Influence of groundwater and surfacewater in GBR water quality (3.2)

Task leader: Prof Tom Hardy, James Cook University

Task associate: Mr Jon Brodie, James Cook University .

The primary aim of the project is to quantify the groundwater and wastewater discharge contributions to the nutrient budget of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. A further objective is to assess the groundwater resources of coastal islands and develop management strategies to obtain maximum benefit from those resources while at the same time optimising water quality.

Several subsidiary objectives are:

1. To improve the understanding of the dynamics of groundwater systems on coastal islands including consequences of waste disposal activities and interactions at the groundwater interface with seawater.
2. To predict the consequences of island land use change and the effects of wastewater disposal.
3. To provide a more accurate quantification of the groundwater inputs from mainland aquifers to the GBR lagoon and to establish the relative importance of nutrient carried by groundwater.
4. To determine management strategies for minimising detrimental groundwater impacts on the coastal environment and evaluate their cost effectiveness.
5. To estimate the spatial and temporal distribution of nutrients and other solutes discharged to the marine environment through treated effluent outfalls.