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
6.3.2 Current estimates ( good, fair, poor & saline chemical quality) Best current estimates are as above, that is 350 ML/year for the Northern Zone and 700 to 900 ML/year from the Southern Zone. Stored volumes against TDS are shown in Table 8 and Figure 33 . 6.3.3 Current licensed extraction Present licenses are shown in Table 14 . Table 14 Current licenses in the Town Basin Licence Holder Licence Number Annual Vol, ML Actual Extraction 1999 ML Actual Extraction 2000 ML Actual Extraction 2001 ML Actual Extraction 2002 ML Expiry Date St Philips College 511 4.50 23 19 11 16 01/03/2011 H. J. White 516 0.20 01/03/2011 C Carter 517 0.65 01/03/2011 Lasseters Casino 519 27.00 37 15 0 0 01/03/2011 F.W. Fitzgerald 536 0.70 01/03/2011 Golf Course 501, 502, 503 450 437 262 243 204 PWC 523 600.00 432 344 461 ? 01/03/2011 Total 1083.0 5 936 642 755 ? Table 15 shows annual extraction by PWC/PAWA over 6 years. It can be seen that only about 65% of their allocation has been used. Table 15 Annual usage by PWC/PAWA Water Year ending Annual extraction ML 97 387 98 388 99 424 00 402 01 381 02 365 Average 391 6.4 Water Quality Pollution (Salinisation) The most dramatic change in the basin is the massive increase in salinity that occurred at about the same time as the large recharge event in 1974. Figure 32 shows the relation between stored volume and salt. Note that the stored volume referred to is the total pore volume, assumed to be 0.2 of aquifer volume, not the extractable storage which is assumed to be 0.07 of aquifer volume. Hence when 1 m3 of aquifer is drained about 65% of the salt may remain in pore water in the unsaturated zone. Hence the relation between stored salt below the water table and stored water volume is something of a truism. The graph cannot be taken too literally, as the salinity used has had to be compiled from samples taken over a period of years. The relationship between stored volume and mean TDS (Figure 33 ) is more significant, though this is partly a consequence of the more saline water being in the 54