Eurobodalla Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy

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Eurobodalla Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy
Consultation with the affected property owners and with the Water Management
Committee.
Groundwater Recharge
Another environmental reuse opportunity is the use of stormwater and reclaimed water to
recharge groundwater aquifers. Implementing this type of opportunity would be heavily
dependent on having favourable aquifer conditions.
Extensive groundwater investigations to prove the suitability of the aquifer and to establish
design parameters would be essential before considering this reuse opportunity. Areas
where the opportunity may be viable include South Durras and Broulee.
When evaluating if the Broulee and South Durras Aquifers are appropriate for water storage
and reuse, consideration needs to be given to the designated beneficial uses for the
groundwater. The designated beneficial uses such as irrigation and ecosystem support are
determine from:
Background groundwater quality, taking into consideration the National Water
Quality Management Strategy (1992) which specify guideline values for water
quality parameters for different beneficial uses and
Local historical and continuing uses of those aquifers where these differ from
national and state guidelines.
Further information on aquifer storage and recovery can be found in the report by the
Centre For Groundwater Studies (2000)
Costs
The costs for the Northern and Southern reuse schemes are presented in Table 8-13.
Table 8-13 Costs for the Regional Reclaimed Water Scheme
Capital ($1000) NPV 7% ($m)
Northern Scheme 4 842 5 769
Southern Scheme 10 500 11 415
8.5 Regional Integrated Water Cycle Management Options
8.5.1 Overview
Having evaluated the range of water resource opportunities using the IWCM process, the
next step involves combining these opportunities to form integrated water resources
options. These are developed for both the regional water scheme, and for each
village/town.
Traditionally, water utilities have focused on developing greater supply sources to meet the
growing water needs and community expectations. These strategies have been based on
traditional engineering solutions such as developing facilities for supply, treatment, storage
and distribution. With the emphasis solely on maintaining reliable water supplies, little
consideration has been given to the environment.
It has been assessed that on balance, higher protection of the river flows of the existing
supply sources in the future is preferable (i.e. 95/30 environmental flow regime until 2020