222893e

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND WATERSecuring Australia’s groundwater futureProfessor Craig T. Simmons, Director, National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Australia;and Neil Power, Director, State Research Coordination, Goyder Institute for Water Research, South AustraliaTo many outsiders Australia is a land of surf and sundrenchedbeaches. But venture a short way inland and itis mostly semi-arid and desert, a land mass where droughtis all too common and water is an extremely valuable commodity.To prosper in such a parched and unforgiving environment, thenation has become increasingly reliant on groundwater. From alargely untapped resource 40 years ago, groundwater is now the lifebloodof communities and key to economic development for largeparts of the country. An estimate widely accepted by scientists andpolicymakers is that groundwater now directly supplies more than30 per cent of the nation’s consumptive use.Access to such low-cost, good quality water has delivered massivesocial and economic benefits, allowing industry and urban andregional centres to flourish. Without it, agriculture and miningwould struggle, numerous rural towns and cities such as Perth,Newcastle and Alice Springs would lose their main water source,and countless dependent ecosystems would perish.Managing the impact of this rapid increase in extraction andsecuring the long-term future of the resource for all users isGroundwater use in Australia as a percentage of total water use inkey catchments across the countrySource: Australian Water Resources Council/CSIROhighly complex and challenging. It involves manycompeting interests – community, industrial andenvironmental – as well as federal, state and locallevels of government.One of the biggest challenges is to manage thecumulative environmental impact of multiple actionson the baseflow of rivers, springs, wetlands and othergroundwater-dependent ecosystems. The uncertainty ofclimate change and climate variability is adding anotherlayer of complexity. The concern is that if groundwateris not properly managed, over-development couldresult in the irreversible degradation of aquifers andaffect the reliability of surface water resources. Such ascenario would have significant economic and environmentalramifications.Efforts to better understand and manage groundwaterhave been the subject of various intergovernmentalinitiatives over the past 20 years. These have increasinglyfocused on the need for a coordinated, national response.The most recent initiative – the National GroundwaterAction Plan, which was funded by the AustralianGovernment through the National Water Commission– helped explore knowledge gaps through extensivehydrogeological investigations and assisted in establishingthe National Centre for Groundwater Research andTraining (NCGRT) for large-scale capacity building.While good progress is being made, there is recognitionthat Australia still has some way to go to secureits groundwater future. Recent projects have succeededin developing general tools, baseline assessments andguidelines to improve groundwater management, butthe work started from a relatively low base.Australia still needs to answer critical questions inareas such as the scale of groundwater use and its depletion,the impacts on connected surface water resourcesand the risk of increased salinity posed by high levelsof extraction. Accurately quantifying total groundwateruse is just one side of the ledger; estimating rechargeis even more challenging. The recharge process canbe extremely long-term, sometimes stretching overhundreds of thousands of years.To achieve long-term goals, a new NationalGroundwater Strategic Plan is being developed to guidepolicy and decision makers over the next 10 years. Theplanning process is groundbreaking in that it has soughtinput from all key stakeholders, including water managers,policymakers and researchers across national, state[ 260 ]