This interactive map – produced by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) – allows you to explore south-west Western Australian regional groundwater trends, local groundwater trends, the mapped extent of dryland salinity and areas with potential for increased dryland salinity.
We produced this interactive map to share groundwater information collected over the past 30 years. You can use the data to inform your land management decisions.
Go directly to the interactive map and legend
What you will find on this interactive map
The interactive map shows:
- more than 8000 groundwater monitoring bores
- local groundwater trends
- regional groundwater trends
- areas of satellite-mapped salinity as of the year 2000
- areas with a potential to have shallow watertables and potential salinity.
Information in this map
All bores (shown by default) shows groundwater bore siting and depth information – most drilled by DPIRD after 1984 – with at least 10 watertable observations. Most of these have colour-coded water conductivity measurements (estimates of salinity). Groundwater conductivity is measured as electrical conductivity (EC) in millisiemens per metre (mS/m). For information on livestock uses of water of varying salinity, see Water quality for livestock [1].
Trend bores shows groundwater bores which have sufficient watertable data to show a groundwater trend in three separate 5-to-7-year intervals. These are colour-coded to display their most recent trend: rising, stable or falling. For more information see Groundwater trends in agricultural areas of Western Australia [2]. [3]
Hydrozones are regions of similar hydrogeological properties based on soil-landscape zones. In this map they are displayed with white line boundaries when zoomed out enough, and the hydrozone information for the area under the cursor is shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the map. There are 3 types of information:
- Salinity risk: represents the likelihood and consequence of dryland salinity expansion in each hydrozone. The risk of dryland salinity across each hydrozone is aggregated and includes areas of low and high risk. For more information see the 'Dryland salinity' chapter in the Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture (PDF) [4].
- Groundwater trends: within each hydrozone are categorised according to the dominant trend. The trend categories are defined in Table 1.
- Time to equilibrium: indicates how long it is expected the groundwater system will take to come to equilibrium and for the area of salinity to stabilise: short term = less than 20 years; medium term = 20–75 years; long term = more than 75 years.
| Term | Description |
| Mostly falling | Groundwater levels in most (>50%) of the bores in the hydrozone are falling. Trend in remaining bores could be stable or rising. |
| Mostly stable | Groundwater levels in most (>50%) of the bores in the hydrozone are stable. Trend in remaining bores could be falling or rising. |
| Mostly rising | Groundwater levels in most (>50%) of the bores in the hydrozone are rising. Trend in remaining bores could be stable or falling. |
| Variable trend | Groundwater levels in the hydrozone show variable trends. Bores within the hydrozone have roughly equal numbers of falling, stable and rising groundwater levels. |
Salinity (within the Layers menu) – created by CSIRO and DPIRD as part of the Land Monitor [5] project – highlights areas which appear to be affected by dryland salinity (from satellite mapping). For more information see the 'Dryland salinity' chapter in the Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture (PDF) [4].
Valley hazard (within the Layers menu) – created by CSIRO and DPIRD – shows valleys that are water accumulation areas, likely to have shallow watertables with the potential to result in surface saltland. For more information see the 'Dryland salinity' chapter in the Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture (PDF). [4]
Using this map
Pan and zoom to an area of interest then click the mouse (or tap your finger on a touch device) on a bore icon to reveal groundwater details. If you are at a high enough zoom level, you will also see the hydrozone trend information. When zoomed in, location boundaries will become visible.
By default, the map shows the 'all bores' selection. Select 'trend bores' using the button in the top left of the map. 'Salinity' and 'Valley hazard' can be turned on from the Layers menu in the top left of the map. Hydrozone summary information – based on the position of the cursor – is shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the map.
- There is a geolocator in the top right which will locate your current position on the map.
- You may need to update your browser to view this map correctly.
The interactive map
Legend
