities, enterprises and industries. It is truly a resource of
national importance.
Like many of Australia’s natural resources, the GAB faces many challenges. New, rapidly
evolving industries now compete with traditional pastoral and agricultural users for a share of
GAB water.
Management of the GAB is complex and requires a great deal of cooperation between five
governments, hundreds of communities and the many industries that rely on its waters.
‘Water Down Under’ is a timely introduction to the many features, wonders and uses of the
Great Artesian Basin – how it functions, how its use has changed over time and how it must be
protected and managed into the future.
Jeff Austin
Chair
Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee (GABCC)
Connections
On a snowy day in New York, a shivering commuter slips on a pair of mittens. The wool of her
mittens was shorn from a sheep that drinks from a trough near Marree in South Australia. The
water in the trough has emerged under its own pressure, from a bore reaching down 1000
metres into the Great Artesian Basin, and after an underground journey lasting many hundreds
of thousands of years.
The water first seeped into the earth during a downpour on the Great Dividing Range in
eastern Australia. Some of the rain re-emerged in a nearby spring, where herds of giant
wombat-like diprotodons drank.
Some of it journeys on still, destined to meet the sun again in a million or so years in mound
springs near Lake Eyre, where the local Aboriginal people teach their children how the springs
are linked to their Dreaming.
In such ways the mysterious flows of the Great Artesian Basin connect us across time,
distance and cultures.
It is sometimes tempting to envisage Australia’s Great Artesian Basin as an enormous
underground lake, separate from ‘real’ life above until tapped for productive use.
But it is not a lake at all; it is solid rock, with water stored in the pores between the coarse
grains of sand in vast sandstone sheets. And the Basin’s water is connected to aboveground
lifecycles, received as rain, and emerging in springs, streams and bores.
The springs are inextricably woven into stories and histories of Aboriginal people. They
sustained early European exploration and settlement where permanent water was scarce.
With the drilling of bores, artesian waters now sustain people, towns and industries across
almost a quarter of the country, in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the
Northern Territory.
Wise management of this extraordinary resource is fundamental to the well-being – and future
– of Australia and its people.
The Basin is much more than a reservoir for people to water the arid, sparsely populated land
above. It is home to some of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth and attracts thousands of
visitors every year. Its waters contribute to the billions of dollars worth of industry that operate
within the Basin, and support unique plants and animals. The Basin’s waters offer
considerable potential for increased levels and greater diversity of production, and ways of
facing future challenges such as climate variability and low carbon energy sources.
2
Time, Rocks and Water
Turn on a tap in Birdsville or Bollon or Andamooka, and you can drink water that fell as rain 1
to 2 million years ago and percolated into a giant underground basin crafted by nature 100 to
200 million years ago. Geology and meteorology have endowed Australia with one of the
world’s largest freshwater reservoirs – holding enough to cover the Earth’s landmass with half
a metre of water.
Sometime during the Triassic age, over 200 million years ago, when Australia was joined with
Africa, South America, Antarctica and New Zealand as part of Gondwana, a shallow ocean
covered the low-lying northeast quarter of Australia. Fine-grained mud and silt settled out and,
over time and under pressure, formed an impermeable layer of rock. When the ocean
retreated, great rivers washed sand from eroding ranges over the area. That sand packed
down to form a vast sheet of sandstone atop the bedrock of mudstone and siltstone.
Over tens of million of years, as ice ages came and went, as oceans advanced and retreated,
and as rain eroded mountains, the various natural forces laid down more rock, sandwiching
porous and permeable sandstone sheets between impermeable mudstone and siltstone.
The Basin took its current shape, sloping down to its southwestern margins, after the collision
of tectonic plates lifted its eastern edges, and other parts gradually subsided.
Most of the water entering the aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin falls as rain or leaks down
from riverbeds on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. It joins a grand procession,
trickling south, southwest and west through the sandstone down the incline towards central
Australia. In the north, the flows are to the north and northwest. Some water also percolates
into the system in central Australia from rain and surface flow.
Confined under pressure by the mudstone and siltstone layers above and below, the water
wends through microscopic gaps between coarse rock grains and fractures in the rock, drawn
onward by the combined influence of gravity and pressure at a rate of one to five metres a
year.
