In some of the most arid parts of Australia, water has been coming to the surface for millennia, forced upwards by the temperature and pressure of the Great Artesian Basin. Oozing, bubbling, seeping or gushing up fault lines from hidden aquifers, this water has formed the hundreds of artesian springs that dot the landscape above a vast underground basin and provide the essence of life to a wide variety of creatures.

These creatures are a cross-section of the diversity and richness of life evolved to live in a harsh environment – crustaceans, snails, worms, fish and plants, many of which occur only in a single group of springs. These springs have also provided a refuge for birds, animals and of course, humans.

It is only in the last 124 years that humans have reshaped how this water gets to the surface and the rate at which it is used. Since the first bore-hole was hammered into the Great Artesian Basin in 1878, the extraction of water and the resulting loss of pressure has seen the demise of many springs and their unique flora and fauna.

At the same time, however, some artificial wetlands created by these new outflows have become valuable refuges for wildlife and humans. This makes the task of saving water much more complex than simply controlling all bores and restricting water to pipes, tanks and troughs.

The Arid Areas Catchment Water Management Board of South Australia has been running a ‘Boredrain Wetlands Study’ to develop a method for identifying which of these artificial wetlands need to be maintained.

Lynn Brake, presiding member of the Board, says the study had two important components.

“The first thing was to identify which artificial wetlands should be saved and which should be closed and the water confined to piping,” he says.

“We then had to quantify how much water is required to maintain those reasons for saving a boredrain wetland.”

According to Lynn Brake, the reasons to maintain an artificial wetland fall into two broad categories.

“One is for environmental and conservation reasons, the other is for lifestyle and other social reasons.

“If the wetland supports important environmental values such as threatened species or provide habitat for migratory birds, or if wetlands have important recreational or lifestyle values for people who live close to them or visit them, then these boredrain wetlands need to be maintained to support these values.

“What we’re trying to do, is decide how we can make sure we don’t lose the benefits the wetlands provide yet still save water where it needs to be saved.”