The water of the Great Artesian Basin is held in a sandstone layer laid down by continental erosion of higher ground during the Triassic, Jurassic, and early Cretaceous periods.

[6] A much smaller amount enters along the western margin in arid central Australia, flowing to the south and east through the permeable sandstone, at a rate of one to five metres per year.

[8] After the arrival of Europeans, the springs facilitated exploration, and allowed the provision of faster communications between south-eastern Australia and Europe, via the Australian Overland Telegraph Line.

[8] The Great Artesian Basin became an important water supply for cattle stations, irrigation, and livestock and domestic purposes, and is a vital life line for rural Australia.

[11] These problems have existed for many decades, and in January 2007 the Australian Commonwealth Government announced additional funding in an attempt to bring them under control.

[12][13] The Olympic Dam mine in South Australia is permitted to extract up to 42 megalitres (1.5×10^6 cu ft) of water daily from the Great Artesian Basin under the Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) Act 1982.

[5] In 2011, ABC TV's public affairs program Four Corners revealed that significant concerns were being expressed about depletion and chemical damage to the Basin as a result of coal seam gas extraction.

[16] The safety data sheet QGC had submitted for the hydraulic fracturing chemical was derived from the United States, incomplete and ten years out of date.

[16] Over thirty chemicals may be used in the process of hydraulic fracturing and their long-term impact on aquifers, agriculture and people supported by them has been quantifiable and verified for quite some time.

[17] Lead, aluminium, arsenic, barium, boron, nickel and uranium have all been found beyond recommended levels in the groundwater contaminated by coal seam gas.