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Sale Water Aquifer – Is It One Or Two?The possibility that underground water stocks in the Sale Water Supply Protection Area involves two, and not one, aquifers needs to be properly explored, according to Gippsland MP Peter Hall. By Peter Hall - 19th May 2005 - Back to News The Nationals MP raised the matter in Parliament this week (May 17) and has called on the State Water Minister to undertake a research project that will provide a definitive answer.
Current declarations specify that the Sale aquifer, which covers a wide area from west of Sale through to east of Bengworden, is a single entity. But Mr Hall told Parliament that there is evidence to suggest that what is commonly through to be a single aquifer may in fact be two.
"Monitoring of bore levels by Southern Rural Water to the east and the west of the Sale water supply protection area has shown that water levels to the west of Bengworden drop during dry spells while levels east of Bengworden remain steady," Mr Hall told Parliament. "To many people this suggests that there are two aquifers and not just one."
Mr Hall said he had been contacted over a number of years by many constituents, and again just recently by the Victorian Farmers Federation East Gippsland district council, regarding the aquifer.
The VFF says there has been chemical analysis of bores privately conducted indicating that the water east and west has two distinct chemical signatures, again suggesting two aquifers.
Mr Hall said: "For some years the declaration of a water supply protection area over the Sale aquifer has meant that no new applications for a water allocation have been able to be considered.
"What is required is some definitive research to establish once and for all whether that area covered by the Sale water supply protection area in fact involves two aquifers instead of the presently assumed one contiguous aquifer and, if so, what permitted annual volumes should be applied to this new resource."
Mr Hall said that the state government had recently committed to research involving the Latrobe aquifer and the impact of oil and gas extraction on falling water levels in that area.
He said he was seeking a similar research project undertaken for the Sale aquifer and called on the Minister to urgently consider making available the necessary funding for such a project.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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