The Midlands groundwater and land assessment project (the Midlands project) is a State government project that is investigating groundwater availability, land capability and crop suitability in the Midlands area, between Gingin and Dongara.
This region is one of the most economically promising irrigation zones in Western Australia. The Midlands project has two focus areas:
- Dinner Hill: the south-western corner of the Dinner Hill groundwater subarea
near Dandaragan - Irwin: an area south of the Irwin River near Dongara.
Abstracting groundwater for irrigation can affect groundwater levels at sensitive features in the landscape. Groundwater declines can affect the amount of water available:
- in farm water sources such as soaks and shallow bores
- in ecological features such as wetlands and watercourses
- to the roots of groundwater-dependent vegetation.
This report summarises the results of a literature review, database searches and limited field surveys. It describes features susceptible to groundwater decline in the Dinner Hill and Irwin focus areas and their social, economic, cultural and ecological values
