Groundwater
The Water Research Laboratory has a team of hydrogeologists and environmental engineers who are highly regarded for groundwater problem solving.
This team is recognised in Australia and internationally for project services and applied research in; geophysical imaging and borehole tomography of the subsurface; groundwater chemistry and geochemical indicators of leakage through clay barrier systems.
A pragmatic approach to solving groundwater problems is adopted by project staff, in consultation with industry and government agencies. Studies generally commence with a desktop investigation followed by design and implementation of specific data collection programs.
WRL has extensive borehole, geophysics and logging instrumentation along with numerical models and chemistry laboratory facilities to aid with data interpretation and process understanding.
The application of these expert groundwater services include: effluent reuse and disposal, salinisation, water budgets, groundwater quality, transport and fate of contaminants, acid sulphate soils and leakage through clay barriers.
Key areas
- Effluent re-use and disposal
- Leakage assessment
- Groundwater supply
- Groundwater quality
- Coastal dune aquifers
- Fate of contaminants
Typical projects
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- Contaminated site investigation
- Sediment coring and analysis
- Multi-port groundwater installations
- Groundwater sampling and analysis
- Geophysical logging and imaging
- Pump testing
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- Surface geophysics of moisture and clay anomalies
- Drill cores and monitoring bore installation
- Downhole geophysical logging
- Core permeability analysis
- Bore water chemical analysis
- Automated groundwater level and fluid EC monitoring
- Stable isotope flow tracers
- Induced recharge analysis
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- Desktop study
- Monitoring program design
- Establishment of monitoring bore network
- Implementation of baseline sampling and analysis
- Database development
- Trigger levels for groundwater depth and quality
- Irrigation management contingencies
- Stakeholder consultations
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- Monitoring bore installation
- Sediment sampling and analysis
- Slug testing for permeability
- Groundwater quality sampling
- Beneficial use potential
- Water table dynamics
- Flow modelling
- Feasibility analysis
