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Background
A spring water bottling company wished to expand their
operations by developing new borehole locations. Before
such an expansion can proceed, the Department of Infrastructure,
Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) requires a detailed,
site-specific hydrogeological investigation, including pumping
tests.
C. M. Jewell & Associates Pty Ltd was commissioned
to carry out the pump testing and monitoring program, and
to report on the hydrogeological investigation and local
impacts.
Hydrogeological Environment
The study region is situated near the western edge of the
Permian-Triassic Sydney Geological Basin, on the edge of
a structural unit called the Blue Mountains Plateau. The
sandstones of the Lower Triassic Narrabeen Group to the
west and the Triassic Hawkesbury Sandstone Group to the
east dominate the basin's surface geology. The sandstone
aquifer's hydrogeological conditions are anisotropic, and
are controlled by a series of horizontal fracture and discontinuity
zones with varying degrees of interconnectivity.
Objectives and Scope
After pump testing had been completed, C. M. Jewell &
Associates analysed the drawdown data from the boreholes
and monitoring wells, using a variety of aquifer assessment
techniques. Following a desktop review and field investigation
of the borehole sites, a report was prepared, which discussed
the following:
- the borehole's ability to sustain the water supply;
- the hydrogeological setting of the groundwater supply;
- whether there were any sensitive ecosystems of special
conservation value on the vicinity, and how they might
be impact by pumping;
- how extraction might effect the groundwater level of
the aquifer surrounding the borehole (including a prediction
of the borehole's radius of influence when pumping);
- how the proposed extraction might impact licensed borehole
water supplies in the vicinity of the property.
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Projects