Water emerges naturally from the Basin through faults or vents into springs or shallow
watertables or leaks slowly through confining layers to the surface of the Basin. Most springs
and leakages occur on the southern and western edges of the Basin where some aquifers
come closer to the surface and confining layers are thinner. Springs also occur on the eastern
edge of the Basin not far from where the water entered the system. Some water emerges into
creeks and rivers.
But for the past century, some of the underground water has taken a shortcut to the surface –
through bores drilled into the sandstone aquifers.
The Basin undoubtedly deserves the ‘Great’ of its name, for it is the largest artesian
basin in the world, and one of the largest reservoirs of fresh water. It holds 65,000
million megalitres (65,000,000,000,000,000 litres).
Water quality and temperature
3
Geographical extent of the GAB
Dimensions
Basin depth: from <100 m at the edges to 3000 m at the thickest
Area:
1.7 million km2, 1300 km at its widest, about 22% of Australia
Total volume of stored water: 65,000 million mega litres (65,000 km3)
Age of water:
up to 2 million years
Maximum pressure: 1300 kilopascals
Water temperature: average 30–50° C, max 100° C at the surface; 130°+ C at depth
Average groundwater flow rate:
1–5 metres per year
4
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated
materials (gravel, sand, or silt) in which groundwater can flow.
The oldest, lowest layers of the Basin actually sit in a few different basins separated by rock
ridges, but the upper layers of the Basin are continuous.
Water Quality and Temperature
Fed by rainfall, much of the Basin’s waters are of appropriate quality for most uses, including
drinking. But minerals absorbed during the journey underground mean that water quality
varies. High sodium levels in water from some aquifers make it unsuitable for irrigation, or too
salty for human consumption. The water is often quite alkaline, and some contains high levels
of fluoride.
Water temperatures also vary, from 30°C in shallow aquifers to more than 100°C in deep
aquifers. The water is warmed by heat produced in the Earth’s crust by uranium and thorium
and by past volcanic activity.
Photo courtesy of GABCC
5
Natural Flows
In four shallow springs on a spinifex plain in Queensland’s dry centre, male Red-finned Blueeyes flash their scarlet-tipped fins to attract a mate. Just three centimetres long, this tiniest of
Australian freshwater fish is so distinctive that it is the only member of its own sub-family.
And numbering only 3000 or so, its future is uncertain. The Blue-Eyes are one of many unique
kinds of life populating the springs of the Great Artesian Basin. As enduring wet places within
a dry landscape, the springs support a wide range of both plants and animals found nowhere
else. Research into these places continues to discover species never before described.
Photo courtesy Adam Kerezsy
The Red-finned Blue-eye (Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis) lives in springs with a combined area of less
than 0.3 hectares, part of the Edgbaston Springs complex. Many springs at this location dried up due to
bore development, but introduced mosquito fish are now regarded as the main threat to the blue-eye’s
survival. The Edgbaston Springs have two other unique fish and many rare and geographically restricted
kinds of invertebrates and plants, which are now protected in a conservation reserve.
Water flows from the Basin through thousands of mainly small spring vents and soaks located
in more than 600 artesian springs and spring groups, mostly around the southern, western and
northern margins in South Australia and Queensland. Their flows are generally low, from less
than 1 litre to about 150 litres per second.
The springs are genuine oases since much of the Basin area averages less than 200 mm of
rain a year. Evaporation from waterbodies can reach 4000 mm a year.
Blanche Cup mound spring, South Australia Photo Courtesy of GABCC
6
The biological communities that depend on springs are links to times long past, when central
Australia was lush with wetlands. The great drying of inland Australia over millions of years
has left many water-dependent creatures surviving only in springs. Most other natural
waterbodies in arid parts of the Basin are dry for part of the year. The isolation of these
communities has led to the development of species found nowhere else.
Springs along the eastern and northern edges of the Basin occur where aquifers overflow with
recent rainfall. These springs also sustain diverse and unique plants and animals. A large
array of spiders and insect species inhabit the spring wetlands (known as boggomosses) near
the Dawson River in Queensland.
GAB recharge site Elliot Falls, Jardine River National Park, Cape
York Peninsula, Qld Photo courtesy Glenn Walker
Artesian springs on Cape York Peninsula have high flows that support lush rainforest. They
also contribute substantially to the baseflow of some rivers. Other springs discharge through
the sea bed in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Basin waters also flow into at least 80 other waterways – augmenting baseflows that help
sustain them during times of low rainfall.
