Groundwater Down Under: NGWA International Brown Bag Series

Presented on Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Discover why there has never been a better time and greater opportunity for groundwater research, education, management, and policy reform to make a material and urgently needed difference to the long-term management and sustainability of critical groundwater resources in Australia — and globally — during this half-hour presentation.

Groundwater makes up almost all of the available freshwater on our planet — 97 percent of freshwater on Earth lies in the ground beneath our feet. Groundwater supplies half of the world’s drinking water and 43 percent of the water used to grow food. UNESCO reports current global groundwater extraction is approaching 1,000 km3/year — more than 13 times the annual flow over the entire Niagara Falls — and it shows no sign of slowing. Groundwater depletion and pollution are huge international issues.

Aboriginal art in Australia reveals the important cultural and spiritual significance of groundwater to Aboriginal people over many thousands of years; the popular Australian icon, the tin-bladed windmill pumping groundwater from beneath the hot dry land for stock, crops, and people, is also a stunning visual reminder of the importance of groundwater for Australian agriculture today. As a land of droughts and flooding rains, and the driest inhabited continent on Earth, groundwater has been, and will continue to be, important to Australia. Groundwater provides more than 30 percent of Australia’s total water consumption — supporting agriculture, mining, industry, and water supplies in some cities and the outback — generating national economic activity in Australia worth in excess of $34 billion a year.

This presentation will discuss some key Australian groundwater challenges and opportunities in areas including policy/management, research, technical practice, education/training, and overarching governance/institutional arrangements such as the:

•Securing of the Great Artesian Basin
•Successful implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan
•Impacts of unconventional gas and hydraulic fracturing on groundwater
•Mining and groundwater
•Proposals for the future development of Northern Australia
•Role of groundwater in urban and rural water security
•Safeguarding environmental and cultural flows
•Impacts of climate change on groundwater.

Speaker:
Craig T. Simmons, Ph.D., FTSE
National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training based at Flinders University, Australia
Craig T. Simmons, Ph.D., FTSE, is director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training based at Flinders University, where is also Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Hydrogeology and Schultz Chair in the Environment. Recognized for major national and international contributions to groundwater science, education, and policy reform, he is one of Australia’s foremost groundwater academics and has been a significant contributor to global advances in the science of hydrogeology for many years. Simmons serves as deputy chair of the Australian government’s Statutory Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development, as well as deputy chair of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering’s Water Forum. He is also a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Unconventional Hydrocarbon Development. His work has been recognized by numerous national and international research and teaching awards including the Anton Hales Medal for outstanding contributions to research in the Earth sciences by the Australian Academy of Science, and he was named the 2015 South Australian Scientist of the Year. Simmons has served as an editor and associate editor for numerous major international journals including Groundwater®, Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology, Hydrogeology Journal, Environmental Modeling and Assessment, and Vadose Zone Journal.

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