Tourism
Tourism is an important industry in the Northern Territory and is the largest employer. Many tourist enterprises rely on groundwater, particularly those in the arid interior. A good example is the Yulara resort located in the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park, 350 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs. Its water supply is obtained from bores tapping an aquifer in both buried river valley sands and the underlying bedrock.
Uluru a major attraction in the National Park is a spectacular example of an "inselberg", a huge outcrop of sandstone protruding through the desert dunes. It is a remnant, formed as the surrounding rock eroded away over millions of years. The ancient landscape was partially buried by river sediments, only leaving high points such as Uluru and Kata Tjuta exposed.
Uluru
The Yulara Resort is in an arid environment, where the annual rainfall is just over 200 millimetres. There are vast quantities of groundwater in the region but much of it is salty. Considerable exploration had to be undertaken to locate the present supply of some 619 million litres per year. The groundwater is desalinated to bring it within the World Health Organisation guidelines.
