the Great Artesian Basin

The Great Artesian Basin, located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over 1,700,000 square kilometres, with measured water temperatures ranging from 30–100 °C. The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of inland Australia.

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, icebergs, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands.

How The Great Artesian Basin works by DeptEnvironment

The Basin underlies 22% of the continent, including the states and territories of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia, and New South Wales.

The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia.

WATER DOWN UNDER The Great Artesian Basin Story by DeptEnvironment

The basin is 3,000 metres deep in places and is estimated to contain 64,900 cubic kilometres of groundwater.

Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations.

The Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee coordinates activity between the various levels of government and community organisations.