Groundwater

Groundwater is a valuable natural resource throughout South Australia. It represents the largest source of freshwater in the state and is critical to the health of ecological communities and the viability of the agricultural, pastoral, mining and tourism industries.

Groundwater is also used for domestic water supply, irrigated horticulture and a variety of industrial applications, as well as sustaining important cultural flows of First Nations. As the demand for groundwater is projected to increase in the future, the careful protection of this valuable resource is critical.

Like all water resources, groundwater is susceptible to pollution. Certain industries and land uses, as well as poor waste management practices, can result in pollutants seeping into the underlying groundwater and adversely impacting its quality. Groundwater pollution can have a significant effect on human health, ecosystems and socio-economic development.

Regulation of groundwater

In South Australia, groundwater is predominantly regulated by 3 State Government bodies:

• The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) typically regulates groundwater quantity across the state.
• The EPA typically regulates groundwater quality.
• The Department for Energy and Mining (DEM) also plays a critical role in the management of groundwater in South Australia, through the regulation of energy, mining and extractive resource operations.

Where regulatory requirements overlap, the relevant State Government bodies work together to ensure a cohesive approach (see diagram).

Licensed activities

To assist in understanding groundwater monitoring requirements for licensed activities, the EPA is developing a series of documents titled Guidelines for groundwater quality monitoring of regulated activities.

The guideline series will comprise the following publications:

1. Groundwater monitoring bore network design
2. Groundwater sampling
3. Establishing baseline groundwater quality
4. Establishing groundwater quality assessment criteria
5. Developing a groundwater monitoring and management plan
6. Groundwater quality assessment reporting.

The first guideline in the series has now been published, Guideline 3 – Establishing baseline groundwater quality. It is important to note that the EPA does not expect this guideline to be implemented immediately. Rather, it is anticipated that there will be a transition period of at least 5 years to enable all relevant stakeholders to understand and apply the guideline. This will also allow time for clarification to be sought from the EPA where expectations are not clear.

Whilst the intended stakeholders for this guideline are specifically EPA licence-holders who are required to undertake groundwater monitoring as a condition of licence, the document may also be utilised by other regulators as a suitable reference document for activities that are subject to groundwater monitoring requirements under different legislation.

Other guidelines in the series will be progressively published with an anticipated completion date in 2026.