Water Monitoring Strategy - NSW Coal Basins
The Water Monitoring Strategy for Coal Basins in NSW was developed to improve our understanding of groundwater behaviour in the NSW coal-bearing geological basins.
The NSW Government committed $22 million to deliver the strategy, and in 2021 it was completed when 79 groundwater bores in coal basins were added to its groundwater monitoring network.
Data from the ongoing monitoring of these bores will be uploaded, and accessible through WaterNSW. Water levels, pressure and salinity of the bores are being monitored, and they will be regularly sampled for water quality analysis.
The groundwater data collected will help identify the potential effects of extractive industries on water resources in NSW coal basins.
The data also allowed the department to gather more information to better map, monitor and manage groundwater. Read more on the project and the water monitoring network expansion (PDF, 179.13 KB).
In this video, Lead Hydrogeologist Doug Trudeau explains why we monitor groundwater, and takes us through the process of selecting sites and tells us what happens during drilling.
More information
- Contact Rob Brownbill, Lead Hydrogeologist, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment on 0428 688 954.