The impact of climate change on groundwater resources: The climate sensitivity of groundwater recharge in Australia

The impact of climate change on groundwater resources: The climate sensitivity of groundwater recharge in Australia Report

Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Report

• Author(s): Barron, O., Pollock, D., Crosbie, R., Dawes, W., Charles, S., Mpelasoka, F., Aryal, S., Donn, M., Wurcker, B.
• Published: 2010
• Publisher: CSIRO

Link to resource Report broken link

Abstract: Australia has experienced increasing pressures on groundwater resources due to a drier climate and an increased scarcity of surface water resources. In 2004 the Council of Australian Governments agreed to the National Water Initiative (NWI) which aimed to ensure the implementation of a transparent planning framework that would avoid over-allocation of water resources, including groundwater. Changes in entitlements can occur, but under the NWI it is necessary to assign the risk associated with changes in entitlements due to climate change and variability. This risk assignment will require a good understanding of the processes impacting on water resources from climate change. In response to these issues the National Water Commission has commissioned a project ‘Investigating the impact of climate change on groundwater resources’ within the National Groundwater Action Plan (NGAP). The primary objective of the project is to determine how the temporal variability in rainfall and temperature due to climate change will impact on groundwater recharge and groundwater resources across different aquifer types in different climatic types across Australia. The project is built upon the work carried out by CSIRO in the Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields (MDBSY), Northern Australia Sustainable Yields (NASY), South-West Western Australia Sustainable Yields (SWSY) and Tasmania Sustainable Yields (TasSY) Projects, but also will provide additional information on the impact of changes in groundwater systems that affect groundwater-dependent ecosystems, agricultural production, and stock and domestic water supply in those regions not covered by the CSIRO sustainable yields projects. This report presents the results of a number of project activities, identified within the third milestone of the project plan, with objectives to: - review scientific publication and summarise the current knowledge of the effect of climate change on groundwater recharge and resources - analyse climate types and climate type transitions across Australia for the historical period beginning in 1930 and under projected future climates for 2030 and 2050 - investigate the specifics of diffuse recharge within different climate types - assess the differences in global climate models (GCMs), downscaling methods and hydrological models for projecting future recharge under the A2 scenario for 2050 using three contrasting field sites as examples.

Notes: CSIRO: Water for a Healthy Country Report to National Water Commission

• Urls: http://www.clw.csiro.au/publications/waterforahealthycountry/2010/wfhc-climate-change-impact-groundwater.pdf