Government of South Australia South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board May 2010 South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Monitoring requirements for water resources in the Arid Lands Zac Sibenaler DISCLAIMER The South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board, and its employees do not warrant or make any representation regarding the use, or results of use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, reliability, currency or otherwise. The South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board and its employees expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or advice. © South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board 2009 This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth), no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission obtained from the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be directed to the General Manager, South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Railway Station Building, PO Box 2227, Port Augusta, SA, 5700 Table of Contents DISCLAIMER 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 LIST OF FIGURES 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 BACKGROUND 6 DESCRIPTION OF WATER RESOURCES 8 NORTHERN REGION 8 Surface Water 8 Groundwater 12 SOUTHERN PROVINCES 13 Surface water 13 Groundwater 13 WATER-DEPENDENT ECOSYSTEMS 14 COMPETING USES OF WATER. 16 FLOODING 17 HISTORICAL SURFACE WATER DATA COLLECTION 17 RAINFALL NETWORKS 17 HISTORICAL SURFACE FLOW NETWORKS 17 Flow measurements relying on field flow measurements 17 Additional rainfall data to assist in establishment of rainfall to runoff relations 18 The AridFlo Program 21 WATER QUALITY SURFACE FLOW NETWORKS 21 HISTORICAL GROUNDWATER MONITORING NETWORKS 23 Marla Monitoring Network 23 Leigh Creek Monitoring Network 23 Great Artesian Basin Network 24 Other Groundwater Monitoring 24 CURRENT SURFACE WATER MONITORING NETWORKS 26 Creeks Discharging Westwards into Lake Eyre 26 Creeks Discharging Eastwards into Lake Eyre 27 Western Flinders Ranges, Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre South 27 Eastern Flinders Ranges and Lake Frome 27 Lake Torrens and the North Spencer Gulf 28 Gawler Craton complex 28 CURRENT GROUNDWATER MONITORING NETWORKS 29 Marla Monitoring Network 29 Anangu-Pitjantjatjara Land Monitoring Network 29 BHP Billiton Well-field A and Well-field B monitoring networks 29 Proposed Great Artesian Basin Regional Groundwater Monitoring Network 30 KEY STAKEHOLDERS 31 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ARID LANDS NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BOARD (SAAL NRM) 31 DEPARTMENT OF WATER, LAND AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION (DWLBC) 31 BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY (BOM) 31 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT, ENERGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE (DTEI) 31 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE (DEH) 31 ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) 31 SANTOS 32 2 MINING INDUSTRY 32 COMMUNITY BASED MONITORING 32 MONITORING GAPS & DISCUSSION 33 GENERAL WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 33 SURFACE WATER MONITORING 34 GROUNDWATER MONITORING 37 GROUNDWATER DEPENDENT ECOSYSTEMS 38 WATER QUALITY 38 COORDINATION 39 RECOMMENDATIONS 40 Board’s Objectives and Programs in Water Monitoring 40 Surface Water Management Recommendations 42 Groundwater Management Recommendations 45 PROPOSED HYDROLOGY PROJECT 50 PREVIOUS HYDROLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS OF THE WINDY AND EMU CREEK CATCHMENTS 50 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY 51 TIMING AND FUNDING 52 END PRODUCT 53 REFERENCES 54 APPENDIX A: TABLES 56 APPENDIX B: SUMMARY OF DWLBC REPORT “SURFACE WATER MONITORING IN THE ARID NORTH OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA” (DEANE UNPUB.) 137 List Of Figures Figure 1 Homesteads, Townships & Mining and Petroleum Production Sites 9 Figure 2 Current & Historical Observation Well Networks & Groundwater Basins 10 Figure 3 Current & Historical Surface Water Gauge Networks & Surface Water Catchment Basins 11 Figure 4 Spring & Waterhole Locations 15 Figure 5 Current Rain Gauge and Evaporation Station Networks 19 Figure 6 Historical Observation Rain Gauge and Evaporation Station Networks 20 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A review of past water resources monitoring programs in the SAAL NRM area indicates a mismatch between plans and performance. It is concluded that the main reasons for the poor performance has been the overly ambitious nature of many past plans coupled with the low level of dedicated, appropriate, qualified resources located within the area and applied to the monitoring tasks. The highest recommended priorities for building on this foundation in relation to the establishment and operation of an appropriate water monitoring program are: 1. The development of Board policies to ensure that any persons or organisations involved in water related activities collect appropriate data and forward it to the Board for collation, cataloguing and analysis. 