Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment

The Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) is an independent office responsible for assessing impacts from resource development in Queensland, including coal seam gas (CSG), conventional oil and gas, and mining; and then developing and supporting proactive strategies for managing those impacts. OGIA is not a regulator. It is uniquely positioned to bring together the science and resource management. Its work is primarily focused on scientific investigation, modelling and monitoring relating to groundwater impacts, and support of an adaptive management framework for managing the impacts within cumulative management areas (CMAs) in Queensland. The Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water provides corporate and administrative support to OGIA. The work undertaken by OGIA is provided to the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, which is responsible for regulatory compliance of groundwater management strategies and actions identified by OGIA. This includes statutory obligations on individual tenure holders for the proactive ‘make good’ of impacts on water supply, mitigation measures for impacts on groundwater-dependent ecosystems and installation of monitoring networks.