Life underground
Scientists continue to discover life deep underground. Many kinds of stygofauna are
microscopic. Some species can live in boiling and corrosive water as found in parts of the
GAB. The task of identifying the thousands of microscopic species in artesian water has barely
begun.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Moles
7
There are a dozen main groups of discharge and recharge springs containing thousands of individual
springs and seeps
Natural discharges
Water naturally emerges from the Basin:




Through discharge springs – at the western and southern margins, where aquifers come
close to the surface, and elsewhere, where aquifers meet vents or faults.
Through recharge springs – along the eastern margins, where aquifers overflow with water
that recently entered the system.
Into waterways in some parts of the Basin; the extent of this flow is poorly understood.
Via shallow watertables – as much as half of the natural water loss from the Basin occurs
by leakage through thin confining rock close to the surface.
8
People and the Basin
For traditional owners of the Basin area, the springs across the vast arid interior were often the
only assured source of water, and prime sites for hunting. They remain precious cultural and
sacred sites – integral to ceremonies and stories, permeated with the histories of their
ancestors, to maintain the cultural power of many springs.
We are in the middle of kwarye (water) it is all around us, we have to look after this
place.
Mr Bingy Lowe, Elder, Southern Arrernte people
Artefacts and oral histories show that springs were often places for making and collecting tools
and plant products that could be traded with other tribes along trade routes following the chain
of springs. Some such sites are 12,000–20,000 years old. The ancient tools, rock art, burial
places and scarred trees found around springs are protected by law.
Forging beyond early settlements, searching for a mythical inland sea, explorers wrote of
finding marshes, salty rivers, springs, areas of mysteriously verdant vegetation, wetlands, reed
beds and salt mounds. For years they were oblivious to signs that ‘the sea’ was indeed there –
but down under.
Some of these signs, the springs, enabled the journeys of early European explorers such as
Stuart, Warburton and Babbage. They were sites of pastoral settlement and travel routes for
camel trains carrying essential supplies and wool for early settlers. The overland telegraph and
the Ghan railway followed the line of GAB springs through South Australia.
‘Barren scrub’ was explorer John Oxley’s description of reed beds he struggled through for
weeks in 1818 in northwest NSW. Unbeknownst to him, he was crossing the Great Artesian
Basin, in the area now known as the Macquarie Marshes. Oxley eventually gave up on this
journey of ‘disappointment and desolation’.
In 1878, sixty years after Oxley’s ‘disappointment’, the clues finally fell into place. The first
bore was drilled into the Basin at Killara Station, in north-western New South Wales, finding
water at 53 metres. The first substantial flows came from holes drilled in 1886–87, at
Thurulgoonia Station and Barcaldine in Queensland. The 210 metre Barcaldine bore gushed
more than 700,000 litres a day, making news around the world and triggering a bore drilling
boom and pastoral development. By 1900, despite the huge expense and uncertainty of
success, 524 bores had been sunk.
From Bamaga in the far north, south to Dubbo in central NSW, and from Toowoomba in the
east to Coober Pedy in the west, water from the Great Artesian Basin contributes to the lives
of more than 180,000 people and 7,600 enterprises.
Basin water is used in households in more than 120 towns and settlements and on hundreds
of properties. The pastoral industry has long been the largest user of GAB water, but it is also
used in petroleum, mining, tourism and other industries. Total production in the GAB area is
worth billions of dollars per year.
The precise degree to which the waters of the GAB contribute to Australia’s rural economy is
difficult to know, but it is clear from the historical pattern of development of the basin area, and
the dependence of some industries on groundwater supplies, that it is crucial to economic
development.
9
Dean Ah Chee, of the Southern Arrernte people, describes how important the mound springs
in Witjira National Park (on the western edge of the Simpson Desert) are to his people:
[They] are universal to our Tjukurba...
Tjukurba is not just a story, nor a myth, for Tjukurba is more than just ‘Dreaming’, it
contains our spiritual connection, our traditional lore, our culture, our heritage and the
stories, songs and dances associated with the land. It contains the reasons for how
and why things such as water, fire and the landscape exist.