2. The continuation of present arrangements in monitoring while funds are set aside for the establishment of the improved arrangements as described below and detailed in the body of this report. 3. The appointment of a trained hydrologist to take charge of and operate the upgraded monitoring program as described in this report. 4. The hydrologist to oversee the establishment and operation of an „integrated‟ water data base covering water related activities, surface water, groundwater, springs, water related environments, water quality, etc. This may be in cooperation with other agencies (Eg Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), the Department of Water Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC), Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA)), but the design and operation of the data bases must cover all the requirements of the Board in its primary objective of understanding and protecting the hydrology and related environments within its area. The data base should store data in a manner that maximises the usefulness of the data for later analysis. The data base should contain data on: The quantification of surface and groundwater related activities carried out within the area and the impacts that the activities have on the surface and groundwater related environments and/or other potential activities. The nature and location of environments that are dependent on the continuation of stream flows, spring discharges or near surface aquifers. The key hydrological parameters related to the ongoing health of a selection of high priority or representative examples of these water dependant environments, as described in this report. The historical records of past hydrological occurrences that can add value to an understanding of the hydrology of the water systems within the area. 4 5. The trial and operational development of new technologies for remote sensing of soil moisture, evaporation, surface flows, groundwater recharge, vegetation cover, etc., that can provide an improved „holistic‟ understanding of the processes involved in local, catchment scale and regional water balances at a lower cost. 6. The establishment of a Monitoring Coordinating Committee to coordinate monitoring activities, ensure efficient use of limited resources and coordinate any needs for additional funding. 7. The Committee should develop programs and communication paths that seek to involve other public and private collectors of data within the NRM area in order to broaden the extent of data and the community‟s appreciation of the role of data collection. Some examples are provided in the report. 8.By 2030, the average annual rainfall over the NRM Board‟s area is expected to decrease by 2 to 5%. However, the variability will also increase so that while droughts will be deeper and longer, and major events may occur less frequently, when they do occur they may be more severe. Due to expected higher temperatures, evapotranspiration rates will also increase by about 2 to4%, thus causing greater stress on water held in storages and on any biota dependent on this water. 5 BACKGROUND The Board‟s role in water management must be based on a good understanding of the hydrology within its areas of responsibility. The level of understanding must be in proportion to the level of risk that activities can impact on, or be impacted by aspects of the local and regional hydrology and hydrogeology. Under the NRM Act the Board must produce a water management plan and carry out functions in data collection to facilitate the plan. The plan must include information on: The water resources within the region; The state and condition of the water resources and related trends; and Environmental, social, economic and practical considerations relating to the use, management, conservation, protection, improvement and, if relevant, rehabilitation, of the water resources within the region. The Australian water Resources Council (1988) listed the following uses for water data: Water resource planning and management – e.g. water allocation planning; climatic studies; surface and groundwater interaction studies. Land resource planning and management – e.g. salinity – land-use interaction studies; eutrophication investigations. Environmental management – e.g. environmental impact assessments; estimating ecosystem water requirements; conservation of biodiversity. Primary Industry – e.g. agriculture; mining; soil conservation studies. Water and power supply – e.g. town supplies; irrigation. Transport – e.g. design of drainage works for new roads, railways. Flood mitigation – e.g. flood forecasting The type and intensity of these activities will dictate the needs for monitoring data. Since the