Posted 12 August 2020
Recently published results from the Cotton RDC funded research by UNSW and ANSTO has advanced our knowledge about the importance and impact of groundwater discharge from the Great Artesian Basin into the lower Namoi alluvium (Iverach et al. 2017). The research has also demonstrated that methane has migrated from the underlying coal measures into the Namoi alluvium (Iverach et al. 2020).
Further research is now required to understand the pathways of gas migration and the time needed for the gas to migrate from the coal measures into the Namoi alluvium. This research is providing important open data about groundwater resources in the Namoi region and is informing the community and government discussions about the current and potential future impacts of the irrigation sector and the proposed Narrabri Gas Project. This is evident by the recent citation of this research at the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) Narrabri Gas Project public hearing.
Further information about the IPC’s public hearings into the Narrabri Gas Project is available here.
Right: Charlotte Iverach conducting fieldwork
Professor Andy Baker features in American Water Resources Association ‘Water Resources Impact’, September 2020 edition.
The Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) is pleased to welcome Taylor Coyne to its network as a postgraduate researcher. If you’re engaged in research at a postgraduate level, and you’re interested in joining the CWI network, get in touch! The CWI network includes multidisciplinary researchers across the Schools of Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Languages and Law.
The Grand Challenge on Rapid Urbanisation will establish Think Deep Australia, led by Dr Marilu Melo Zurita, to explore how we can use our urban underground spaces for community benefit.
On the 21 August 2020, CWI researchers made a submission to the National Water Reform Inquiry, identifying priority areas and making a number of recommendations as to how to achieve a sustainable groundwater future for Australia.
Results published from a research project between the Land Development Department (LDD) Thailand and UNSW has demonstrated how 2-dimensional mapping can be used to understand soil salinity adjacent to a earthen canal in north east Thailand (Khongnawang et al. 2020).
