Groundwater monitoring
Groundwater monitoring
The monitoring of groundwater is an essential tool to inform the ongoing management of this vital resource, which supplies water for the environment, for cultural purposes, for stock and domestic use and for licensed extraction.
Statewide network of groundwater monitoring
The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) maintains and operates a network of groundwater monitoring wells across the state, including in Eyre Peninsula’s Prescribed Wells Areas (PWA). Both groundwater levels and salinity are monitored and the data is available at Water Data SA.
The monitoring data is used to assess the condition of the groundwater resources. In the adaptively-managed parts of the PWA (Uley North, Bramfield, Sheringa and Polda), groundwater levels also determine water allocations for licensees on an annual basis.
Monitoring of groundwater by licensees
The WAP requires that licensees using large water entitlements of 50ML or more must, as a condition of their licence, carry out frequent monitoring of groundwater levels and salinity. If specified trigger levels are reached, they must implement risk management strategies to protect the groundwater resources.
Monitoring related to groundwater dependent ecosystems
The Board continues to monitor groundwater at sites in both the Southern Basins and Musgrave PWA to assess if groundwater is being maintained at levels needed to protect groundwater dependent ecosystems, such as redgums and wetlands.
Previously (2018-2022), the Board directly assessed the condition of some of these groundwater dependent ecosystems (see report cards below) however the monitoring methodologies had problems in separating potential impacts from groundwater extraction in comparison with impacts from climatic variability or other factors so this was discontinued.
Report cards summarising the results of past monitoring
2022
- Overview of Eyre Peninsula Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem (GDE) report cards 2022
- Bellevue - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2022
- Bramfield - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2022
- Coulta - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2022
- Polda - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2022
- Wanilla - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2022
2021
- Overview of Eyre Peninsula Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem (GDE) report cards 2021
- Bellevue- EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2021
- Bramfield- EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2021
- Coulta - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2021
- Polda - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2021
- Wanilla - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2021
2020
- Overview of Eyre Peninsula Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem (GDE) report cards 2020
- Bellevue - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2020
- Bramfield - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2020
- Coulta - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2020
- Polda - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2020
- Wanilla - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2020
2019
- Overview of Eyre Peninsula Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem (GDE) report cards 2019 (528KB)
- Bellevue - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2019 (761KB)
- Bramfield - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2019 (824KB)
- Coulta - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2019 (680KB)
- Polda - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2019 (705KB)
- Wanilla - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2019 (758KB)
2018
- Overview of Eyre Peninsula Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem (GDE) report cards 2018 (403KB)
- Bellevue - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2018 (815KB)
- Bramfield - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2018 (873KB)
- Coulta - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2018 (766KB)
- Polda - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2018 (788KB)
- Wanilla - EP Red Gum GDE monitoring site report card 2018 (808KB).
Groundwater monitoring resources and reports
- WaterConnect is your portal to the latest information about South Australia's water resources, providing you with direct access to water-related publications and data. For yearly reports on the groundwater status please search via the interactive map in this link.
- Long-term groundwater level and salinity data for Musgrave and Southern Basins Prescribed Wells Areas can be accessed here.
- Real time rainfall data for several sites across Eyre Peninsula can be accessed here.
- As part of the mid-term evaluation of the previous (2016) WAP, we have a summary of key data collected for the period 2015 to 2020, under the Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) Plan.