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Objective

Recommendation

Key issues

Actions taken

Objective

To ensure that water allocation mechanisms recognise that surface and groundwater are a single resource.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the proposed water management package recognises the continuity between surface and groundwater and includes a single legislative framework for managing the allocation of water resources.

Key issues

This information is available from Volume 2 of the last SoE Report (SDAC 1997), which can be downloaded. The final objective, final recommendation, and a summary of key management actions are detailed below.

Actions taken

Since the previous SoE Report (1997), a legislative framework for the integration of surface and groundwater management has been provided by the Water Management Act 1999. However, there are no formal licensing arrangements linking groundwater and surface water, as each are registered separately. There is limited understanding of whether groundwater use in Tasmania is sustainable because of inadequate knowledge relating to: sustainable yield; the links between land use effects such as plantation development and groundwater recharge; and inadequate monitoring of groundwater quality.