OGIA-Surat-2021-UWIR

OGIA releases ‘Underground Water Impact Report 2021 for the Surat CMA’

Home>News>OGIA releases ‘Underground Water Impact Report 2021 for the Surat CMA’

The Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) has released the Underground Water Impact Report (UWIR) 2021 for the Surat Cumulative Management Area (Surat CMA). A UWIR for a CMA is a statutory report that provides:

  1. an assessment of cumulative impacts from existing and proposed groundwater extraction by resource tenure holders (i.e. associated water);
  2. proactive strategies for managing those impacts (i.e. make good of water bores, monitoring strategy and impact mitigation strategies for affected springs); and
  3. assignment of responsibilities to individual tenure holders to implement strategies.

OGIA released the consultation draft of the Surat UWIR 2021 on 29 October 2021 and sought submissions from tenure holders, bore owners and the public.

OGIA considered all submissions in finalising the report before submitting for approval to the Department of Environment and Science (DES) on 17 December 2021, together with a summary report summarising the issues raised on the consultation draft and how OGIA addressed those issues in finalising the report.

The final report has now been released, with the Surat UWIR 2021 report taking effect from 1 May 2022.

Importantly, the Surat UWIR 2021 contains findings from OGIA’s comprehensive assessment of potential subsidence occurring in highly cultivated, priority agricultural areas – the first research of its kind undertaken in relation to CSG activity and a significant body of work that the GasFields Commission contributed to.