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Farmers in South Australia's Coorong District are used to the threat of salinity.They recognised that they had a problem when monitoring showed that their groundwater was rising at an alarming 10 centimetres per year, in some places only one metre below ground level.
The community, located in the Upper South East region of the State, responded by preparing a detailed strategy to manage this looming problem and is now in its fourth year of implementing the plan.
Graham Gates, Project Officer for the Local Action Planning Committee, said the community had taken two different approaches to tackling the salinity problem.
'We have undertaken a broadscale program of planting or conserving deep rooted perennial plants as our first line of action to reduce groundwater recharge,' he said. 'Perennials were nature's solution and we have learned from that.'
Speaking at Australia's National Dryland Salinity Program 'Salinity Stocktake' conference in Bendigo, Victoria today, Mr Gates said a number of opportunities existed for fruitful research in the management of saline land and water.
'We are still learning how to manage these resources sustainably,' he said. 'Water is such a precious resource in Australia; it is essential that we continue to undertake research and development to convert what is often seen as a liability into an asset.'
Mr Gates said local communities were well aware that some areas would now always be affected by salinity. The new challenge is to halt its spread, but also to make the most of the areas that have become salinised.
'Of course, we wish we didn't have a salinity problem, but now that we have we might as well make the most of it' added Mr Gates.
'We have had great success restoring productivity on salinised land with salt tolerant pastures. We also have some farmers developing commercial aquaculture systems using pumped saline groundwater.'
The Coorong District Local Action Plan was the national winner of the Landcare Award for catchment groups and has been supported by the Natural Heritage Trust.
The 'Salinity Stocktake' conference continues this week in Bendigo. A special seminar on Friday, 17th November 2000 will explore salinity and the law, examining past and present legal frameworks for natural resource management. It will also identify research and development needs to help manage the social and legal implications of dryland salinity relating to both built and natural public and private assets.
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For further information please contact:
Please contact Land & Water Australia
Email:land&wateraustralia@lwa.gov.au
Phone: 02 6263 6000