Current Victorian/National Groundwater Action Plan Projects
Victoria has secured over $3M towards four projects that will strengthen our knowledge and understanding about groundwater.
Groundwater SAFE Project (Secure Allocations, Future Entitlements)
This project aims to provide greater security and certainty for groundwater users and managers. Management boundaries will be extended to cover the entire state. For each management area, the Permissible Consumptive Volume will be reviewed in consideration of new knowledge.
Groundwater SAFE poster (PDF~303kB)
Lower Ovens Resource Assessment
The project will build on preliminary investigations and seek to establish clear management regimes for water use in the Lower Ovens Catchment. The approach aims to balance the demand for groundwater and surface water between all users including the environment.
Lower Oven Resource Assessment poster (PDF~1.8MB)
South Australian/Victorian Groundwater Interaction
In ongoing partnership with the South Australian (SA) Government, this project looks at how much groundwater leaks from the upper aquifer (Tertiary Limestone) to the lower aquifer (Tertiary Confined Sand Aquifer). The project focuses on the SA/Vic border around in the Lake Mundi area. The project will help to determine whether extraction of groundwater from the lower aquifer impacts availability of groundwater in the upper aquifer. This will inform decisions on future use of groundwater from the region.
South Australian/Victorian Groundwater Interaction poster (PDF~410kB)
Accounting for GDEs in Management Plans
Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs) are ecosystems that depend on groundwater for their survival. This project will result in a new framework for dealing with GDEs within a management plan.