The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is the largest artesian basin in the world and the main source of freshwater for agriculture and human use in inland Queensland. The GAB is defined on hydrological grounds such that its boundaries are different from the constituent sedimentary basins. Most of the extracted groundwater is sourced from the Surat and Eromanga Basins, however, groundwater is also produced from the upper part of the Bowen and Galilee Basins.
Queensland’s GAB has a long agricultural history. Many grains and pulses, and cotton are grown in the better soils and livestock, particularly cattle, are a mainstay of the region. The constituent basins are rich in coal at varying depths and therefore offer the full range of extraction options and uses although development to date has been focused in the Bowen Basin and recently the Surat Basin.
Commercial production of coal-seam gas (CSG) was initiated in the Bowen Basin in 1996 and the Surat Basin in 2006 and production has increased steadily each year to 212 Petajoules (PJ) in 2009-10. The proved and probable reserves of CSG in the Bowen and Surat were 27 992 PJ as of June 2010, making the region the most CSG-rich in the country. To put these reserves in context, the Queensland power grid utilises some 192 PJ per year so the proved and probable CSG reserves could provide Queensland with power for 145 years. However, several environmental and economic concerns have been raised in relation to CSG drilling and production including possible contamination of groundwater and reduced artesian pressures in the GAB aquifers above and below the coal seams in the Surat and southern Bowen Basins. Farmers and pastoralists in the region are also concerned about the effect of coal mining and gas extraction on their land and livelihoods.
Questions
Which models of the effects of coal mining and gas extraction on groundwater interactions in the Surat and Bowen Basins have been useful for land-use planning?
How, if at all, do the consequences of extraction of artesian groundwater for farming and human use differ from the effects of coal mining and gas extraction on groundwater-dependent ecosystems and agriculture in the Surat and Bowen Basins?
Can good decisions about management of groundwater resources in the Surat and Bowen Basins be made without models? Is expert judgement enough?
What has impeded accurate data collection and the development of useful models?
What systems/technologies/innovations could be developed to better model the effects of coal mining and gas extraction on groundwater-dependent ecosystems and agriculture in the Surat and Bowen Basins?
What additional resources or capabilities are required to achieve this?
How could these models be applied more broadly to other ecosystems (eg other groundwater-dependent regions, or to the other breakout group scenarios)?
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