Water resources - Availability - South Australia
Groundwater Management Unit: Padthaway - 2
Introduction
The groundwater resource characteristics for the Padthaway - 2 groundwater managment unit are presented below. This includes technical detail on aquifer properties and water level change for key monitoring bores.
What is the character of Padthaway - 2's groundwater resource?
Vital Statistics:
| Area | 707km2 |
|---|---|
| Total Water Allocated | no data |
| Total Water Used | no data |
| Average Salinity | 2,000 mg/L |
| Sustainable Yield | 1,000 ML/yr |
| Depth to top of aquifer | 75 m |
Aquifer Description:
The confined aquifer essentially comprises unconsolidated silt, sand and gravel. These units often occur within an interbedded sequence with clay confining beds.
Method used for determining sustainable yield:
Sustainable Yield Definition:
The groundwater extraction regime, measured over a specified planning timeframe, that allows acceptable levels of stress and protects the higher value uses associated with the total resource.
Sustainable yield is rate at which groundwater can be pumped without causing:
- Long term decline of potentiometric surface (or watertable)
- Undesirable effects such as salinity increases
This may mean pumping less than recharge, i.e. sustainability from the salinity view point may be considerably less than sustainability from the hydraulic perspective.
The sustainable yield has been estimated from a combination of groundwater modelling and lateral throughflow estimation. Some decline in groundwater level is expected, given the low vertical leakage fluxes, with a new groundwater equilibrium being achieved.
Assumptions used for allocating development categories:
Category 1:
- Based on estimates of stock and domestic use, and knowledge that there a few extraction wells in the GMU.
Are groundwater levels changing?
Technical information on the key groundwater bores and monitoring stations is presented below, including hydrographs where available. Link to a discussion on groundwater levels and trends at a State level as it relates to dryland salinity.
There are no bore monitoring stations recorded in this area for this assessment
Further information
- South Australia Water Resources Assessment 2000 Report
- South Australia Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report
- For more information about water and other natural resource issues link to www.dwr.sa.gov.au
Key
Links to an another web site
Opens a pop-up window