24-10-2002

Land and water managers are facing at least two threatening processes to water regimes and water quality in Australia - dryland salinity and uncontrolled plantation development.

Speaking at the Prospects for Biodiversity and Rivers in Salinising Landscapes international conference underway in Albany, Western Australia this week, Chair of Australia's National Dryland Salinity Program (NDSP) Kevin Goss said a three-cornered contest between trees, water and salt was emerging in water resource management to achieving desirable river health.

"Commercial plantation forestry in the more secure, high rainfall areas and proposed reforestation for salinity management in the medium rainfall zone, if not carefully located, may reduce surface run-off and have potentially undesirable outcomes," he said.

"This is complicated further by other pressures on water resources, rapid growth of farm dams, over-extraction of groundwater beyond sustainable yields and predicted impacts of climate change.

"If we want to get the best result for the river environment and for industry we must encourage forestry and revegetation in the right place for beneficial management of salinity and water quality."

NDSP National Manager Richard Price said new tools to overcome such management dilemmas were currently being developed by the Program and its investment partners.

"Joint NDSP and CSIRO research suggests that salt entering rivers comes from a number of different sources," he said. "High concentrations of salt in water can have a negative impact on aquatic biodiversity as well as water quality for domestic and industry consumption and irrigation.

Mr Price noted that at a time when Australia is facing its worst drought in 20 years, the need to protect our valuable water resources has become even more apparent.

"Many farmers and land managers may assume that because we are in the grip of drought, groundwater recharge is reduced, therefore lowering water tables and salinity risk," he commented. "Because of the increased concentration of salts entering our waterways we need to be vigilant about managing salinity at all times - even through drought."

Mr Price said the NDSP was addressing the limited understanding of the interaction between dryland salinity and our environment - and what can be done to restore ecosystem function.

Several research projects are investigating the impact of dryland salinity on our aquatic (in-stream) biodiversity, the protection and restoration of remnant vegetation cover and specific soil and water needs.

National Water Week (20-26 October) also provided an ideal forum for communities concerned about the effects of dryland salinity on biodiversity and water quality to explore solutions emerging from NDSP research and development to manage salinity in their regions.

"Dryland salinity is the major natural resource management issue facing both rural and urban Australia," he said. "Its impacts are potentially enormous in terms of costs to our water quality, environmental heritage, biodiversity, agricultural productivity and urban and rural infrastructure.

"The costs from dryland salinity are increasingly extending to the quality and availability of water supplies for domestic and industrial purposes."

Mr Price said the NDSP supported a number of important projects of direct relevance to water quality and catchment management, investing in practical research and development to support the protection and management of our unique biodiversity, habitat and landscape amenity values threatened by dryland salinity and its impacts:

• Predicting the combined environment impact of catchment management regimes on dryland salinity
  
  This project aims to improve our understanding of the cumulative environmental impacts of dryland salinity on salt loads, water yield and flooding at the catchment scale. Governments and industry are using this information to assess the impact of land use change on water yield and salinity.

• Assessment of a system to accurately predict the loss of aquatic biodiversity from changes in salinity
  
  Rivers and wetlands naturally have a wide range of salinity levels. This project investigates how much salinity can rise from a natural value before unacceptable environmental impacts occur.

• Generation and delivery of salt and water to streams on a catchment scale
  
  This project aims to develop an understanding of landscape processes in areas at high risk of waterlogging and salinity, to identify salinity control measures and provide information on preventative or remedial actions to land managers.
  
  ENDS
  
  Further information:
  
  Please contact Land & Water Australia
  Email: land&wateraustralia@lwa.gov.au
  Phone: 02 6263 6000