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Please let us know what you think about the issues surrounding the GAB, just leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

23 Comments

  • Christine Townend -

    The work you are doing is so important and I feel so grateful on behalf of all Australians that you are attempting to preserve this precious resource which the scientists tell us was laid down many epocs previously, and cannot be replaced once it is dried up.

  • Dr Naveen Pandey -

    Great Artesian Basin- I remember I had read about it in 1991 as it was exactly 100 years ago in 1891 when the lower house of the parliament had passed a resolution/legislation to prevent water waste but unfortunately the upper house had rejected it. I had read about the geologist whose name started with G (Gregory?) who had emphasised that the water contained in the basin was of plutonic origin but the government had constituted a scientific board which made a report saying that recharge of water was possible through lateral seepage and this myth continues. I’m sure that the scientific community and the govt in Oz know that methane which comes out with the water clearly indicates that the water is from earth’s crust as methane could be dissolved in water at such high pressure only. I think it is unpardonable on the part of the government to keep repeating that water is being replenished. This is ethically wrong and is equivalent to keeping humanity in dark. Does govt understand that the natural gas reservoir is getting depleted too, at a very high rate?
    I understand the enormity of irreparable damage and loss due to thousands of bore wells in the basin but I think the legislators look at the complicated aspects of it in practical terms. May be they are worried about the ‘ pressure groups’, I had read in political science which said that the pressure groups don’t make the part of the government but certainly affect the legislative process from outside. I think companies involved in oil, natural gas, irregation, metals, mining etc might be pressure groups.
    Here in Rajasthan our artesian wells are already drying up, many village wells are completely dry.
    This is a world-wide problem.
    Dr. Naveen Pandey, Rajasthan, India.

  • Ian Mcleod -

    This is a fabulous website and long overdue. The sad thing ,I find is that well meaning people are being misled by other well meaning folk who are also misinformed and know very little of the true facts.
    We are still awaiting a proper public debate of the water /climate problems that beset us.. So called “experts” rave on and I believe deliberately cloud the issue . I believe they are playing for time and so drag the whole sorry mess out for as long as possible for their own $$$ gain——-not to mention a whole new tax base !
    If we lived in a true democracy these problems would be addressed far more quickly. Problem? The mighty Dollar.
    One of the main things we must do is educate the youth and have them ask ” awkward” questions.
    There is an enormous amount of information out there ( explore this website for a start)
    Prof Lance Endersbee’s book is excellent along with
    Ian Plimer’s Heaven+ Earth. Also try Google———It is not difficult to sort out the fools.

  • Margaret Whyte -

    Congratulations on your website and the work you are doing to protect the Great Artesian Basin. Ours is a very dry continent and it is frightening to find that so much precious water has been and in some cases, continues to be squandered. Keep up the good work of bringing this very important issue to the eyes and ears of the people of Australia.

  • Cameron Townend -

    If it isn’t already, I think the GAB should be listed as a World Heritage Area and given the same protection status as other environmentally significant sites such as the Great Barrier Reef. Water = Life.

  • Sue Bellamy -

    Well done.
    I take on board Camerons sentiments re heritage listing.
    Is the first step to convince the powers that be that when the rain falls from the sky it doesn’t replenish the basin? Endersbee, sadly, has gone, what scientists do you have on board?
    Peter Andrews, Gerry Harvey, the Pratt Foundation….all good water people as well.
    One of the saddest things is that previous governments, of both persuasions, have stuffed the above ground water – this present mob of rocket scientists think that the money to buy back irrigation licences will be funded by selling water from the basin? Cheers and maintain the rage!

  • Susan and Dougal McLeish -

    Thank you for your initiatives, so necessary!

    We should also draw attention to the interuption of recharge areas especially in nd around east Liverpool Plains by proposed mining for coal and other minerals as well as gas.

    Breaking of the bedrock in the Liverpool Plains area will not only cause losses of groundwater in the aquifers of the plains but can also potentially allow polluttion of the GAB through seepage of sulphides and other acids in solution released from the gas sludge or coalseam and mineral deposits.

    We must not only protect the GAB groundwater but also the recharge areas. No excessive withdrawals of water or extraction of minerals or gas in recharge areas without complete hydrogeological studies of the impact of potential extraction.

    Well done to All involved, will pass your message on.
    Regards
    Susan and Dougal McLeish

  • Anne Kennedy -

    To visualize the enormous wastage that is occurring daily with free-flowing bores, I would like to just give an example of our bores, over the last few months.

    We had a wonderful wet autumn – and over the last three months had so much surface water, from gilgis, creeks and rivers, that our cattle barely drank from a trough.
    When a bore is capped, the water is only released as stock actually drink at the trough.

    We have five capped bores that would (if free-flowing) have flowed about 3 million litres a day. So the fact that they were capped, saved about 300 million litres of water, over just those few months.

    That’s just a few average bores, in a short period of time, and that water would have been pouring out continuously, whether stock were drinking from it or not – TOTAL wastage.

    So visualize the almost incredible wastage of thousands of large flowing bores, gushing out constantly into drains or dams, and where wastage of about 95% has been going on for over 100 years. Very many huge old bores outback are unregulated or abandoned., resulting in up to 100% wastage. Also many boredrains now flow through farming paddocks (unstocked), which also represents total wastage.

