Australian Water Information Dictionary

Alphabetical list of items

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G

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Geoscience Australia

This definition applies to:

Great Artesian Basin

This definition applies to:

A stream where groundwater discharge contributes to streamflow.

Source: Richardson, S., et al., (2011). Australian groundwater-dependent ecosystem toolbox part 1: assessment framework, Waterlines report, National Water Commission, Canberra

Synonym: discharge from groundwater to surface water

This definition applies to:

groundwater dependent ecosystem

This definition applies to:

Describes ecosystems in terms of their 'potential to be interacting with groundwater'. The classes mapped in the GDE Atlas are:

The term 'potential' is used to reflect the uncertainty inherent in identifying ecosystems as groundwater-dependant using remote analysis methods. Finer scale studies or fieldwork are needed to confirm this analysis.

This definition applies to:

Describes GDEs within the Atlas that were identified through desktop analysis in previous studies.

Since the result for these GDEs was not derived during the GDE Atlas analysis, no GDE potential result could be applied to these ecosystems. This also means no ‘Lines of Evidence’ attribute is necessary. However, it is considered that the identification of these ecosystems as GDEs is relatively reliable, since previous studies have usually focussed on smaller areas than the Atlas, and have been able to analyse the potential interaction between ecosystems and groundwater in more detail.

This definition applies to:

Describes GDEs within the Atlas that were identified through fieldwork.

These GDEs do not have ‘GDE potential’ or ‘Lines of Evidence’ attributes because they were identified through fieldwork (rather than using the GDE Atlas methodology). The identification of these ecosystems as GDEs is considered to be very reliable.

This definition applies to:

A water accounting report intended to meet the information needs common to users who are unable to command the preparation of water accounting reports tailored to satisfy their information needs. A general purpose water accounting report is prepared in accordance with Australian Water Accounting Standards and comprises a Contextual Statement, an Accountability Statement, water accounting statements, accompanying note disclosures and an Assurance Statement.

This definition applies to:

Appropriate for estimating probable maximum precipitation for durations up to six hours and for an area of less than 1000 square kilometres.

Related: probable maximum precipitation (PMP)

This definition applies to:

Appropriate for estimating probable maximum precipitation in regions of Australia where tropical storms are not the source of the greatest rainfall depths and where topographic influences vary markedly.

Related: probable maximum precipitation (PMP)

This definition applies to:

Appropriate for estimating probable maximum precipitation in regions of Australia affected by tropical storms.

Related: probable maximum precipitation (PMP)

This definition applies to:

A national set of topographic products developed by Geoscience Australia at various scales.

This definition applies to:

The common abbreviation for the Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric.

Related:

This definition applies to:

A first pass national groundwater GIS dataset. Groundwater boundaries are derived from interim groundwater data.

Related:

This definition applies to:

A contracted catchments hierarchy resulting from contracted nodes of important hydrological features. A simplified Node-Link network identifies contracted nodes in Geofabric Surface Network and the corresponding linkages between these nodes.

Related:

This definition applies to:

A collection of GIS feature classes derived from aggregations of contracted catchments in the Geofabric Hydrology Reporting Catchments product. Data is aggregated to drainage divisions and river region reporting units.

Related:

This definition applies to:

A collection of GIS feature classes of surface water features of Australia (excluding external Territories). It is flow directed and provides input for the production of maps and visualisations that present the results of hydrological analyses.

Source: Geofabric Product Guide V2.0

Related:

This definition applies to:

A collection of GIS feature classes providing topographic based surface catchment boundaries, organised into a hierarchy using the Pfafstetter reference system. It has a hydrological relationship to surface water features and can be used for surface hydrological analysis.

Source: Geofabric Product Guide V2.0

Related:

This definition applies to:

A collection of GIS feature classes based upon the DEM derived ANUDEM Streams. It is a generalised representation of Geofabric Surface Cartography streams with the addition of full topological connection. It can be used for selecting hydrological observation points (if they exist) and for geoprocessing and hydrological modelling that involves streamflow tracing operations.

Source: Geofabric Product Guide V2.0

Related:

This definition applies to:

The first major release of Geofabric data in 2010 derived from foundation input data at scale 1:250 000. Three products were included: Geofabric Surface Cartography, Geofabric Surface Catchments, Geofabric Surface Network.

Related:

This definition applies to:

The second major release of Geofabric data in 2011 derived from foundation input data at scale 1:250 000. Six products were included: Geofabric Surface Cartography, Geofabric Surface Catchments, Geofabric Surface Network, Geofabric Hydrology Reporting Catchments, Geofabric Hydrology Rerpoting Regions, Geofabric Groundwater Cartography.

Related:

This definition applies to:

A system used for the design, capture, storage, management and analysis of geographic data. Often referred to as GIS.

Related: GIS

This definition applies to:

Australia's national geoscience agency.

Related:

This definition applies to:

groundwater flow system

This definition applies to:

1,000 megalitres, which also is 1,000,000,000 litres.

