Soak your troubles away...while you can. EarthCache

 The Great Artesian Basin is one of Australia's natural wonders and an invaluable resource for farmers and townspeople across huge tracts of the driest country on earth.  But it's currently under threat.  This cache will take you just outside the town of Lightning Ridge to one of the town's most popular places. The site is open 22 hours a day (closed between 10am and Noon for cleaning) and entry is free.

  The posted coordinates will have you standing in front of a series of signs, which provide information about how this place came to be here. 

The Great Artesian Basin is a huge body of water that underlies much of Queensland and the neighbouring parts of the NT, SA and Northern New South Wales. It provides water for farms and towns, from deep under ground. However, this seemingly inexhaustible resource is under threat. Over use and inefficient infrastructure have resulted less water being available, which has show up in bores running dry, or with reduced pressure. Water enters the Artesian storage hundreds, or even thousands of kilometres away in the tropical north, were huge wet season rains seep down through minute cracks and pores into the water-holding porous sandstone layer, where it slowly makes its way southwards. Changes in vegetation and increased agriculture, including surface capture in dams in the recharge areas have resulted in less water making its way into the basin's storages.

There are projects under way to help reduce the wastage of water through inefficient infrastructure and unused bores left to run. The "Cap and Pipe" project aims to cap unused bores and to replace the open drains and channels with underground pipes, reducing water lost through evaporation and seepage. As an example, the bore that supplies the pools here has had the flow rate reduced from 20 litres per second, to 9litres per second and the other nearby bore, from 6 l/sec to 2 l/sec. This, combined with the replacement of 170km of open channels by underground pipes, is estimated to save 450 Olympic swimming pools worth of water per year from these two bores alone and the equivalent of 32 semi-trailers full of salt is no longer entering the environment. There are numerous other projects saving similar amounts of water and salt across the basin. You may have spotted signs on farm fences as you drove through the area which mention the "Cap and Pipe" project.

The newest and possibly most dangerous threat to the basin is that of 'hydraulic fracking' for gas. Natural gas 'Fracking' is the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals at very high pressure into the rocks, creating small cracks (or fractures, hence the name), through which the gas escapes and is harvested. The 'fracking' process creates two dangers for the Artesian Basin, firstly it is highly water intensive and secondly, there are grave fears of irreversible contamination of the storages. The chemicals used are toxic and include known carcinogens and mutagens and there is also the risk of methane contamination of the water as well. There is significant debate about the likelihood of these chemicals escaping and contaminating the underground water storages, but overseas studies have shown definite contamination and in some places, the water has so much methane in it you can set it on fire. The gas industry claims that these overseas experiences don't apply in Australia due to differing rock types (sandstone vs shale) and improved techniques, but there is a growing resistance to the industry, with many farmers joining the "Lock the Gate" movement. You may spot their signs on fences and gates as you tour the area.

To claim this cache

You'll need to provide answers to these questions. Gather the following information, which you must send to me in a separate email. Logs without an accompanying email will be deleted. If you would like a reply, please ensure you send your email address along with the message.

1. There are two pools at this site and the water flows from one to the other. Which way does it flow ?
2. Which of the pools is the warmest and why do you think that's the case.
3. Can you detect any odour in the air near these pools ? If so how would you describe it ? (you may have to walk around the pool to check, depending on which way the wind is blowing)
4. Lastly, although it's not a requirement, it would be great if you could post a picture with your log