Program 3: Surface Water - Groundwater Interactions

Traditionally groundwater has been managed as a separate resource to surface water.

A critical issue facing Australia is understanding the extent of connectivity so that both can be protected and managed as a single resource. Scientists in the NCGRT will develop urgently needed field techniques and theoretical criteria to assess the interaction.

Current methodologies fail to provide consistent answers on how much surface water ends up as groundwater or vice versa. Researchers in Program 3 will address fundamental flaws in past theories and develop ways to systematically and consistently estimate connectivity. For example, they will use different tools and tracers to resolve various paradoxes in existing thinking to better understand the relationship and changes that occur during events such as storms or drought.

Closing fundamental knowledge gaps involving the inter-connection of groundwater with rivers, lakes and wetlands will also help address issues such as water quality and the protection of delicate groundwater dependent ecosystems.

Many of Australia's surface water systems are episodic and dry up in summer, while others are affected by tides and variable salinity. To better understand the impacts of these changes, researchers will be using state of the art field systems and modelling tools that are highly specialised and at the cutting edge of those used internationally.

Sub-program 3A: Groundwater recharge from losing streams

Sub-program 3B: Groundwater discharge to gaining streams

Sub-program 3C: River – Hyporheic exchanges

Sub-program 3D: Groundwater interaction with estuarine rivers, lakes and wetlands

Download the Program 3 outline .

Leader

Professor Peter Cook, CSIRO/Flinders

For enquiries about Program 3 email Peter Cook

Chief and Partner Investigators

• Professor Ian Acworth, UNSW
• Dr Martin Andersen, UNSW
• Dr Ross Brodie, GA
• Professor Ian Cartwright, Monash
• Dr Massimo Gasparon, UQ
• Dr Glenn Harrington, CSIRO/Flinders
• Dr Marc LeBlanc, JCU
• Professor Ling Li, UQ
• Professor David Lockington, UQ
• Dr Andrew Love, Flinders
• Associate Professor Catherine Lovelock, UQ
• Professor Craig Simmons, Flinders
• Dr Adrian Werner, Flinders