Dean Ah Chee of the Lower Southern Arrentre people on
traditional lands Photo courtesy of Dean Ah Chee
Production uses of Basin water
Water from the Basin is the lifeblood of many rural communities and agricultural, mining and
tourism businesses.
Traditionally, pastoralism has used the greatest proportion of Basin water, however this
decreased under the various bore rehabilitation and bore drain replacement programs.
Pastoral water use will continue to decrease as remaining bores are capped and more bore
drains are replaced with pipes and troughs.
The mining of copper, uranium, coal, bauxite and opals depends on a reliable supply of
artesian water from the Basin. The extraction of oil and gas from the Basin results in the
simultaneous extraction of substantial amounts of artesian water as a by product. For
example, coal seam gas extraction is a rapidly expanding industry, and likely to use large
amounts of artesian water for the life of those projects. Once regarded as a waste, this
‘associated’ water is now seen as a resource with potentially economically valuable uses.
Tourist attractions and developments across the Basin rely on artesian water. In some areas,
artesian water is used in mineral spas and tourists are attracted by the cultural and natural
history of springs that are developed as visitor sites.
10
The Flows Slow
[‘It is flowing, ever flowing,’ crowed bush poet Banjo Paterson in 1896 in his ‘Song of the
Artesian Water’. The tremendously and endlessly gushing waters of early bores even
convinced some that the supply was ‘inexhaustible’.
Historic image - Sheep at Cambridge Downs Station Qld
circa 1894 Image: John Oxley Library 109158
In a way they were right. The Great Artesian Basin will not run dry, 120 years of exploitation
having used up less than 0.1 per cent of the water stored. But what declines is water pressure.
When water flows from a bore, there is less pressure available to push water out of the aquifer
downstream.
Even before the start of the twentieth century, only a decade into the bore water boom,
declining flows dashed hopes of an inexhaustible supply. In 1912, the first of many interstate
conferences was called to consider remedies.
Despite the continued drilling of new bores, flows from artesian bores peaked at more than
3,000 megalitres a day in 1915. As the number of bores grew to more than 4,700, artesian
pressure began to fall and the total flow from bores declined to about 1,500 megalitres a day.
Pressure in some bores fell by as much as 80 metres and a third stopped flowing altogether.
As artesian pressure fell, so did the amount of water flowing from the aquifers below.
Expensive pumping was needed to extract water from bores that became sub-artesian.
11
GAB bore discharge and bores drilled summary
Located at the far end of the aquifers, the desert springs were particularly vulnerable to
declining pressure. In addition to dwindling flows, many springs were damaged by excavation,
trampling by stock and even by tourists. Exotic invaders such as goats, camels, pigs, mosquito
fish and various weeds all degraded the areas around springs.
Technology and the materials available for the construction of bores, prior to the middle of the
20th century, limited the life of bores, resulting in bore failure and leakage. Early bores were
uncontrolled, flowing freely into open drains where more than 95 per cent of the water was
wasted by seeping into the soil and evaporating in the hot, dry air.hey]
But it’s hark! The whistle’s blowing with a wild, exultant blast,
And the boys are madly cheering, for they’ve struck the flow at last:
And it’s rushing up the tubing from four thousand feet below,
Till it spouts above the casing in a million-gallon flow.
And it’s down, deeper downOh, it comes from deeper down:
It is flowing, ever flowing, in a free, unstinted measure
From the silent hidden places where the old earth hides her treasureWhere the old earth hides her treasures deeper down.
“Song of the Artesian Water” by Banjo Patterson, published in The Bulletin, 12 December 1896.
12
Improving Basin Management
Loss of pressure and declining flows sparked calls for state governments to control bore
drilling. In 1910, the Queensland Government assumed ownership of Basin water and required
landholders to obtain bore licences. In 1912, the New South Wales Government introduced
licensing and construction standards for bores over 30m deep in the western division, and this
was amended in 1966 to enable all groundwater to be vested in the Crown. South Australia
passed similar legislation in 1976 and also moved to regulate bore construction.
As technology improved, laws were passed requiring flow-control mechanisms and distribution
in pipes instead of open drains. Standards were set to prevent bore erosion and leaking.
