The Pike Floodplain is located along the River Murray near Renmark, South Australia. The area provides habitat to a range of rare, vulnerable and endangered fauna and flora species; whilst also having very high cultural value and retains a high density of archaeological deposits.

The South Australian Department for Environment and Water delivers environmental water to the Pike Floodplain, when needed, to sustain or improve the condition of existing vegetation,  establish new vegetation, and encourage diversity of fauna. This is undertaken using a series of regulators and blocking banks to raise water levels in the floodplain creeks, enabling water to  spread across areas of the floodplain.  The effectiveness of the environmental watering program is monitored regularly by vegetation health assessments, water quality monitoring, soil monitoring and groundwater monitoring.  A review of the monitoring program indicated that the interaction of surface water delivery with groundwater was a process that required additional monitoring.

This led to the engagement of Water Technology’s Groundwater Team to: (i) review the existing observation bores, (ii) design new observation bores that would be able to withstand environmental flows and natural flood events and (iii) supervise the drilling of the six new shallow observation bores.

Due to the environmental and cultural significance of the Pike Floodplain, a core component of the project was to develop and ensure compliance with an approach that would minimise  disturbance to the ground surface and vegetation during the drilling program.

An innovative approach was developed in collaboration with AS Technical Drilling Services (ASTDS) to utilise a geotechnical drill rig that, thanks to its small size and rubber tracks, would  enable minimal impact. In addition, during the drilling process, special care was taken to ensure that there was no spillage of drilling fluid or development water on the ground.

Cultural Monitors from the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC) were on site during the drilling process and worked side by side with the Water Technology team and the ASTDS team to manage and protect cultural heritage across the floodplain.  

Final site selection for drilling was performed in consultation with RMMAC representatives onsite, and soil cores collected during the drilling process were examined by both RMMAC  representatives and the Water Technology hydrogeologist to ensure that no heritage materials were intersected during the drilling process.

A great collaborative project between all parties to protect the environmental and cultural values of the floodplain while delivering observation wells that will assist the monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the management of the Pike Floodplain.