Monitoring With Intent  

Authors / CoAuthors

Yates, G. | Smith, M.L. | Lytton, L.M. | Slatter, E.

Abstract

Coal Seam Gas (CSG) activities will have an impact on groundwater. But what will be the magnitude, extent and timing of that impact? Faced with this question, and in the absence of comprehensive datasets, groundwater professionals are unable to respond with confidence. CSG activities, with some notable exceptions, are mostly carried out in stratigraphic units far below, or at a lateral distance from, those monitored by existing groundwater monitoring networks. How then can groundwater experts advise regulators and industry appropriately as to the likelihood and nature of impacts to groundwater from CSG activities? Commonwealth approval conditions for the development of CSG projects in the Surat Basin are empowered by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as it pertains to the protection of Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) including springs that host EPBC-listed threatened species and communities. The projects are approved on the basis that there will be no significant impact to MNES. The approval conditions include the requirement for regional monitoring of groundwater levels and quality for the early detection of impacts to springs. In the absence of sufficient time series data that would support sophisticated modelling, the predictive power of simple groundwater flow calculations, together with regional groundwater models, may be deployed to evaluate the envelope of magnitude, extent and timing of groundwater responses. It is proposed that these same tools may be used to develop both monitoring networks and triggers for remedial action that can adapt to increased data availability and changing production scenarios and take account of the inertia in both the physical response within the groundwater system and the institutional response from either the regulator or industry. This will facilitate the protection of groundwater-dependant ecosystems through timely and adaptive management responses whilst ensuring that CSG projects are neither injudiciously promoted, nor prematurely curtailed, through lack of monitoring data or through misinterpretation of changes in those data. This abstract was developed for the International Association of Hydrogeologists Congress, Perth, 2013 based on work undertaken for Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

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nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

76712

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• External PublicationAbstract

( Theme )

• groundwater

( Theme )

• environmental

( Theme )

• energy

( Theme )

• hydrogeology

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Hydrogeology

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2013-01-01T00:00:00

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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This abstract was developed for the International Association of Hydrogeologists Congress, Perth, 2013 based on work undertaken for Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

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