Quantifying the impact of climate change on groundwater resources of Bascombe well conservation park area by estimating recharge rates.

Abstract: Access to surface water is limited in Australia and many regions rely on groundwater for all their water needs. Most of aquifers are already fully allocated and there is an increasing demand for more extraction. During drought, drop in rainfall can result in less recharge into groundwater system. Decrease in rainfall can cause direct and indirect impacts on groundwater. Drop in rainfall can result in less recharge into groundwater system. Moreover decreased rainfall can cause limited accessibility to surface water which results in increased demand for extraction. Understanding of groundwater recharge mechanism and quantifying how far climate change can influence groundwater, plays an important role for establishing sustainable extraction without causing any damage into environment. The CoupModel was selected as a tool to simulate groundwater behavior under different Scenarios. Model inputs are derived from actual observations, such as climatic data. Few assumptions were considered to conceptualize drainage system, such as soil hydraulic parameters, drainage system and evaporation procedure. The study period is 30 years between 1979 and 2008. Model was run for two 15-year periods to identify how far climate change can influence groundwater recharge in the study area. Eyre Peninsula area is highly dependent on groundwater for town water supply, Irrigation and industrial development. Therefore any science study would be definitely valuable for groundwater resource management of this area.