Australian Water Management Review Vol 2 2013 | Page 82

Professor Craig Simmons is one of the many groundwater researchers in Australia who is trying to find answers and drive policy change. As director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), Professor Simmons is heading a comprehensive research program focused on finding answers to technical as well as social and policy issues. “Because groundwater is underground we pay it insufficient attention – often treating it as a free and infinite resource to be tapped at will,” he said. “If that continues, we risk another tragedy of the commons. “Groundwater needs to feature much more prominently in our national and local water debates, planning and reform. The critical nexus between water, population, climate and energy must be a major driver for national water reform as we move into the 21st century.” Managing groundwater Accurately quantifying total groundwater extraction is just one side of the ledger – estimating recharge is even more challenging. Recharge processes can be extremely long-term, sometimes stretching over hundreds of thousands of years. In the Great Artesian Basin, water tables started declining within a few years of the first groundwater bores being sunk, and some aquifers in Australia have now dried out completely.
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Dr Rick Evans, President of the International Association of Hydrogeologists Australia, said for a long time there was a complete vacuum regarding government policy on groundwater in Australia. “This has been partially addressed over the last decade or so, but we still have a long way to go. Many of the policy proposals have not yet been accepted across Australia,” said Dr Evans. While there have been a myriad of reforms such as full-cost accounting and charging for surface water, progress in managing groundwater has been slower. “Surface-water reforms have tended to be applied to groundwater, which in some cases has been good,” said Dr Evans. “But overall this approach is far too simplistic, because groundwater is quite different and many of the concepts and management regimes simply do not apply. “Unless we get serious about the management of groundwater in many countries in the world, t ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????t?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????9???????]???
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