A group of Australia's pre-eminent water scientists say a rare desert oasis may dry up under Adani's "flawed" protections for groundwater near its proposed Carmichael mine, in a scathing assessment days out from a crucial ruling on the plan.

Queensland's Department of Environment and Science is this week due to decide on Adani's groundwater management plan – one of the last remaining barriers to construction of the coal project.

Former federal environment minister Melissa Price granted approval for the highly contentious groundwater plan days out from the federal election campaign. This came despite CSIRO and Geoscience Australia raising concerns over the energy company's modelling and proposed management.

The Great Artesian Basin is the lifeblood for many farmers and regional communities, especially during drought. The capping and piping of free-flowing bores in NSW is saving huge amounts of water but needs to carry on.

The Artesian Bore Water Users Association committee would appreciate it if you would please fill out the survey on the following link.

 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FX6SP92

New South Wales and Queensland grain growers and spray operators are being encouraged to test water quality before using it for the application of herbicides and pesticides.

The advice comes in the wake of a research project by the SOS Macquarie Valley group that investigated the water quality of 180 bores and assessed its suitability for use with farm chemicals.

The project found the water quality varied significantly with 78 per cent of samples more alkaline than desired and 80 per cent recording higher than ideal levels of bicarbonate concentrate, when used to apply pesticides and herbicides.

While the samples for this research project were taken from a relatively small geographic area west of the Newell Highway and north and east of the Bogan River in central western New South Wales, the issue of water quality is relevant across all farming areas of Queensland and NSW.