AUSTRALIA'S groundwater reserves are worth almost $7 billion each year, a new study has revealed.
A Deloitte Access Economics report, released on Monday, shows for the first time the role groundwater plays in the country's economy.
Groundwater is worth $6.8 billion each year and supports industries worth $34 billion including mining, food production and manufacturing, the report says.
However, the value of groundwater is constantly growing as surface water dries up in a changing climate and the population grows.
"That is likely to continue into the future as competition for water resources grows further," the report said.
National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), which commissioned the report, said that groundwater was worth more each year than individual sectors like forestry, fishing, poultry and gambling.
"To many people, groundwater is all but invisible, or there as a last resort when surface water runs short," NCGRT director, Professor Craig Simmons, said in a statement.
"In reality it drives many of our most productive industries, and if carefully managed can be maintained as a sustainable resource.
Prof Simmons said that many countries like China and India had overestimated their groundwater reserves and were using them unsustainably, which would hit long-term growth.
He said the report gave a much more accurate estimate of Australian groundwater reserves and would help develop a national plan to manage it sustainably.
"The availability of fresh water defines all sorts of national aspirations - how large our population can be, what industries we have in this country and where and how large they can be, and how well we look after our unique landscapes, rivers and ecosystems," Prof Simmons said.
"Groundwater (information) is often the missing element in all these questions.
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