Case Study: NSW Government assesses catchment-wide water resource risks with SLB

42,000 km2 Region Assessed for Water Resource Impacts from Potential Coal and Gas Developments

The NSW Government commissioned SLB to assess how potential coal seam gas development and coal mining could affect surface water and groundwater in the 42,000 km2 Namoi catchment, an agricultural region with heavy irrigation use and stakeholder concern about water impacts. The challenge was to evaluate risks across a very large area, using massive and sensitive datasets, while clearly communicating technical findings to more than 30 stakeholders.

SLB built a custom relational database, used the Petrel software platform to create a 19-layer 3D geological model, and developed calibrated integrated surface water and groundwater models with LASCAM and MODFLOW. SLB then simulated seven future development scenarios through 2100, identified high-, medium-, and low-risk zones, quantified likely long-term impacts, and highlighted data gaps for future monitoring.

NSW Government