Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

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Hatton and Ruprecht There is a lot of groundwater drainage being constructed in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, mainly on private land with private funds. The on-farm effectiveness of these engineering works varies, but to date has been subject only to modest research and development efforts to improve effectiveness and efficiency. There are serious concerns expressed by some downstream stakeholders regarding the negative impacts of disposal waters. There has been some evaluation of the flood mitigation options (Davies et al. 1988), but these studies have not looked at the impacts on biodiversity or nutrient flows. In the absence of the evaluation of these broader aspects, it is difficult to advance a serious debate on the winners and losers, and who pays, associated with engineering. It is worth noting that none of these catchments are water supply catchments, with the kinds of downstream constraints on water quality that complicate and inhibit drainage in catchments such as the Murray- Darling Basin. There have been more recent initiatives that have started to address some of these issues. The development of water management strategies in the Lake Dumbleyung and Beacon River catchments, the implementation of a broad-scale trial pumping scheme in the east Collie, and research and investigations into deep drainage in the Narrembeen area are all examples of recent studies into engineering applications. Given these recent initiatives, it is clear that we have an opportunity to design and optimise catchmentscale engineering that might bring the greatest collective benefit to those that have a share in the health of wheatbelt catchments. Landholders and government need to look at developing a framework that can work toward bringing about multiple benefits in terms of agriculture, flood mitigation and ecological values. A comprehensive vision for the management of flows and loads in these rivers, should we choose to further engineer them, is essential to deliver the best outcomes. It is a cruel irony that we have salinity problems in these catchments precisely because they are in the process (in the most global sense) of freshening. More salt is coming out of the landscapes than is now going into them from the atmosphere, and if we take the longest possible view, at least the salinity and associated flooding will eventually (in thousands of years perhaps) self correct. But in the process, we will be leaving behind much of the natural and human heritage we value. – 14 – ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank Neil Viney, Don McFarlane and Peter Muirden for their valuable comments on this paper. There are also many people who have contributed to the knowledge and understanding of salinity and hydrology of the southwest of Western Australia that has made this paper possible. REFERENCES Beard, J.S. (1981). Vegetation survey of Western Australia, Swan, Explanatory Notes to Sheet 7, University of Western Australia Press. Beard, J.S. (1999). Evolution of the river systems of the south-west drainage division, Western Australia. J. Royal Soc. Western Australia 82: 147–164. Bowman, S. & Ruprecht, J.K. (2000). Blackwood River Catchment Flood Risk Study. Surface Water Hydrology Series, Water and Rivers Commission, SWH 29, 36 pp. Davies, J.R., McFarlane, D.J., & Ferdowsian, R. (1988). The effect of small earth structures and channel improvements on the flooding of agricultural land in south-western Australia. Division of Resource Management, Department of Agriculture, Technical Report No. 77, 52 pp. Ferdowsian, R., George, R.J., Lewis, F., McFarlane, D., Short, R. & Speed, R. (1996). The extent of dryland salinity in Western Australia. In: Proceedings 4 th National Workshop on the Productive Use and Rehabilitation of Saline Lands, Albany, 25-30 March: 88–89. George, R.J. & Conacher, A.J. (1993). Mechanisms responsible for streamflow generation on a small, saltaffected and deeply weathered hillslope. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 18: 291–309. Hatton, T.J. & Salama, R.B. (1999). Is it feasible to restore the rivers of the Western Australian Wheatbelt? In: Proceedings 2 nd Australian Stream Management Conference, Adelaide: 313–317. Hingston, F.J. & Gailitis, V. (1976). The geographic variation of salt precipitation over Western Australia. Aust. J. Soil Res. 14: 319–335. Kratchler, R.S. (1980). Eastern Wheatbelt flood report – severe thunderstorms – February 1978. Technical Report No. 13, Main Roads Department. McFarlane, D.J., Ferdowsian, R. & Ryder, A. (1995). Water supplies for horticulture in the lower Great Southern. Catchment Hydrology Group, Department of Agriculture, 34 pp.
