Locating groundwater resources for Aboriginal communities in remote and arid parts of South Australia

Abstract

Finding and utilizing reliable water supplies for desert communities is important but difficult and expensive. This is especially the case in the remote north and northwest of South Australia, where there are a number of small Aboriginal communities with populations of less than a hundred people. Rainfall is sparse and intermittent (less than 200 mm/yr), and residents rely on groundwater for nonpotable supplies. Previous drilling in shallow sediments aiming for porous aquifers has led to problems with long-term well production. More recent wells targeting deeper fractured rock aquifers are showing more promise; unfortunately, such boreholes are more expensive and difficult to install. The aim of our work is to use natural-source magnetotelluric (MT) imaging to try and identify better sites for bores, and therefore reduce the risk of drilling a dry well. We hope to do this by imaging the 3D conductivity structure, allowing the identification of possible aquifers, and also by measuring the anisotropy due to water-bearing fractures, through the sensitivity of natural-source MT responses to electrically anisotropic layers in the subsurface. The first phase of our work, described here, is to test the method at a site where the hydrogeology is relatively well understood. The second phase will apply it to a community in need.

Hydrogeological characterisation and groundwater exploration for the development of irrigated agriculture in the West Kimberley region, Western Australia

“…While similar groundwater exploration programmes have been carried out in eastern Australia (e.g. Inverarity et al 2011;Ross, 2014), and throughout the world (e.g. Ramesh and Mahesha, 2006;Moussa et al 2017;Saha et al 2018;Iqbal et al 2018; and many others), our work is critical to support agricultural investment in northern Australia.…”

Hydrogeophysics for Informed Water Management Decisions in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia

“…Inspired by previous work in another part of South Australia (Inverarity et al, 2011) the purpose of this humanitarian geophysics project is to demonstrate that non-invasive surfacebased TEM and NMR geophysical measurements are effective for aquifer characterization in remote areas of the APY lands. The main goal is to produce a geophysical dataset that will aid in improving water resource security in the APY lands.…”

Groundwater Aquifer Characterization Using Geophysical Methods

“…Geophysical methods have been used for groundwater management for a long time. Such methods are very efficiend in solving groundwater-related problems such as; find groundwater aquifers (Inverarity et al, 2011), seawater intrusions (Allen, et al, 2002), managing groundwater aquifers (Skokan and Munoz, 2010;Abraham et al, 2010), monitoring aquifers (Eigenberg and Woodbury, 2012), track flow paths (Kofoed et al, 2011), etc. Kirsch (2009 presents a good review of different geophysical methods and how we can use it in groundwater applications.…”