Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).,
The Palmerston Dolostone aquifer formation is a high yielding aquifer beneath the Palmerston City area.
Groundwater abstraction from the aquifer is for irrigating community parks, a golf course, sporting ovals
and topping up suburban lake systems. Water quality in the past has been typical of weathered dolomite
aquifers, considered acceptable for irrigation of parks and ovals (Power and Yin Foo, 1988). Electrical
conductivity (EC), a measure of salinity, for Dolostone aquifers in the Darwin region averaged
307 μS/cm, with a standard deviation of 47 μS/cm (Tien, 2006).
Demand for groundwater has increased since the 1980s, especially with new developments such as
Durack Heights, Zuccoli and Bellamack. Groundwater modelling conducted in 2016 as part of the
Zuccoli Groundwater Investigation determined that high rates of groundwater abstraction presents a high
risk of contamination by saline water with any pumping following a very dry Wet season presenting the
highest risk (GHD, 2016). Natural recovery from saline intrusion is not expected to occur in the short to
medium term and damage from increased groundwater salinity affecting infrastructure, soils and
vegetation is likely to occur (ibid.). Groundwater monitoring is essential to identify impacts on the aquifer.
Monitoring of the groundwater system was conducted by the Water Resources Division between 1983
and 2008. This consisted of intermittent discrete water quality sampling and wet and dry season manual
water level monitoring. A single monitoring survey was conducted in 2016, commissioned by the
NT Government (GHD, 2016). A monitoring survey was also undertaken in February 2018 by the Water
Resources Division, the results of which are discussed in this report.,