What is an artesian basin?
Effectively it’s an underground ‘reservoir’ where water is trapped, often under great pressure. Sometimes the water will rise to the surface without the need for pumping and if the basin is very deep, that water might be scalding hot. Two thirds of the Great Australian Artesian Basin – which is the largest in the whole world – lies beneath Queensland. When this was discovered it provided the answer to Roma’s water problems. Drilling began in 1897 but – instead of water – up came natural gas! In 1900, the discovery of a gas supply was not the good news you might expect. They needed water, they couldn’t drink gas. So for five years the gas escaped, uncapped, into the atmosphere while more drilling for water took place. Finally someone realised that a valuable commodity was going to waste so a storage gasometer was constructed and gas was piped around the town. Roma was the first town in Australia to have gas street lights! Ten nights later the gas supply failed. Ho-hum. Drilling went on
