Groundwater resources support many urban, rural and remote communities around Australia. Aquifers are a source of water for drinking, irrigation, stock supply, bottling and many other uses, accounting for over 30% of Australia’s total water consumption (NWC, 2008). As industrial and agricultural development of Australia increases, the demand for water also steadily grows. In some parts of the country, the current rate of groundwater extraction is depleting the resource faster than it is being recharged. Therefore understanding the basic processes about groundwater as well as the factors that can affect its quantity and quality is of vital importance in managing this significant resource. Monitoring provides data on groundwater quantity and quality and is an integral aspect of groundwater management. Sampling of groundwater for analysis of its chemical constituents is part of this strategy. Ideally, such sampling and analysis should be carried out on a regular basis where groundwater is being extracted for a variety of uses. Depending on the purpose of monitoring, different parameters can be tested.
Surface water quality sampling procedures have been developed over the past 50 years and are very well documented. Groundwater sampling requirements and goals are often quite different to those of surface water sampling and there has been less emphasis in the past to define a set of standards applicable to groundwater. The objective of groundwater sampling is to obtain a sample with minimum disturbance to the in situ geochemical and hydrogeological conditions.
There exist publications by the State agencies on groundwater sampling (Jiwan and Gates, 1992; Rayment and Poplawski, 1992; Vic EPA, 2000; SA EPA, 2007), groundwater quality sampling in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDBC, 1997), groundwater monitoring for community groups (Waterwatch, 2005) and sampling for contaminated sites (AWRC, 1991). Although these documents are very relevant to the specific issues they address, there is a need to provide a comprehensive set of sampling guidelines that can be used as a standard generic guide across a range of geoscientific disciplines. This recognises that groundwater sampling and analysis is an activity within projects dealing with carbon capture and storage, mineral exploration, geothermal and energy resources, as well as for groundwater resource assessment and management.
The purpose of this field guide is to present a set of standard groundwater sampling protocols that focus on a range of groundwater quantity and quality issues throughout Australia. A uniform, accurate and reliable set of sampling procedures will foster the collection of comparable data of a known standard. Ultimately, this allows for greater confidence in the interpretation of any field based data. This guide does not cover the aspects of core sampling, geological grain size analysis, pore fluid extraction and analysis.
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