The Onkaparinga Valley Area, situated east of Adelaide in the Mount Lofty Ranges, comprises the upper catchments of the Onkaparinga River, Barker Creek and Nairne Creek. Some eighty square miles in extent, the area includes a number of centres of rural production with associated development of secondary industries. The future development of these towns depends to a large extent on the provision of adequate town water supplies. To meet this demand, a system of branch mains from the Adelaide-Mannum Pipeline has been proposed. In view of the length of principal and branch mains involved, and the estimated cost of the scheme, viz. 747,000, the Parlimentary Standing Committee on Public Works requested the Department of Mines to examine the possibility of supplying any of the towns - in particular, those at or near the extremities of the proposed mains - from underground sources. A hydrological survey of the area was done for this purpose.