Effects of Urban Development on Groundwater
Abstract
The future urban development needs of Melbourne have recently been assessed by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) through investigation of the designated metropolitan growth areas. These investigations included consideration of the potential effects of urban development on groundwater baseflow in streams. The movement of groundwater to streams/rivers provides an important source of water when rainfall/runoff processes are not active. Groundwater carries salts to the stream and therefore stream salinity is likely to increase if groundwater discharge becomes a larger component of the total stream flow, with potential implications for waterway management.
Groundwater baseflow is not often considered in an urban development context and thus two approaches to estimation of baseflow are described below in this new context.
Authors
Carl Daamen, Chris Mcauley & Peter Durkin