This definition applies to:

Geographic Information System

This definition applies to:

gigalitre

1,000 megalitres, which also is 1,000,000,000 litres.

Related: gigalitre (GL)

This definition applies to:

The total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted from the sun that falls on a specified unit horizontal surface.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1

This definition applies to:

The irradiance emitted from the sun that falls on a specified unit horizontal surface.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1

This definition applies to:

groundwater management unit

An area delineated for the management of groundwater based on similar resource characteristics (for example rock type and water table depth) and management rules that may be applied.

This definition applies to:

General Purpose Water Accounting Report

This definition applies to:

The transfer price of water as agreed between legal entities inclusive of all applicable transaction costs.

This definition applies to:

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

Subsurface water in soils and geological formations that are fully saturated.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

(a) water occurring naturally below ground level (whether in an aquifer or otherwise) or (b) water occurring at a place below ground that has been pumped, diverted or released to that place for the purpose of being stored there. It does not include water held in underground tanks, pipes or other works.

In GDE Atlas, this definition includes the capillary fringe, which is an important source of water for many GDEs.

Source: Water Act 2007 Part 1 Section 4

Equivalent: water market equivalent terms

This definition applies to:

Water access entitlement granted on the groundwater resource.

This definition applies to:

Volume of water resulting from an allocation announcement made on a groundwater access entitlement.

This definition applies to:

A transaction to transfer a groundwater allocation from one legal entity to another, with or without change in location of the abstraction point.

This definition applies to:

The water assets that relate to groundwater, excluding soil moisture and water held in works underground.

In the National Water Account, it is quantified as the total of managed groundwater volumes of each groundwater management unit significant to the water balance within the region. For example where available this managed volume corresponds to the permissible consumptive volume specified in the water management plan.

This definition applies to:

Natural ecosystems that require access to groundwater to meet all or some of their water requirements on a permanent or intermittent basis, so as to maintain their communities of plants and animals, ecosystem processes and ecosystem services.

Source: Richardson, S., et al., (2011). Australian groundwater-dependent ecosystem toolbox part 1: assessment framework, Waterlines report, National Water Commission, Canberra

This definition applies to:

A transaction to transfer for a specified term a groundwater access entitlement from one legal entity to another, with or without change in location of the abstraction point.

This definition applies to:

A transaction to transfer perpetually a groundwater access entitlement from one legal entity to another, with or without change in location of the abstraction point.

This definition applies to:

Water that flows in aquifers and aquitards.

This definition applies to:

The system which represents the movement of subsurface water from the point where it enters the ground to where it leaves.

Source: Richardson, S., et al., (2011). Australian groundwater-dependent ecosystem toolbox part 1: assessment framework, Waterlines report, National Water Commission, Canberra

Related: groundwater flow

This definition applies to:

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

Increases in the groundwater assets of a water reporting entity.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

Volume of physical inflows to groundwater during the reporting period; from outside the region or from other stores.

This definition applies to:

The level of groundwater in an aquifer typically measured in a groundwater bore. In the case of an unconfined aquifer the groundwater level is equal to the water table level.

This definition applies to:

A water liability relating to groundwater.

This definition applies to:

An increase in groundwater liability as a result of allocation announcements, etc.

This definition applies to:

An area delineated for the management of groundwater based on similar resource characteristics (for example rock type and water table depth) and management rules that may be applied.

This definition applies to:

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

Decreases in the groundwater assets of a water reporting entity.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

Volume of physical outflows from groundwater during the reporting period; to outside the region or to other stores.

This definition applies to:

The infiltration or ingress of water to the saturated part of a geological layer. Infiltration of precipitation and its movement to the water table is a form of natural recharge. Other forms arise from flooding and irrigation. Artificial recharge can also occur through various means including bore injection.

This definition applies to:

The maximum volume of groundwater that can be extracted without causing any long-term mining of the aquifer system. It does not represent a ‘sustainable’ or ‘safe’ yield that normally takes into account factors such as intrusion of poor quality water and surface water groundwater interaction. In an unconfined aquifer the groundwater resource potential is mainly based on estimation of groundwater recharge, while in a confined aquifer the groundwater resource potential represents the available elastic storage (or a fraction of throughflow).

This definition applies to:

Water rights granted by a jurisdiction to access the region's groundwater.

This definition applies to:

Water assets that relate to groundwater but excluding soil moisture and water held in works underground.

Related: water asset

This definition applies to:

The water accounting report of a group water report entity presented as a single water entity.

This definition applies to:

A water report entity comprising individual water entities and for which a group water accounting report is required to be prepared under a regulation, statute or directive.

This definition applies to:

generalised southeast Australia method

Appropriate for estimating probable maximum precipitation in regions of Australia where tropical storms are not the source of the greatest rainfall depths and where topographic influences vary markedly.

generalised short-duration method

Appropriate for estimating probable maximum precipitation for durations up to six hours and for an area of less than 1000 square kilometres.

groundwater treatment plant

This definition applies to:

revised generalised tropical storm method

Appropriate for estimating probable maximum precipitation in regions of Australia affected by tropical storms.