Noora Prescribed Wells Area groundwater monitoring status report 2002

The Noora Prescribed Wells Area (PWA) lies over the deepest part of the Murray Basin in the far eastern boundary of South Australia (Fig. 1). It is bordered to the north by the River Murray, to the east by the South Australia Victoria border, to the south by the southern border of the Hundred of Bookpurnong and the west by a line parallel to and 20 km west from the South Australia Victoria border. Two aquifers are monitored in the Noora PWA: the Pliocene Sands Aquifer (topmost and unconfined) and the confined Murray Group Limestone Aquifer. Both aquifers contain mostly poor quality water with current limited use only for stock, but with potential uses for mining and industry. Groundwater flows in a westerly direction in each aquifer towards the River Murray. A third aquifer underlies the Murray Group Limestone Aquifer: the Renmark Group Aquifer. No current water level data is available for this aquifer system in the Noora PWA and it was therefore omitted from this monitoring report. There have been three main impacts of human settlement on the Noora PWA: land clearance, irrigation and the construction of the Noora Disposal Basin. All three have altered the hydrogeological balance in the Noora PWA by causing a rise in the watertable.repor