Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment
The Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and the National Water Commission have engaged CSIRO and Geoscience Australia to undertake the Assessment.
The Assessment involves a basin-scale investigation of water resources to fill knowledge gaps about the status of water resources in the basin and the potential impacts of climate change and resource development.
The Great Artesian Basin covers more than 1.7 million square kilometres and underlies parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory (see the map below).
The Assessment will play an important role in synthesising the available information about the hydrological status of the basin's water resources and future water availability, particularly in light of increased industry demand and the potential impact of climate change on recharge in one of the nation's key productive and shared water resources.
The outputs of the research will provide governments and industry with an unprecedented level of water information to guide future resource planning, management and investment.
This Assessment is contributing to building a national picture of our water resources and is a continuation of the Sustainable Yields projects that have been undertaken by CSIRO and partners since 2007.
