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Objective

Recommendation

Key issues

What has been achieved 1998-2003

Tasmania Together

Related Issue Reports

Objective

To improve the prospects for sustainable groundwater use and integrated management of surface water and groundwater.

Recommendation

It is recommended that:

• administrative mechanisms are implemented to: recognise the continuity between surface and groundwater; give effect to the intent of the Water Management Act 1999; and to investigate the potential administrative overlap between the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment and Mineral Resources Tasmania responsibilities for groundwater management;
   
• consideration of the impact of groundwater extraction on surface water sources and limitations to groundwater extractions are included as part of the development of Water Management Plans;
   
• licenses are implemented for the extraction of groundwater from high yielding bores;
   
• studies are undertaken to support Statewide sustainable management of the groundwater resource, including regional assessments of groundwater quality and sustainable yield;
   
• groundwater management plans are implemented for key catchments and/or groundwater aquifers; and
   
• assessments are undertaken of the impact of contaminants on future groundwater resource development.
   

Key issues

Supporting information for this recommendation is contained in Groundwater and Land Use and Inland Waters issue reports. Over-extraction and point source and diffuse source pollution are the main risks to groundwater resources in Tasmania. There are potential links between land use change and the quality and quantity of groundwater resources (e.g. land clearance and native vegetation conversion).

Contamination of groundwater from landfill sites (both current operating sites and closed sites) is a significant environmental problem facing Tasmania. A study of the effects of waste disposal on groundwater quality identified groundwater contamination at six of the ten sites that were investigated. If this percentage is extrapolated to the 176 sites identified around the State, potentially up to 100 waste disposal sites may have contaminated groundwater (Ezzy 2002).

Currently there is no formal assessment of requirements to support environmental needs in relation to groundwater, nor formal allocation for environmental groundwater use.

What has been achieved 1998-2003

The implementation process of the groundwater reform recommendations put forward by the Council of Australian Government's is now being undertaken, including methods for risk mitigation. Some of the principal initiatives in Tasmania include the following.

• The Water Management Act 1999 provides for the licensing of extraction boreholes and for the development of integrated water management planning, but does not include any requirement for investigation of groundwater regimes and aquifers on a local or regional scale. A key aspect currently being considered is licensing of all high yielding bores.
   
• The National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) for the Assessment of Site Contamination was implemented as a State Policy in Tasmania in 2002. It includes criteria for groundwater investigation levels, and where criteria are not specified in the NEPM, other relevant guidelines are used (e.g. ANZECC Water Quality Guidelines 2000, the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority 1994 Guidelines for the Assessment of Service Station Sites, or the Environment Quality Objectives in the Netherlands 1999).
   
• Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT) is the custodian of a groundwater database and carries out regular monitoring of a number of boreholes throughout the State.
   
• Catchment maps of resources are presently being prepared by Mineral Resources Tasmania.
   
• The DPIWE Environmental Guidelines for the Use of Recycled Water in Tasmania (2002) specify requirements in relation to protection of groundwater (e.g. establishment of groundwater bores to monitor level and quality of groundwater).
   

Tasmania Together

Relevant Tasmania Together goals and standards for 'Inland Waters and Wetlands' are listed in the linked file. The Tasmania Together Progress Board reported on progress toward targets for benchmarks set (Tasmania Together Progress Board 2003). Indicators, targets and baseline data are available in the latest Progress Report June 2003. Further information, including progress report updates, is available from Tasmania Together.

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