Water resource management
Ensuring sustainable management of water resources is one of the most critical environmental issues faced by many countries around the world.
Our research encompasses a number of projects aimed at understanding the development of groundwater resources, the relative dependency of ecosystems on groundwater versus soil and surface water, and an assessment of the probable impacts of altered hydrology, especially dewatering and salinisation, on ecosystems.
Coupled with modern methods of dating groundwater and characterisation of dissolved organic matter and geochemistry, stable isotope studies (2H/1H, 18O/16O) are a valuable tool for understanding the movement and history of water within a landscape as well as their potential for exploitation. For example, we use measures of 18O/16O and 2H/1H ratios in studies of groundwater systems to provide insights into their meteoric derivation, to identify recharge areas, residence time in the aquifer and mixing with connate, thermal or seawater-derived fluids.