Project overview

Climate change is decreasing river flows across Victoria. These declines are expected to continue but may not be uniform across the state. At times, some areas may have a surplus of water where others are in drought.

This threat to water security across the state requires improved understanding, monitoring, and prediction of the climate change risks to water in Victoria. This will support informed decision making and the development of adaptive management practices.

Project overview

The project will assess whether brackish palaeochannels can provide emergency water in high-demand agricultural areas of south-west Western Australia (WA).

Palaeochannels are ancient underground riverbeds that no longer support a river. Yet, they often still hold large amounts of groundwater.

Communities and industries in south-west WA are already vulnerable to drought. Climate change is expected to further affect water supply and security. 

Project overview

Central Tablelands Water, Orange City Council and Cabonne Council collectively provide water to around 52,000 people in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales.

The region faces water security and management challenges. Population growth is also placing pressure on the water supply.

The preliminary business case will investigate options to improve water supply in the region. It will consider water source options including:

Project overview

Bathurst experienced its worst drought on record between 2017 and 2019 which highlighted shortcomings in the security of the town water supply.

There is a gap of 2,805 megalitres (ML) between the water supply available and what is required for the current population of Bathurst.

To address this gap, the Bathurst Regional Council is identifying opportunities to use other water sources through this detailed business case project.

The Bathurst Water Harvesting project is being delivered in 2 stages:

Project overview

Communicating groundwater decisions is difficult when communities or stakeholders do not have a good understanding of the concepts and processes. Groundwater flows, unlike surface water, are hidden making it harder to explain how the system and processes work. This project proposes to increase groundwater knowledge and understanding for Indigenous Australians, communities and groundwater practitioners.

Project overview

Most of Australia’s regional and remote communities are dependent on groundwater resources for their water supply. Many ecosystems are also dependent on groundwater supplies for healthy functioning.

The purpose of the project is to rewrite and update the nation’s current groundwater modelling guidelines, improving the scientific foundation from which decision-making is derived, influencing water availability, security and quality outcomes.

Project overview

The hydrology of Ti Tree Basin in the Northern Territory is poorly understood.  Within this basin there is the potential for future developments. This includes accessing the Ti Tree Paleochannel. These are ancient underground riverbeds which can hold large amounts of water. This paleochannel is on Anmatyerre and Kaytetye Country. 

Project overview

This project will assess water infrastructure in at least 48 Aboriginal communities. This will provide a better understanding of:

• the condition of the infrastructure
• the work needed to meet community needs and drinking water guidelines
• how urgent the work is.

The completed assessments are already being used to plan for future upgrades.

On-Country engagement with communities plays a key role in this project. The Water Corporation is collecting information on community views, priorities and aspirations.

Project overview

Groundwater is an important source of water for communities or agriculture in many parts of Australia. However, groundwater can have salts, minerals or other chemicals dissolved in it. Water with these natural contaminants may need to be treated before it can be used. Treatment to remove dissolved salts and other contaminants is called desalination.

This project is a practical pilot demonstration of an emerging desalination technology  called iFORO, at several sites in regional Western Australia.

The Northern Territory’s Keep River Plains are suitable for irrigated agriculture but lack adequate water infrastructure. New infrastructure could enable up to an additional 24,700 hectares of irrigated agriculture and deliver significant economic growth.

The detailed business case will investigate: