Extent of the long-term affected areas in the Surat underground water impact report
LESS than 3 per cent of registered bores across the Surat Basin will experience water drawdown levels which exceed statutory threshold limits and trigger make-good agreements with the coal seam gas industry, according to the Queensland Water Commission Draft Underground Water Impact Report (UWIR).
The highly anticipated draft report, officially released in Toowoomba on Thursday, details the State government-developed regional groundwater flow model, which predicts the long-term impacts of groundwater extraction by petroleum and gas activities in the absence of any mitigation measures, such as reinjection of treated coal seam gas (CSG) water into aquifers.
According to the report, a handful of affected bores could see water level decline of up to 150 metres, which would take at least the remainder of this century to reach 50pc recovery.
In what is expected to spark strong debate among Darling Downs irrigators, the UWIR has also found the much discussed impact on the Condamine Alluvium would not exceed the current trigger threshold of two metres, with an average maximum water decline of 50 centimetres across the area.
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