Water Budgets: catchment water budgets and water resource assessment

R. Doble, P. Cook and J. McCallum
This project will use modelling and field methods to investigate surface – water groundwater processes in tropical river systems. The Fitzroy River (WA) and the Daly River will be used as a case study. The aims of the project are to:
1. Develop an understanding of bank storage processes in tropical rivers, and the relative importance of regional groundwater discharge in sustaining dry season flows and permanent water holes;
2. Model representative cross sections of the Fitzroy River to understand the relationships between groundwater and surface water regimes during wet and dry season fluctuations, using field data to support the modelling; and
3. Determine to what extent river water analyses are able to represent the integrated impacts of groundwater systems draining to the river.
In the Daly River, fieldwork will include groundwater sampling using existing NRETA boreholes at Oolloo Crossing to determine:
1. How floods influence groundwater next to the river, causing it to rise and fall. This will be determined by measuring the height of groundwater in the bores.
2. How the floods influence the salinity of the groundwater. This is determined by measuring the groundwater salinity (or electrical conductivity) in the bores, and will tell us how far in to the aquifer the river water flows during floods.
http://www.track.gov.au/research.html