AGL has installed two additional groundwater monitoring bores at Gloucester to learn more about the shallow groundwater beneath the Avon River floodplain and within underground geological faults.

The extra bores were drilled last week in the Waukivory Pilot area, with one bore targeting the geological fault zone at 60 metres below ground level and the other targeting the alluvium 10 metres beneath the floodplain.

AGL has installed these bores, despite not being required to, after requests by members of the community and the Gloucester Dialogue.

“Drilling these additional water monitoring bores is not required under our current approvals, but we want to go over and above the requirements to provide the community with a greater comfort about the role of geological faults in groundwater flow and potential impacts, if any, on the Avon River,” said John Ross, Manager of Hydrogeology.

“There have been community concerns about the faultlines from locals who have some knowledge about the geological systems in Gloucester. We’ve listened and installed the monitoring bores last week.”

These bores will provide more information when we start the Waukivory flow testing as to whether the fault beneath the Avon River acts as a barrier to water flow, is a conduit for flow, or is of no consequence.

“The timing is right for these bores – they are in place before we start flowing water from our wells at Waukivory,” said Mr Ross. The new bores are in addition to the 45 groundwater monitoring bores AGL already has in the Gloucester Basin, which is part of AGL’s program to study and monitor the behaviour of surface water and groundwater in the area.

Once up and running, the monitoring equipment in the bores will take water level and salinity readings every six hours, and the data will be linked to our new water portal that was launched recently.

About AGL

AGL is one of Australia's leading integrated energy companies and largest ASX listed owner, operator and developer of renewable energy generation in the country. Drawing on over 175 years of experience, AGL operates retail and merchant energy businesses, power generation assets and an upstream gas portfolio. AGL has one of Australia's largest retail energy and dual fuel customer bases. AGL has a diverse power generation portfolio including base, peaking and intermediate generation plants, spread across traditional thermal generation as well as renewable sources including hydro, wind, landfill gas and biomass. AGL is taking action toward creating a sustainable energy future for our investors, communities and customers.