Measuring Groundwater Recharge

Neha Sharma | 6th May 2024

Researchers from NSW, VIC and SA wanted to collaborate together on a data platform to gather different groundwater sensor data to enhance the activities and projects by making data available for researchers, government organisations, and national environmental data archives. Intersect provided software engineering services to the NGROS (National Groundwater Recharge Observing System) project to create an online system where researchers could upload, share and download this data.

The NGROS system places sensors in tunnels, mines and other subsurface spaces to measure groundwater recharge over time, space and utilise locally available rainfall data to calculate “event-based” recharge following rainfall. Groundwater makes up around 17% of accessible water in Australia and accounts for more than 30% of total water consumption. The use of groundwater increased drastically over the course of the Millennium Drought, accounting for as much as 70% of irrigation water across the Murray Darling Basin.

This project was a joint effort between researchers from various universities and Intersect staff, including:
Researchers:
Prof. Andrew Baker (UNSW)
Dr. Margaret Shanafield (Flinders University)
A. Prof. Martin Anderson (UNSW)
Prof. Wendy Timms (Deakin University)
A. Prof. Marilu Melo Zurita (UNSW)
Dr. Stacy Priestley (CSIRO)

Intersect:
Software Engineer – Jennifer Tam
Business Analyst – Lisha Singh
Project Manager – Siobhan Buckley
Head of Technology – Craig Hamilton

We would also like to acknowledge the Australian Research Council for their support to the project.

Intersect’s Contribution:

Intersect helped UNSW create a Web based application with Time Series Database platform to collect  ~1,600,000 data-points each year from sensors that measure groundwater statistics. This platform gives users the flexibility of uploading data files as new data is collected. They can also share and download their own data files based on the dataset they desire.

A. Prof. Martin Andersen, researcher from UNSW described working with Intersect similar to “going to a tailor”, to receive ‘customised results with attention to detail’ in this project, which helped successfully launch this project.

Together the entire team worked together over a period of 5-6 months to be able to design this project.

For more information about the project, please visit on the Article page.