2.3.1.2 Developing causal pathways

The approach undertaken in the Cooper subregion closely follows the process laid out in the companion submethodology M05 for developing a conceptual model of causal pathways (Henderson et al., 2016).

Given the limited scope for development of CSG resources in the Cooper subregion, no numerical groundwater or surface water modelling is being undertaken as part of this BA. As a result, several companion products are not required for the Cooper subregion assessment. These are:

The development of the causal pathways has benefitted greatly from information provided and discussions at the external workshop for causal pathways held in Adelaide on 11 and 12 November 2015. This workshop included participants from SA Department of State Development, SA Department of Environment Water and Natural Resources, SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board, Strike Energy Limited, Beach Energy Limited, the Office of Water Science from the Australian Government Department of the Environment, the Assessment team and Science Leadership Group of the Bioregional Assessment Technical Programme. These participants were invited as they are the key knowledge holders for the parts of the subregion considered in the CRDP, and for which conceptual models have been developed.

The conceptual models of the springs discussed in this product rely heavily on work undertaken by SA Department of Environment Water and Natural Resources under the Lake Eyre Basin Springs Assessment. This work is summarised and reported on by Keppel et al. (2016) and Gotch et al. (2016). The geological conceptualisation was developed in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and Geological Survey of South Australia geologists, which has been reported in Hall et al. (2015), and the underpinning data released for public use as Geoscience Australia (Dataset 1).

The key system components, processes and interactions for the geology, hydrogeology and water-dependent landscape classification of the CRDP were summarised and potential causal pathways were discussed with stakeholders at this workshop. The potential causal pathways considered the CRDP, the impact causes and impact modes, the activities and the potential water-related effects identified by the IMEA. From this discussion, eight causal pathways were identified for the CRDP in the Cooper subregion; these are described in Section 2.3.5.