e2b5a112-9532-4762-8492-0b3fd536708a urn:uuid eng UTF-8 nonGeographicDataset nonGeographicDataset 2025-10-16T12:11:21 creation ISO 19115 2016 National Groundwater Protection Guidelines for Australia e2b5a112-9532-4762-8492-0b3fd536708a Development of groundwater resources has been the main focus of attention for Australia s groundwater managers over the past 150 years. This development phase must be accompanied by appropriate allocation policies, if the resources are to be managed in a sustainable way, because resource protection relies greatly on good allocation policies. The Australian Water Resources Council is currently developing national guidelines to protect groundwater from contamination. These guidelines are not prescriptive, but instead provide a broad framework under which the States and Territories can tailor their own set of management plans for each important aquifer. The guidelines were developed in a consultative manner and adopt a planning framework to integrate the traditional groundwater management, land-use planning, and modern environmental protection approaches to groundwater protection. This paper describes the background, the preparation process, some important issues, and the broad content of the national guidelines for groundwater protection. Successful implementation of these groundwater protection plans will rely on efforts of groundwater managers and their ability to interact with and influence a broad range of other managers. Earth Sciences GA Publication Journal Published_External Journal article (pdf) documentDigital Journal article (pdf) PDF Unnamed resource documentDigital HTML