Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354817
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Groundwater and the Environment: Understanding the role of groundwater in the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems in Australia.
. 97% of freshwater on earth is groundwater. Despite this, it is undervalued, largely unexplored and poorly understood. In Australia, groundwater plays a critical role in our salinity problem and sustains our ecosystems. It will be a critical water supply in the future, especially in times of drought when surface water is scarce. Our nation's groundwater resources ....Groundwater and the Environment: Understanding the role of groundwater in the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems in Australia.
. 97% of freshwater on earth is groundwater. Despite this, it is undervalued, largely unexplored and poorly understood. In Australia, groundwater plays a critical role in our salinity problem and sustains our ecosystems. It will be a critical water supply in the future, especially in times of drought when surface water is scarce. Our nation's groundwater resources require the same unresounding commitment to preservation that we now see in the Murray-Darling basin. This network develops foundations for a desperately needed National Groundwater Centre to provide research to ensure win-win outcomes for this country's water resources and the users that rely on them.
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Multiphase flow and transport in complex coastal wetland systems. Salt marshes play an essential role in maintaining Australia's coastal bio-diversity. They also function as barriers to fluxes of terrestrial pollutants to our coastal sea. Australia has a large number of salt marshes listed by the Ramsar Convention as coastal wetlands of international importance but many of them are subject to loss and degradation due to competing land uses. This project, examining in detail the flow and transpor ....Multiphase flow and transport in complex coastal wetland systems. Salt marshes play an essential role in maintaining Australia's coastal bio-diversity. They also function as barriers to fluxes of terrestrial pollutants to our coastal sea. Australia has a large number of salt marshes listed by the Ramsar Convention as coastal wetlands of international importance but many of them are subject to loss and degradation due to competing land uses. This project, examining in detail the flow and transport processes in marsh soils, will lead to (1) better understanding of the marsh's response to anthropogenic stress; and (2) improvement of strategies and methods for marsh wetland preservation and restoration.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775739
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,000.00
Summary
Environmental Research Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (ERIRMS). The projects supported by this facility are esential to: sustainable management of Sydney's surface and groundwater; understanding food webs and trophic interactions in Sydney Harbour and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard; developing predictive models for the impacts of climate change on Australia's forests, especially carbon sequestration and water yield; understanding the trade-offs involved in managing fire risks through prescr ....Environmental Research Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (ERIRMS). The projects supported by this facility are esential to: sustainable management of Sydney's surface and groundwater; understanding food webs and trophic interactions in Sydney Harbour and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard; developing predictive models for the impacts of climate change on Australia's forests, especially carbon sequestration and water yield; understanding the trade-offs involved in managing fire risks through prescribed burning, especially trade-offs involving carbon and water; and understanding and predicting air quality and the effects of emissions from cars, industry, fires and natural sources.
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Measuring tree water use and calculating stand water use. The national benefit of this project is significant. Woodlands and forests transpire vast amounts of water into the atmosphere and this water is thus lost to human consumptive use. Given large variation in rainfall between years and between seasons, it is vital that water and catchment resource managers are able to estimate how much water is lost through trees. This allows estimation of the amount of water available for irrigation, drinki ....Measuring tree water use and calculating stand water use. The national benefit of this project is significant. Woodlands and forests transpire vast amounts of water into the atmosphere and this water is thus lost to human consumptive use. Given large variation in rainfall between years and between seasons, it is vital that water and catchment resource managers are able to estimate how much water is lost through trees. This allows estimation of the amount of water available for irrigation, drinking, other industrial uses or maintaining ecosystem health. This project will be the first to generate a mechanistic understanding thereby allowing estimates of water use across a range of woody ecosystems in Australia.Read moreRead less
Water exchange and mixing at the aquifer-ocean interface. Submarine groundwater discharge (SGWD) has been identified by International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme as an important contamination source for coastal marine and estuarine environments. Nutrient input associated with SGWD is threatening the Great Barrier Reef. Water exchange driven by tides/waves at the shore contributes to SGWD significantly. However, no data of the water exchange rates exist. This project will measure time-varying g ....Water exchange and mixing at the aquifer-ocean interface. Submarine groundwater discharge (SGWD) has been identified by International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme as an important contamination source for coastal marine and estuarine environments. Nutrient input associated with SGWD is threatening the Great Barrier Reef. Water exchange driven by tides/waves at the shore contributes to SGWD significantly. However, no data of the water exchange rates exist. This project will measure time-varying groundwater flow and salinity distribution in the intertidal zone at two beaches to study near-shore water exchange and mixing. These unique data, providing basis for developing SGWD models, will improve the understanding and quantification of subsurface chemical fluxes to coastal waters.Read moreRead less
