Introduction

While many of South Australia’s water resources are prescribed, demand is likely to grow across the State’s non-prescribed regions, including demand for non-potable resources which have traditionally not been used or managed.

It is therefore important that we increase our knowledge of the non-prescribed water resources, particularly where there is potential for our water resources to support new development.

Increased knowledge of our non-prescribed water resources will assist resource managers to make informed decisions in the future to maximise opportunities for local communities and industry without adversely compromising the ongoing integrity of our water resources or environment.

Non-prescribed groundwater and surface water assessments are progressively being developed for the State’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) regions.

Phase 1 non-prescribed groundwater assessments collate available knowledge of the non-prescribed groundwater resources and are the basis to guide further investigations to identify the potential for future groundwater development opportunities. Phase 1 reports have been developed for the following NRM regions:

  • Eyre Peninsula (EP)

  • Northern and Yorke (NY)

  • Alinytjara Wilurara (AW)

  • South Australian Arid Lands (SAAL)

  • Kangaroo Island (KI).

Additional assessments of non-prescribed groundwater resources will be conducted to build upon the baseline Phase 1 reports and continue to improve our understanding of groundwater resources across selected areas.

Further work has commenced on the development of Phase 2 interactive two and three dimensional mapping products. These will be refined and improved over time as we continue to collect new and relevant information.

Non-prescribed surface water reports provide an assessment of the status of the surface water resources in all non-prescribed areas of the state. In addition to the NRM regions listed above, non-prescribed surface water reports will also include:

  • Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges (AMLR)

  • South Australian Murray-Darling Basin (SAMBD)

  • South East (SE)

The non-prescribed surface water reports collate existing available knowledge of surface water Resources and sumarise the current level of surface water monitoring undertaken by the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, for each NRM region. An 'Investments Opportunities' section is included to identify investment priorities for the region.

See also Frequently Asked Questions.

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