From 1952, State governments also set up schemes to rehabilitate free-flowing bores and
replace drains with pipes. By 1999, more than 600 bores had been capped. But, with over
3,000 uncontrolled bores and 34,000 kilometres of open drains, much work remained.
When wetter is not better
Permanent water was once sparse across most of the Basin, but the development of the
pastoral industry saw the construction of thousands of dams, bores and windmills, and
thousands of kilometres of bore drains. Weeds established along bore drains and millions of
once-arid hectares became accessible to feral animals that compete with native animals for
food and habitat, or prey directly on them.
There are now few places more than six kilometres from a waterpoint. Those native animals
adapted to a waterless existence have fared poorly. But the water has been a boon for other
wildlife – seed-eating birds, for example, which need to drink. Some species of kangaroo have
also benefited and expanded their range.
The bore rehabilitation and bore drain replacement programs of the past few decades have
provided opportunities to manage this situation, restore some of the natural balance and
protect wildlife in the arid lands.
The Great Artesian Basin Strategic Management Plan
Community concern about the waste of water, falling artesian pressures and related natural
resource problems such as erosion around bores and weed invasion, led to the development
of a Strategic Management Plan (SMP) for the Basin. It was completed and signed by
Ministers in 2000. While town and rural supply had been the traditional uses of Basin water in
the 20th century, the expansion of mining and other industries required a new, wider focus.
The SMP envisioned a Basin-wide approach based on cooperation and coordination,
underpinned by a better understanding of the Basin and improved technologies, materials and
industry practices.
The SMP heralded a new era of looking at the Basin and how it is used. Decades of capping
and piping had already changed many landholders’ attitudes – and behaviours – as to how
much better the resource could be managed. Outback tourism was leading to a growing
appreciation of the Basin’s Indigenous and non-indigenous cultural values, and environmental
values. In turn, this was raising awareness of the Basin in the wider community. Interest from
research organisations was adding to the scientific understanding of the Basin, while new
materials and technologies held – and continue to hold - the promise of better monitoring, new
infrastructure and even new industries.
13
Landholder and rehabilitated (capped and piped) bore Photo courtesy of GABCC
At the same time, State and Territory governments moved to amend legislation and establish
new frameworks to allocate and manage Basin waters. States coordinated with each other and
statutory water sharing plans for the GAB were finalised in Queensland, New South Wales and
South Australia between 2006-2009. Springs are protected in these plans by caps on the
amount of water that can be allocated and by set-back distances for licence approvals. The
Plans also enable water trading and harmonise and coordinate cross-border arrangements.
The Northern Territory has commenced development of a plan.
Springs that depend on the natural discharge of GAB water are now recognised as a
threatened ecological community and listed under Commonwealth legislation as a matter of
national environmental significance. A recovery plan for their on-going protection and
management is now in place.
In addition to the springs protection provisions in the GAB water sharing plans, some springs
are now also protected in conservation reserves. Research to share and better understand the
values and needs of the springs is also underway, including an extensive GAB bibliography,
database and mapping of more than 4,000 spring vents. In addition, there are many on-ground
projects to control the weeds and feral animals that have degraded springs. Some of these
projects are benefiting from partnerships with the traditional owners.
The SMP also captured the significance of resource management partnerships in the Basin
and the collaboration between resource management groups in protecting cultural heritage
and environmental values. For example, partnerships are being built between GAB water
managers and community-based natural resource management groups, which have a key role
in land management activities in the GAB.
Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative
In parallel with the targets of the SMP, the Australian Government initiated the Great Artesian
Basin Sustainability Initiative (GABSI) in 1999. This program helps landholders rehabilitate
bores and replace bore drains with piped systems.
By 2009, water savings from GABSI and earlier initiatives had topped 299,000 megalitres a
year. These capping and piping programs have conserved water and brought other public and
private benefits. More flows are reaching springs; the removal of drains is reducing erosion,
weeds and feral animals; pastoralists can better manage grazing pressure; and some of the
water saved can be used for economic benefit. The many advantages for graziers, including
financial gains, have convinced most that closed water delivery systems are the best option.
Our operating costs have been reduced by around $20 000 and that’s a conservative
estimate. Even though it was expensive to rehabilitate the bore because of its depth,
we’ve really benefited from reduced maintenance and labour costs, and it’s easier to
manage our stock.
