Tara Forstner

Tara Forstner's PhD research focus is on investigating methods for assessing the 'baseline' (pre-European) conditions of a groundwater-surface water system incorporating indigenous records of natural conditions. Impacts on water resources are often quantified based on an assumed pre-development groundwater-surface water condition, however, baseline conditions are often constrained by lack of data as they pre-date monitoring periods. Understanding the Pre-European groundwater-surface water conditions is a critical consideration when investigating impacts on water resources that affect indigenous populations.

This research aims to explore methods of untangling the potential stressors (eg. drainage developments, increased abstractions, etc) of European settlement in a highly developed catchment using numerical modelling techniques and the inclusion of indigenous knowledge to reconstruct baseline conditions. Not only will this project develop new science to underpin the management of integrated groundwater and surface water systems, but it will have flow on effects by providing a more comprehensive understanding of methods for pre-development baseline conditions in a water resource system