Northern Adelaide Plains Prescribed Wells Area - Water Allocation Plan

The groundwater resources of the Northern Adelaide Plains were first prescribed in 1976.

The region covers approximately 800 km2, extending from Salisbury to Two Wells and Gawler. The predominant groundwater use in the area is for horticulture with a wide range of crops including vegetables, vines, almonds and olives being grown.

The current water allocation plan for the region was adopted in December 2000. This plan has been reviewed, and the Board is now preparing a new water allocation plan, which also includes Kangaroo Flat which was prescribed in 2004. The Board is working with a local advisory committee to develop the plan.

• Download the current Water Allocation Plan for this region.

 Review of the Northern Adelaide Plains Water Allocation Plan
The Board undertook a review of the current water allocation plan for the Northern Adelaide Plains Prescribed Wells Area. The review highlighted the need for a new water allocation plan for the region.

• Download the Review
• Information Sheet summarising the issues raised during the Review and how they are being addressed (English version) (567 kb pdf)
• Information Sheet summarising the issues raised during the Review and how they are being addressed (Vietnamese version) (597 kb pdf)

Proposal Statement for a new Water Allocation Plan
The Board has commenced the development of a new water allocation plan for the Northern Adelaide Plains Prescribed Wells Area.

A Proposal Statement has been prepared which provides the Terms of Reference for the development of the water allocation plan and includes consideration of sustainable extraction levels, water allocation and transfer criteria, use of imported water and appropriate monitoring of the resource. A summary brochure of the Proposal Statement has also been prepared.

• Proposal Statement for the Northern Adelaide Plains (517kb pdf)
• Summary Brochure for the Northern Adelaide Plains (1.17mb pdf)

Kangaroo Flat Proposal Statement
A separate Proposal Statement was prepared for Kangaroo Flat. It is intended that this recently prescribed area, which adjoins the Northern Adelaide Plains Prescribed Wells Area, will be incorporated into a single Water Allocation Plan that covers both areas.

• Proposal Statement for Kangaroo Flat (483 kb pdf)
• Summary Brochure for Kangaroo Flat (2.1 mb pdf)

Ground Water trends in the Northern Adelaide Plains
As the first step of developing a new plan for the NAP, a detailed trend analysis was undertaken. This brochure provides a summary of trends in water level and use in the NAP.

• Groundwater trends in the NAP (1.8mg)

Following the particularly dry year of 2006/07, the previous work on trends in groundwater levels has been updated to reflect recent conditions. A fact sheet summarising recent trends is below:

• Groundwater trends in the NAP 2004 -2007 (2mg)
• Groundwater trends in the NAP 2004 - 2007 Vietnamese Language (3mg)

Aquifer Storage and Recovery
The Board has started the development of a new plan to manage the groundwater resources of the Northern Adelaide Plains. This discussion papers is one of a series that summarise the options for policies in the new plan.

• Discussion Paper 1 - Aquifer Storage and Recovery (English version) (159 kb pdf)
• Discussion Paper 1 - Aquifer Storage and Recovery (Vietnamese version) (388 kb pdf)

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