A new report shows there has been little overall change in predicted impacts to groundwater from the CSG industry in the Surat Cumulative Management Area (Surat CMA).

The Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) report reveals over the past year there has been less than one per cent change in the planned development area of the CSG industry in the Surat CMA.

OGIA is responsible for the independent cumulative assessment of groundwater impacts from petroleum and gas activities in the Surat CMA.

An Underground Water Impact Report of the Surat CMA is released by OGIA every three years.

The report states there will be around 8,000 coal seam gas wells in the Surat CMA by the end of 2018.

There are more than 22,000 water bores in the Surat CMA and groundwater modelling predicts a total of 456, or two per cent, of these bores will be impacted over the life of the CSG industry.

A total of 587 groundwater monitoring points have now been established in the Surat CMA, providing new information on the groundwater system and helping to measure groundwater impacts resulting from petroleum and gas extraction.

The data collected from these monitoring points is used to improve the accuracy of the groundwater impact model.

Groundwater pressure at a number of monitoring points in the Hutton Sandstone have continued to decline since 2016.

OGIA reports there is no evidence that CSG extraction from the overlying Walloon Coal Measures is contributing to this decline and the trend is unlikely to be CSG related.

View the 2018 annual report here.