Groundwater Management

(2hrs)
• Objective: To be able to explain the
functioning and management of artesian
basins and aquifers.
 Over to you …
• Watch the video carefully stopping it at key points and
recording the most important information under the
following headings
• Importance of water in central Australia
• 2 million years underground!
• From Gondwana to Australia
• The Geology – Clay and silt and Rivers and Sandstone.
• Permeable and Impermeable ‘the sponge test’ = Aquifer
• Total area of the basin & recharge
• Total amount of water in the basin

Use the handouts provided to for annotation purposes.

Terrestrial Pump
Simpson Desert, Birdsville sits
over the Great Artesian Basin,
which is 2032kms wide and
1450km's long, making it one of
the largest underground water
supplies on earth.
With a surface temperature of 98
degrees Celsius, the water has
to be cooled before being
supplied for drinking and
household use.
 Management of GAB - AUS
• Make some revision notes based on the
video on the previous slide.
• Include details of how water has been
traditionally extracted from deep under the
surface.
Recharge Rates
Case Study – GAB Consumers
• http://www.gabcc.org.au/tools/getFile.aspx
?tbl=tblContentItem&id=107

Use the link to the PDF to describe one

case study usage of the GAB artesian basin.
 Environmental Impacts
http://www.basinsustainabilityalliance.org/factsh
eets/factsheet1bsageneraloverviewjuly2010.pdf

Click on the link above. Read the information

carefully before highlighting the main
environmental impacts of groundwater
abstraction.
Groundwater Management