Groundwater Quality
All groundwaters contain various kinds of naturally occurring dissolved salts (minerals). Small quantities of many of these are essential to good health. Excessive concentrations however, can limit the uses of the water. When a bore is drilled, a water analysis is normally carried out to determine if any of the salts exceed guideline values.
Click on any of the salts below to see how they affect groundwater quality and what their recommended limits are for domestic and stock use.
Note: The maximum recommended values listed for each salt are guidelines rather than strict limits. The reason for this is because there are often many factors governing how a particular salt affects the user. These can include a persons age and the total volume of water consumed. The guidelines given below are conservatively chosen in order to cover most situations.
The composition of mineral supplements to stock feed must be considered when stock waters are near to the guideline limits, especially for fluoride and sulphate. Further information is available from the Chief Veterinary Officer, Northern Territory Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development.
The salts originate from minute quantities dissolved in rain water and from the chemical breakdown of rocks. Nitrate is also produced in the soil by natural biological activity. Over long periods of time evaporation in the soil concentrates them to varying degrees before they are washed down into the groundwater. On average groundwaters in the arid southern parts of the Northern Territory contain more salts than those from the wetter northern areas.
Visit the groundwater salinity page to see how salt content of groundwater varies across the Northern Territory
