Sustainable groundwater management of high risk aquifers for the north coast of New South Wales, Australia

摘要

The State government of New South Wales (NSW) Australia recognised that its natural resources was under increasing threat from a variety of sources. It introduced a range of Land, Water and Vegetation Reforms to determine the degree of impact and then to develop and implement policy that will enable sustainable development. The Water Reforms were initiated in NSW for groundwater in 1998. The implementation of these reforms required that all groundwater systems across the State be classified according to the risk of over-extraction and/or contamination with the associated environmental damage. To focus activity on areas at risk that could be recovered all aquifer systems in the State were assessed. The NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) will concentrate resources and implement the development of detailed groundwater management plans on high or medium risk aquifer systems.Water Management Committees were appointed to develop 10-year plans for surface and groumdwater management. These committees are made up of government, industry, indigenous and environment representatives. Recommendations on sustainable yield, allocation, pricing and trading, and compliance are made in the plans that are then submitted to the State minister for approval. This paper focuses on the initiatives in groundwater management, with reference to case studies on basaltic and coastal sand aquifers.