Combining old and new, a 35 year vision to map Australia's groundwater under the Resourcing Australia's Prosperity Initiative

Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity is a 35-year initiative, led by Geoscience Australia, to enhance knowledge of Australia’s geology and groundwater systems. The groundwater project under the Initiative enhances understanding, management, and sustainable use of Australia’s groundwater by assessing groundwater systems, their connectivity and relationships with other natural resources across the continent. The groundwater project is taking national groundwater mapping to the next level and builds on foundational work under the recently completed Exploring for the Future Program. The groundwater project comprises three key components. National 3D Groundwater Systems Mapping is enhancing National 3D geology models to incorporate hydrostratigraphy and build consistency in national groundwater databases through multi-agency collaboration. The National Hydrogeological Inventory provides a unified, multi-tier repository of hydrogeological data, ensuring consistency and accessibility for groundwater studies and management. The Groundwater Atlas integrates 3D models and hydrogeological data for priority regions, presented as a map compendium. The groundwater Atlas is designed to present groundwater conceptual models in a visually engaging manner for a broad audience. By delivering these outcomes, the project strengthens Australia’s capacity to sustainably manage groundwater resources for current and future generations. It supports the clean energy transition by providing critical groundwater data, enhances national groundwater information access for government, industry, and communities, and improves data coverage and model confidence across state and territory jurisdictions. Ongoing engagement with the Australian and International groundwater community will be critical to design and deliver groundwater products that meet the needs of all Australians. Presented at the 52nd Congress of International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH2025)