  • Dee Brown -

    I watched in horror a movie made by a novice regarding fracking and gas extraction throughout Texas USA. It showed just what irreversable destruction this practice has had on all underground waterways there, not to mention the health and well being of the people and animals on the farms where this gas action is taking place.
    Tonight I watched Four corners and realised they are here and doing exactly the same to our country with the blessing of the current government.
    Please stop this action. Let’s begin with a Moritorium.
    People are more important than foreign money.

  • Dee Brown -

    Please watch the environmental movie entitled “Gasland”
    You will see with your own eyes what frightening results the action of “fraccing” has on underground water permanently.

  • Lyndall Whiteford -

    After watching 4-Corners tonight, I found your site.

    I hope that people armed with legal training can take this to the highest court and succeed in obtaining a moratorium on all coal seam gas extraction until further notice.

    Also, as a considerable proportion of voters have lost faith in the major parties, could you start a political party, say the GAB party, before the coming NSW and QLD state elections?

    Lyndall Whiteford

  • Piers Shapley -

    We need to ask why the farmers out west have been forced to cap and meter bores. Why the average Aussie is being crippled by rising water prices and yet the coal seam gas industry can freely take and pollute our most valuable asset.
    I have just returned from Tara and seen the extent of the dammage caused and this is just the start. if we don’t get a moratorium on coal seam gas very soon, the Simpson Desert will start at Toowoomba. The contracts have been signed to sell 120 million tons of gas a year for twenty years to China and the conecting pipe line has not been layed yet. THIS HAS TO STOP NOW

  • John Bainbrigge -

    Hi,
    Just read your aims & objectives.
    In ref. to gas drilling approvals & rock fracturing in Qld & NSW; what ARE you doing that is constructive to prevent gas leakage into OUR basin water?
    Or are you just talk like our Labor Gov’t; who have proven they are merely liars & thieves feathering their own nests at the expense of the people!
    It appears all of you are working for the multinationalists; not the people, ecology & future generations who need CLEAN WATER!

  • Dr Naveen Pandey -

    It has been more than a year since I have collected information on GAB. My last posting was on 6th Oct 2009. I will like to be updated plz. Thanks. I do hope that there is some positive development although it is very difficult.

  • Keith -

    Hi.
    We must save the great artesian basin because once the chemicals will poisoned ” then the poison is spread very quickly”
    WE MUST STOP THIS.

  • Vivien Deed -

    I am a South Australian, from Port Augusta but I work in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunjatjara
    Lands of SA. I grew up aware of the scarcity of water in SA and worry about how we ‘waste’
    water in flush toilets, among other things. For many years I have lived in aboriginal (Anangu) communities around SA and all of them draw their water from the GRB. I think they have a right
    to live in the Bush, their ancestral home but they need constant water, just like all of us from the
    northern towns eg Woomera, Pt Pirie, Whyalla, Pt Augusta and I think KImba. I was told years
    ago about BHP’s use/misuse of GAB water for the Olympic Dam. I’m delighted about Richard
    Quilty’s campaign, also people like the Greens MP, Mark Parnell and will willingly do whatever
    I can, to assist you.

  • Stephen Asprey -

    This issue is looming to be a bigger threat to us than the CO2 Tax. Alan Jones interviewed Chris Harcher on 2GB this morning. Can I please have Labor back?
    This guy gets on radio all cocky and confident, yet he displayed ignorance, he was misinformed and showed no empathy towards the destruction of our prime agricultural land and the artesian basin.
    And we thought we would be getting a better lot at the March election. What fools we are. If we don’t put the torch to these “we know better than you” types, then there’s no hope.
    What is it with politicians? The moment they get into power they change from representing the peoples wishes, to telling us whats good for us without consultation or ignoring a specific mandate.

  • Ian Bell -

    To save the underground water is one the the most vital causes ever .The Labor Party sell-out of the environment is beyond belief .Now State Liberal has gone weak .So now we should at least see the National Party rise to meet the challenge and stand courageously and fight for all Australian farms AND all agricultural land and water . Where the hell are they?

  • Col -

    Come on Ian. Saying that the National Party component of the LNP should rise to the challenge is like saying that the Greens who are strongly aligned to the ALP should do something. I hope you aren’t really surprised that Nationals aren’t doing anything.

  • metal barriers -

    I like this article as it points out that there are potentially a number of weaknesses in physical security solutions. I have seen lots of examples where a robust fence and gate system have been installed but rendered as next to useless by things like bolted on hinges etc. which would be very easy to undo by anyone wanting to gain access.

  • Liisa Gosper -

    The contamination of the GAB is the biggest & most alarming issue facing every single man, woman, child, beast, plant, politician, councillor & even CSG mine employee living in Australia today. This supercedes every other issue without exception, as it threatens our very existance.
    We must stop the practice of toxic chemicals entering our water supply RIGHT NOW. The longer it continues, the higher the concentration of toxicity, & the higher the severity of sickness, with the potential to result in death.
    This is not confined to rural families & livestock, (although they will of course be the first to suffer health issues) but once in the food chain, it will ultimately poison our city dwelling counterparts too. NOBODY will be exempt or protected.
    OUR VERY SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON IT.

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