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Looking after a bore

Regularly maintaining your bore will increase its chance continuing to work efficiently.

If you don't take care of your bores and pumps or if they slowly start to wear out without being noticed, they may stop working.

Fixing a neglected bore can end up being just as expensive as drilling a new one.

Problems

Problems with a bore can occur due to various reasons.

These include any of the following:

  • poor construction
  • equipment failure
  • incrustation
  • corrosion
  • less water in the aquifer.

These can all lead to you getting less water from your bore and poorer water quality.

How to look after your bore

  • Check pumping equipment regularly.
  • Don't pump the bore higher than the recommended rates as this can cause pump problems and bore instability
  • Seal the space between the casing and pump equipment to stop small animals, insects, dirt and other pollutants getting in.

If you think your bore hasn't been built properly, contact your local Water Resources office.

For more information, read the looking after your bore fact sheet PDF (974.0 KB).

Check if your bore is at risk

A bore is 'at risk' if the predicted groundwater level in your aquifer at the end of the dry season will affect your bore.

Check your risk level in the 'know your bore' tool.

The Darwin assessment area is the Darwin rural water control district and Palmerston municipality.

Impact means your bore is in a situation where the top of the screens/slots in your bore casing will sit above the predicted end of dry season groundwater level.

If your bore displays in:

  • green - your bore is 'not at risk'. There's good information about your area.
  • red - it's most likely that your bore is 'at risk'. There's good monitoring data for your area.
  • orange - the prediction that your bore is 'potentially at risk' is not very certain. There may be a problem with your bore, but more information is needed to be sure.
  • purple (risk is not determined) - no risk prediction could be made due to lack of bore construction information.
  • blue (bore not assessed) - your bore is either outside of the assessment area or is a new bore entered into our database after this assessment was completed.

A risk assessment has been undertaken for bores that intersect the Tindall Limestone within the Katherine Tindall Water Allocation Plan area – called the Katherine assessment area.

A bore is 'at risk' if the predicted groundwater level in your aquifer at the end of the dry season will impact on your bore.

Impact means your bore is in a situation where near the top of the screens/slots in your bore casing will sit above the predicted end of dry season groundwater level.

If your bore displays in:

  • green - your bore is 'not at risk'. There's good information about your area.
  • red - it's most likely that your bore is 'at risk'. There's good monitoring data for your area.
  • orange - the prediction that your bore is 'potentially at risk' is not very certain. There may be a problem with your bore, but more information is needed to be sure.
  • purple (risk is not determined) - no risk prediction could be made due to lack of bore construction information.
  • blue (bore not assessed) - your bore can be any of the below:
    • outside of the Katherine assessment area
    • within the Katherine assessment area but not drilled into the Tindall Limestone
    • a new bore that was entered into our database after the assessment.

Bore classes

Bore classes range from 1 to 4. Class 1 is the best.

  • Class 1: drill depth, construction depth and the location of the bore screens/slots known.
  • Class 2: construction depth and the drill depth known.
  • Class 3: no casing data but a drill depth is known.
  • Class 4: construction depth or the total depth is unknown.

The drill depth is the total depth to which the bore was drilled.

The construction depth is the depth to which a casing is installed. A casing is the pipe that is installed into the drill hole to hold water that the pump goes into.

Find your bore

You can search by your street address or bore number in the 'know your bore' tool.

If you can't find your bore

Only bores with a current status are displayed in the 'Know your bore' tool.

If you can't find your bore, this means that its status is unknown or isn't registered.

To get your bore added, email waterresources@nt.gov.au.

Contact

If you have any questions, contact the Water Resources office.