Quantifying near-surface diffuse discharge from the southwest Great Artesian Basin. Groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) supplies one of Australia's largest mining operations and many pastoral enterprises. The GAB is the only significant water resource through much of arid central Australia and supports unique environmental values in this region. This project will provide vital data on natural, near-surface leakage rates from the GAB that can be used to gain a greater understanding of ....Quantifying near-surface diffuse discharge from the southwest Great Artesian Basin. Groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) supplies one of Australia's largest mining operations and many pastoral enterprises. The GAB is the only significant water resource through much of arid central Australia and supports unique environmental values in this region. This project will provide vital data on natural, near-surface leakage rates from the GAB that can be used to gain a greater understanding of the amount of water available for sustainable extraction. This will assist in the improved management of the GAB resource and in doing so contribute to greater certainty for the mining and pastoral users of the GAB groundwater and provide greater protection for unique ecosystems associated with natural discharge springs.Read moreRead less
The Sustainable Effluent Irrigation Project - Effects of effluent irrigation on soil sodicity and groundwater quality. The land application of recycled municipal effluent is now regularly practised by a number of local authorities and agencies responsible for centralised collection of wastewater, its treatment and disposal. Treated municipal effluent is often land applied and used to grow hardwood plantations. Hardwood plantations are very effective in producing large amounts of biomass and also ....The Sustainable Effluent Irrigation Project - Effects of effluent irrigation on soil sodicity and groundwater quality. The land application of recycled municipal effluent is now regularly practised by a number of local authorities and agencies responsible for centralised collection of wastewater, its treatment and disposal. Treated municipal effluent is often land applied and used to grow hardwood plantations. Hardwood plantations are very effective in producing large amounts of biomass and also assist agencies in off-setting wastewater treatment and disposal costs associated with advanced wastewater treatment to remove nutrients. This project will examine the effects of effluent irrigation on soil chemistry and groundwater quality at two hardwood plantations in the Hunter Valley, NSW. It is increasingly clear that large-scale reuse schemes, particularly those involving hardwood plantations, must be designed to be sustainable and have no significant impact on soil chemistry (increasing sodicity) and groundwater. This project will develop irrigation regimes for hardwood plantations which will promote soil productivity and optimize effluent application rates for pollutant removal and biomass production.
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Reactive barriers for the remediation of fluoride contamination in groundwater. This project will build the first pilot scale calcite permeable reactive barrier for the remediation of fluoride contamination in groundwater at VAW aluminium. At VAW, fluoride has contaminated groundwater at concentrations up to 3000mg/L, levels far higher than the drinking water guideline value of 1.5mg/L. The barrier design will be based on laboratory work from a previous SPIRT project with VAW and the CIs which h ....Reactive barriers for the remediation of fluoride contamination in groundwater. This project will build the first pilot scale calcite permeable reactive barrier for the remediation of fluoride contamination in groundwater at VAW aluminium. At VAW, fluoride has contaminated groundwater at concentrations up to 3000mg/L, levels far higher than the drinking water guideline value of 1.5mg/L. The barrier design will be based on laboratory work from a previous SPIRT project with VAW and the CIs which has shown that calcite can remove 99% of fluoride contamination from water. The project will prove the technology at the field scale and provide the basis for its application to other contaminants.Read moreRead less
Surface-ground water interactions and increasing salinity in the upper Hunter River. Australia's first salinity trading scheme, to limit impacts of industrial saline wastewater discharges, operates in the Hunter Region, NSW. Despite it, a recent audit suggests stream salinity levels will continue to rise over the next century. No assessment tools are available to identify causes of salinity increases in sub-catchments of the Hunter. This severely limits rehabilitation strategies aimed at address ....Surface-ground water interactions and increasing salinity in the upper Hunter River. Australia's first salinity trading scheme, to limit impacts of industrial saline wastewater discharges, operates in the Hunter Region, NSW. Despite it, a recent audit suggests stream salinity levels will continue to rise over the next century. No assessment tools are available to identify causes of salinity increases in sub-catchments of the Hunter. This severely limits rehabilitation strategies aimed at addressing river salinity. Current rehabilitation focuses on revegetation of recharge and discharge areas, with limited understanding of the primary local drivers for salinity, and without assessment of whether rehabilitation is addressing or exacerbating problems. This project aims to supply that understanding.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0226357
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
Enhancement of VIEPS Stable Isotope Facilities: Environmental and Geological Research. This proposal will enhance the Monash/VIEPS stable isotope facility by automating a variety of analytical procedures. This will increase our throughput of samples, enable a broader range of analyses to be undertaken, and improve accuracy and precision. The enhanced facility will be state-of -the-art and used to support research in a broad range of fields, including: Hydrogeology (groundwater resources, salinit ....Enhancement of VIEPS Stable Isotope Facilities: Environmental and Geological Research. This proposal will enhance the Monash/VIEPS stable isotope facility by automating a variety of analytical procedures. This will increase our throughput of samples, enable a broader range of analyses to be undertaken, and improve accuracy and precision. The enhanced facility will be state-of -the-art and used to support research in a broad range of fields, including: Hydrogeology (groundwater resources, salinity, contaminant studies); Interaction of organic matter with groundwater systems; Cementation and diagenesis in sedimentary basins; Palaeoclimatology; Global carbon cycles; Crustal fluid flow; and Economic geology.Read moreRead less