Who: Department of Sustainability and Environment, rural water corporations.

Timeframe: Mid 2012.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment will work with rural water corporations, catchment management authorities and groundwater users to revise the boundaries of groundwater management units (GMU) to align with groundwater systems.

The revised GMU boundaries will:

• cover all parts of a groundwater system that share common characteristics and/or are interconnected;
• be set at an operational and administrative scale appropriate for efficient management. Other boundaries, such as surface water catchments, administrative boundaries and existing groundwater management boundaries, will be considered;
• identify zones within management units to be used for specific management needs and variations; and
• where necessary, identify the need for transitional arrangements to avoid sudden changes in management arrangements for water users and processes for implementing future boundary changes.