Alice Springs town basin, review 2003
Read, R. E.
E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; Report ; no. 42/2003
2003-12-01
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
Date:2003-12
English
Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment
Alice Springs
Report ; no. 42/2003
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/229443
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/672980
Table 11 Historic production bores, changes in TDS RN TDS 1950s Comments TDS Present (1) Comments RN002643 300 No trend apparent TDS in this area is still under 400 mg/L. RN002669 <500 Both the limited data in HYDSYS and Wilson (1958) indicate a slight decline. TDS in this area would now be about 1000 mg/L. RN002677 <500 Both the limited data in HYDSYS and Wilson (1958) Plate 22 indicate a slight decline. TDS in this area would now be about 2000 mg/L. RN002678 500 Data in Wilson (1958) Plate 23indicate a slight decline 1954 to 1957. TDS in this area would now be about 2000 mg/L. RN003041 600 Erratic variation, possibly partly due to samples from several bores being attributed to this bore. TDS in this area would now be about 1500 mg/L. RN003095 600 No trend apparent 3000 The replacement bore (RN 14407) is showing a trend of declining TDS. RN006518 700 Data in Wilson (1958) indicate a slight decline 1954 to 1957. 2000 Has shown a general decline since 1983 RN007506 700 No trend apparent in production Measurements taken during the pump test in 1959 show a distinct upward trend. TDS in RN 3064 55 m away is now about 4000 mg/L. RN011149 500 No historic data found 900 TDS has shown a decline since 1975 RN011176 No historic data found RN10990 700 2600 Replacement RN 14196 does not appear to have been used. (1) See Appendix E for salinity trends 6.1.1 Agricultural use Agricultural use in the Town Basin continued up to the 1960s (G. Ride pers. comm.). During this period there may have been heavy use of pesticides, and these former agricultural areas are potentially areas of groundwater contamination. An historical search to identify these areas would be useful. 6.1.2 Public use The town basin was used for public water supply, beginning with the construction of the Town Wells in 1939 and peaking in 1964 when the use of the basin was phased out with the development of Roe Creek borefield. Total annual pumpage is shown in Figure 9 . After 1970 there was only limited private pumping. In 1976 pumping from the Town Basin for irrigating recreation areas instead of Roe Creek water was proposed, but this did not happen until 1986. 50