Oral Presentation NCGRT/IAH Australasian Groundwater Conference 2019

The Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDE) Atlas' role in decision-making (160)

Eloise Nation 1 , Ben Digregorio 1 , Lacey Elsum 1 , Elisabetta Carrara 1 , Natasha Amerasinghe 2 , Sarah Taylor 2
  1. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. Office of Water Science, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Objectives

Information identifying the location and characteristics of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs) is a key input for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and water management plans (Nelson, 2019). The Bureau of Meteorology’s GDE Atlas is Australia’s comprehensive national inventory of GDEs (Hoyos et al., 2016). The National Groundwater Strategic Framework identifies the Atlas as a key source of groundwater-surface water connectivity information. The Atlas is also an important tool identified in the Independent Expert Scientific Committees’ Information Guidelines. It is used across multiple levels of government, industry, consulting, natural resource management and by the general public. To maximise the impact and value of the Atlas its future development will be based on clear strategic direction and understanding of user requirements. This presentation will show how recent developments have improved the Atlas for use in decision-making using a case study from the EIA process.

Design and methodology

Stakeholder engagement activities were undertaken in 2017 – 2019 including establishing a GDE Reference Group and conducting workshops and surveys. This established the needs of key stakeholders (GDE Atlas users, GDE data custodians and GDE experts) for future development of the Atlas.

Results

Stakeholder requirements included timely GDE data updates, infilling of missing GDE data coverage, additional datasets (e.g. groundwater levels), web services and supporting information (e.g. updated GDE Toolbox). These requirements informed the development the "GDE Atlas Future Directions 2018 – 2024", a 5-year strategy for updating the Atlas.

Conclusion 

The Bureau, together with the GDE Reference Group, is delivering the Future Directions strategy through establishing regular, streamlined GDE data updates, updating the GDE data model, developing a business case for updating the GDE Toolbox and publishing GDE web services. These developments will provide a comprehensive and current suite of GDE information for use in decision-making including the EIA process.

 

  1. Hoyos, I. C., Krakauer, N. Y., Khanbilvardi, R., & Armstrong, R. A. (2016). A Review of Advances in the Identification and Characterization of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Using Geospatial Technologies. Retrieved 4 24, 2019, from https://mdpi.com/2076-3263/6/2/17
  2. Nelson, R. (2019, April). Water data and the legitimacy deficit: a regulatory review and nationwide survey of challenges considering cumulative environmental effects of coal and coal seam gas developments. AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF WATER RESOURCES, 1-12.