Ian Hall, grazier, Mulianna (near Quilpie, Queensland)
14
Cooperative management
The SMP, GABSI and coordinated state water plans are good examples of the increasingly
cooperative management of the Basin. So too is the Great Artesian Basin Coordinating
Committee which works collaboratively to ensure consistency across State borders, the
involvement of stakeholders in all Basin states, the encouragement of targeted research
activities, and to ensure Ministers are informed of emerging issues.
The 2004 National Water Initiative provides the over-arching framework for cooperative
management of the Basin waters for economic, social and environmental benefits. Among
other things, it has guided the establishment of water markets to achieve the most profitable
and judicious use of artesian water, and more transparent and comprehensive water planning.
Basin land and water management is undergoing continuous reform through numerous public
and private initiatives, including projects by natural resource management groups, increased
protection for springs, and improved industry practices.
These reforms are being supported by solid research and shared knowledge. A GAB
Resource Study was published in 1998, and updated in 2010. It provides a snapshot of
management approaches and technical, ecological, social and economic conditions of the
Basin. Since then, a number of significant research projects have, and are continuing to be,
funded by the Commonwealth, Basin States and NRM groups. The GABCC released a
research and development prospectus for the GAB in 2008.
An independent report into how the GAB is managed across state borders was prepared by
Sinclair Knight Merz in 2004. A mid-term review of GABSI Phase 2 was undertaken in 2008
and a review of GABSI infrastructure was completed in 2010. The GAB SMP was also
updated in 2008 to provide a sharper focus for its implementation and to reflect the significant
technical, social and political changes since 2000.
The Australian Government, in collaboration with the States, is establishing a consistent
Basin-wide hydrological monitoring network and funding a major water resource assessment
of the GAB. This is due for completion in 2012.
Ongoing research, improved technology – such as telemetry to monitor bores remotely – and
new materials for pipes and bores, will ensure past achievements are built upon and more
sophisticated management continues into the future.
15
Protecting artesian springs
Improvement of spring flows, now a higher priority, is being achieved through bore capping
and limits to water extraction. Recovery of endangered ecological communities at springs is
guided by a federal recovery plan. Some springs are protected in conservation reserves and
others are being rehabilitated through the efforts of government, community groups and
individuals. Six spring researcher forums have also been held since 2000 to share technical
knowledge.
Who Does What
Within a framework of cooperative management:





State and Territory governments manage their respective parts of the Basin under their
own laws and receive advice from state GAB advisory groups. Water plans, developed in
consultation with the community, set water entitlements and protect flows to springs and
waterways. Under GABSI, the State and Australian Governments and landholders agreed
to work cooperatively and to invest significant public and private funds to repair
uncontrolled artesian GAB bores and replace open bore drains with piped water
reticulation systems. State level GAB advisory groups report to their respective Ministers
on groundwater matters and guide the roll-out of GABSI piping and capping programs
within their state.
The Australian Government facilitates the cooperative management of water resources
through intergovernmental agreements, and contributes half the public funding for GABSI.
Federal environment laws apply when actions may affect nationally listed threatened
species or ecological communities such as the community dependent on GAB natural
discharge springs.
The Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee, with representatives from federal,
state and territory governments, community stakeholders and water users, facilitates
cooperative and collaborative management of the Basin. It provides policy advice,
monitors progress, identifies research needs, and liaises with other groups.
Natural Resource Management Regional bodies, of which there are 19 across the
Basin, address some of the broader natural resource issues – such as weeds and pest
animals – arising from the use and management of Basin waters.
Water users and land managers contribute to Basin management by participating in
GABSI, adopting new technologies, improving land management and industry practices,
and participating in water planning.
Under GABSI, the federal and state governments subsidise up to 80 per cent of the cost
of bore capping and 40-80 per cent of the cost of replacing bore drains with pipes.
