‘There is enormous national potential to store surplus water in aquifers, ensuring sufficient water is available when drought strikes,’ says researcher Andrew Ross of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT).
‘We need to start thinking of surface water and groundwater as a single resource – and managing them together, in an integrated way over time,’ Ross says.
In his doctoral thesis, Ross proposes that Australia should develop and implement water banking at the national scale, taking advantage of the wet/dry climate cycle and the immensity of network of underground aquifers. Based on observations of water management in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) and the western US, he argues that ‘water banking can provide a big part of the solution to Australia’s perpetual boom/bust relationship with water and the climate’.
‘Historically Australians have relied on dams to provide water for agriculture and cities. This strategy is not sufficient to cope with increasing climate variability or droughts as demand for food and water grows,’ Ross claims. ‘Water banking can help ensure that there is enough water both for food production and the environment in the MDB – rather than having to close down irrigation when drought hits. Some people argue that there is no spare surface water to store underground, but this ignores hundreds of gigalitres per year in dam spills and floodwater, recycled stormwater and wastewater, irrigation drainage and water entitlement sales.’
