Published Resources Details
Journal Article
- Title
- Replenishment of underground water supplies - Burdekin Delta, Queensland
- In
- Civil Engineering Transactions
- Imprint
- vol. CE9, no. 1, Institution of Engineers Australia, Apr 1967, pp. 117-
- Description
[This paper was awarded the 1967 W. H. Warren Memorial Prize]
- Abstract
The paper describes some aspects of the field investigations and hydrologic studies involved in establishing the need for artificial replenishment of underground water supplies in a deltaic area of some 240 sq. miles. In 1963, underground water was used throughout the delta to supply the irrigation needs of 53,800 acres of cane involving an estimated use of 200,000 acre feet of water. The remedial measures adopted and the reasons for their adoption are described and an early indication of the success of the replenishment measures is given.
An approach to the determination of required replenishment by interpretation of long-term underground water level records and deductions from those records of the likely water level behaviour is presented. Deficiencies were indicated by this analysis, whilst the anticipated expansion of the area irrigated could confidently be expected to increase these deficiencies.
The principal measures proposed to alleviate the situation involve establishment of pumping stations, initially with a total capacity of 150 cusecs, to deliver surplus river water to a series of natural and artificial recharge channels. At that capacity, an average of 65,000 acre ft. of water annually is available for diversion from unregulated river flow. In addition, the damming of tidal estuaries is proposed.