2.2 Basic Groundwater Data

It is clear that basic data is the foundation of any subsequent analysis and interpretation. The State and Territory land and water management agencies, to fulfil their groundwater management and regulatory role, are the main custodians of this data. Measurements and observations from over 500,000 sites are stored in several databases across the country (NGC, 1998).

Table 2.2 summarises the significant databases operating in Australia. These databases use a range of software products, but Oracle is popular on Unix platforms, and likewise Access for Microsoft Windows.

Table 2.2 Summary of groundwater databases in Australia as of June, 1998 (NGC, 1998)

¹ Queensland Groundwater Database under redevelopment using Oracle 8 and Oracle Web Forms

The vast majority of data stored in these State and Territory databases are sourced from bores (eg. production bores, piezometers, test holes), as these agencies are responsible for bore registration. An investigation of the contents of these databases reveals commonality in the data that is collected and stored, such as:

• the geographical position of the site;
• the elevation of the site, as a reference for measurements of water levels;
• drilling details of bores (method, depth, diameter, time);
• construction details, particularly bore casing and screens;
• the condition of the bore and the purpose(s) of the groundwater extracted;
• down hole lithology and interpreted stratigraphy;
• information on the aquifer intervals or water cuts intersected down hole;
• water level measurements;
• pump test summaries (actual field measurements not commonly stored);
• rates of groundwater extraction (pumping or artesian flow); and
• groundwater chemistry.

Other themes were less common elements of the databases. These include data like:

• development history for a bore such as chemical or mechanical treatment;
• subsequent bore rehabilitation or maintenance work;
• down hole geophysical logging, with metadata defining the archive location for logs typically recorded;
• pressure and temperature readings for artesian bores;
• licensing arrangements (this data tends to be stored in separate administrative databases); and
• bibliographic references to where the data originated, such as the relevant staff and organisation or the source document.

The majority of these themes are basic groundwater data that are the direct observations and measurements in both the field and the laboratory. The databases also contain data with an inherent level of interpretation, namely primary and secondary data. The estimates of transmissivity and storativity derived from pump tests fall into this category. Overall, national standards for data storage and transfer need to be defined for the contents of these databases. This is the objective of this document.