Limited resources for research into Northern Australia’s groundwater means not a lot is known about aquifer systems, but a new Charles Darwin University (CDU) study will take a giant leap in our understanding through citizen science.
The NT government began the exploration approvals for fracking in the Beetaloo Basin in 2019.
The CDU study plans to use a small army of citizen scientists to collect, analyse and record samples of water taken from bores from across Northern Territory, the Pilbara, and the Kimberley.
The aim was to recruit several hundred volunteers collecting water from more than 500 groundwater bores, CDU freshwater ecologist and research leader Professor Jenny Davis said.
“The community’s concern about water overuse and pollution is rising”
“The remoteness and vastness of the tropical and arid regions of northern Australia mean that community engagement is the only way that information can be collected effectively across such a large spatial scale.”
Professor Davis said
The independent Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing of Onshore Unconventional Reservoirs in the Northern Territory handed down its Final Report to the Northern Territory Government on Tuesday 27 March 2018.
The Inquiry’s Chair, the Honourable Justice Rachel Pepper said:
“… what the Final Report does is make recommendations to mitigate to acceptable levels the identified risks associated with any onshore shale gas development in the Northern Territory, if the Government lifts the moratorium
These risks have been analysed having regard to the best and most current available relevant scientific evidence. This has included the evidence received from stakeholders and the public during the Inquiry’s extensive consultation process.
Where it has been determined that insufficient data exists to analyse those identified risks, the Panel has had no hesitation in making this finding and in recommending that the information be obtained.
The overall conclusion of the Panel may be summarised as follows.
That risk is inherent in all development and that any onshore shale gas industry is no exception.
However, if the recommendations made in this Final Report – all 135 of them – are adopted and implemented in full, those risks may be mitigated or reduced – and in some cases eliminated altogether – to acceptable levels having regard to the totality of the evidence before the Panel”
Honourable Justice Rachel Pepper
Charles Darwin University (CDU) study’s citizen scientists will input data collected straight into an app designed and built specifically for the project.
Professor Davis said.
“We will be providing easy-to-use and simple field kits, so citizen scientists can collect samples for testing,”
“We will be testing things such as salinity levels, isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in the water to determine its age, and even test for microplastics.
“There is a limit to what can be done, but it will give us more information than we have now and if there are unusual results then we can do further investigation.”
Professor Davis said groundwater is vital for communities, farmers, and industry across the Northern Territory.
She said despite it being such a vital resource for so many people in the Northern Territory, there is very little known about the water or its interaction with surface water.
Professor Davis said she is confident she will get the volunteers as there has been a lot of community interest in the safety of their water supply and care for groundwater.
“I ran a citizen scientist project in central Australia where tourists and rangers collected waterhole water for testing and that was very successful”
“This is a project that will help to empower people to make decisions about water management and water use in the NT.”
Professor Davis and the team of researchers, including CDU freshwater ecologist Dr Erica Garcia and CDU hydrologist Dr Dylan Irvine will first be conducting a pilot project and developing the app before rolling it out across Northern Territory and northern Western Australia.
The project is a collaboration with an app and website developer, Inspired NT and the Northern WA and Northern Territory Innovation Hub.
The project has received $450,000 over three years from The Ian Potter Foundation for the study.