McFarlane, D.J., George, R.J. & Farrington, P. (1992). Changes in the Hydrologic Cycle. In: Reintegrating fragmented landscapes. Towards sustainable production and nature conservation (Eds. Hobbs & Saunders), Springer-Verlag, New York, 146–186. McFarlane, D.J. & Davies, J.R. (1988). Soil factors affecting flood runoff on agricultural catchments in Western Australia. Technical Report No. 18, Department of Agriculture, 22 pp. McMahon, T.A., Finlayson, B.L., Haines, A.T. & Srikanthan, R. (1992). Global Runoff – Continental Comparisons of Annual Flows and Peak Discharges. Catena Verlag, Cremlingen-Destedt, West Germany, 166 pp. Mulcahy, M.J. (1967). Landscapes, laterites and soils in south-western Australia. In: Landform studies in Australia and New Guinea (Eds. N Jennings & J A Mabbutt). ANU Press, Canberra, 211–230. Mulcahy, M.J. & Bettenay, E. (1972). Soil and landscape studies in Western Australia, (1) the major drainage divisions. J. Geol. Soc. Aust. 18: 349–357. Muirden, P. (2000). Avon River Flooding – January 2000. Unpublished Report HY 01 2000, Water and Rivers Commission, Perth. – 15 – Hatton and Ruprecht Pen, L.J. (1999). Managing Our Rivers. Water and Rivers Commission, Perth, 381 pp. Ruprecht, J.K. & Schofield, N.J. (1991). Effects of partial deforestation on hydrology and salinity in high salt storage landscapes. I. Extensive block clearing. J. Hydrol. 129: 19– 38. Salama, R.B. (1994). The evolution of salt lakes in the relict drainage of the Yilgarn River of Western Australia. In: Sedimentology and Geochemistry of Modern and Ancient Saline Lakes (Eds. R. Renaut & W. Last). SEPM, Canberra. Special Publication 50: 189–199. Salama, R.B. (1997). Geomorphology, geology and palaeohydrology of the broad alluvial valleys of the Salt River System, Western Australia. Australian J. Earth Sciences, 44: 751–765. Sharma, M.L., Barron, R.J.W. & Fernie, M.S. (1987). Area distribution of infiltration parameters and some soil physical properties in lateritic catchments. J. Hydrol., 94: 109–127. Viney, N.R. & Sivapalan, M. (2001). Modelling catchment processes in the Swan-Avon River Basin. Hydrological Processes (in press).
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Foreword Dealing with Salinity in W
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1Day one: Monday 30th July. Field t
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Papers Dealing with Salinity in Whe
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Ali and Coles biggest challenges fa
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Ali and Coles erosion, maintenance
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Ali and Coles expected under these
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Ali and Coles Coles, N.A. & Ali, M.
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Commander, Schoknecht, Verboom and
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Page 131 and 132: Pannell Pannell, D.J. (2001). Dryla
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Porter, Bartle and Cooper Table 5:
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Porter, Bartle and Cooper operation
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Porter, Bartle and Cooper Increase
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Porter, Bartle and Cooper support i
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Porter, Bartle and Cooper that is a
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CASE STUDY - TOOLIBIN LAKE AND CATC
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• The distribution, storage and m
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Secondly, there is a set of practic
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within three categories: relationsh
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CONCLUSIONS Actions to protect and
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FIELD TOUR LOCATIONS FIELD TOUR NOT
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COLES FARM “Avon River Basin Over
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Conference Outcomes Dealing with Sa
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with Salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys:
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with Salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys
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Photo Gallery 2 Dealing with Salini
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APPENDIX 1 BACKGROUND HYDROLOGY AND
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WHEATBELT HYDROLOGY Flow in the Yil
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Flow (ML) STREAM SALINITY Salt Rive
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APPENDIX 2 WATER MANAGEMENT OPTIONS
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APPENDIX 3 MANAGING WATER AND SALIN
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SUMMARY- TIMELINE OF RECENT SIGNIFI
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RECENT HISTORY OF WATER AND SALINIT
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Figure 1. Hydrological cross-sectio
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Depth (m) 316 315 314 313 312 311 M
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FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS AND MANAGEME
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