Benefits of capping & piping for graziers:






Reduces maintenance and labour costs
Improves stock and grazing control
Reduces degradation around drains
Facilitates control of feral animals
Improves water quality and pressure
Increases the reliability of supply
16
Capping and piping progress to mid – 2010:
Bores controlled
Pre-GABSI
GABSI to 30 June
2010
Total
Estimated still to go
641
517
Bore drains
removed (km)
3,234
16,437
Water saved / year
(GL)
126
173
1,158
537
19,671
7,314
299
-
A Strong Future
Since concerns about the state of the Great Artesian Basin were first raised more than a
century ago, considerable reform has been achieved. In the face of rising demands for water
in a more variable climate, satisfaction of ecological, economic and social goals will be met
through strong, collaborative partnerships.
There is already concerted action to protect springs and the ecological communities that
depend on them. Recognition is growing that Basin water must be used in ways that maintains
and enhances biodiversity and reverses land degradation. There is also a move towards more
active participation, especially with Indigenous Australians seeking to strengthen their
connections to springs and traditional lands.
Opportunity exists in a number of areas for improved harmonisation of state water sharing
plans in the ‘next generation’ planning cycle. This will further promote consistent management
outcomes for the GAB. Legislation is also progressively being amended to ensure adequate
regulation of the impacts of emerging industries.
Consistent Basin-wide monitoring is progressively expanding, and new pressures on water
resources in the area of the GAB are seeing increasing research to ensure decisions about the
allocation and management of the GAB are supported by best available science.
Encouragingly, the third phase of GABSI involves an increased level of funding and has an
emphasis on works that will lead to water pressure recovery at identified high value springs.
Research into infrastructure failure associated with interaquifer leakage is helping define the
extent of the problem and will inform management responses.
Increased pressure on surface water resources due to climate change, coupled with new
demands from emerging industries, will increase demands on the Basin. Prudent management
needs to ensure future generations have multiple choices in how it can be used.
Viewing platform protects vegetation from trampling
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Future uses
Uses for the hot artesian water are being explored – possibilities include heating buildings,
bathing, aquaculture, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and electric power generation.
Australia’s only geothermal power plant, at Birdsville in far west Queensland, uses hot water
from the Basin. Interest in this form of low-emissions power generation is increasing.
Coal seam and shale gas extraction are developing as major industries at various locations in
the GAB.
There is also interest in using the Basin to store carbon dioxide emitted from power stations.
But there are still major logistical problems associated with such sequestration, and long-term
impacts and costs are, as yet, uncertain.
Geothermal energy production at Innamincka, SA
Climate change and the Basin
Climate change is predicted to increase already high evaporation rates from bore ponds,
drains, and springs, and a more variable climate will increase demands on Basin water. While
changes in rainfall resulting from climate change will affect how much water enters the Basin,
artesian flows are extremely slow – at only 1 – 5 m per year – and so the impacts of any
changes are unlikely to be noticeable within normal planning horizons for the GAB.
Geothermal energy from deep within the Basin has the potential to reduce our dependence on
fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Ongoing cooperative management by governments, industries and communities, based on
improved information, effective legislation, advanced technologies and strong partnerships will
ensure sustainable use of the treasure that is Australia’s Great Artesian Basin.
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Timeline
Pre-European settlement – Springs used by Indigenous people for physical, spiritual and
cultural needs for 10,000 – 30,000 years
1878
First artesian bore drilled
1880s
Governments investigate the extent and potential of the Basin
1910/1912
Bore licensing laws passed in Qld & NSW
1912–1928
Interstate conferences on diminishing flows
1954
Inter-jurisdictional report on Basin management completed
1954–1980s States regulate water distribution systems
1952–1999
Bore rehabilitation under state schemes
1987
Technical groups formed to advise governments on Basin policy
1997
Brisbane Forum on GAB Management
1997–2002
GAB Consultative Council
1998
GAB resource study produced
1999
Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative initiated (GABSI)
2000
GAB Strategic Management Plan adopted
2004
National Water Initiative agreement
2004
GAB Coordinating Committee established
2004
SKM report on GAB management issues across state borders
2000–2006
Six Springs Researcher Forums held
2006
GABCC jointly convenes a regional natural resource management forum with
Lake Eyre Basin and Murray-Darling Community Advisory committees
2006–2009
Water sharing plans for Qld, NSW and SA finalised
2008
GAB Strategic Management Plan updated
2009
Number of bores controlled under GABSI reaches 483
2009
GABSI infrastructure review conducted
2010
Release of the Commonwealth springs recovery plan
2010
Commenced GAB Water Resource Assessment
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