Assessing the viability of recharge reduction fordryland salinity control: Wanilla, Eyre Peninsula

Abstract

The emerging paradigm to manage the spread of dryland salinity is the manipulation of farming practice to provide both a reduction in recharge and a commercial return to farm enterprises. Recent work has attempted to classify the groundwater systems across Australia into distinct provinces, with the implication that the flow processes, and therefore remediation strategies, of catchments within each province are similar. This paper presents a case study of the Wanilla catchment on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. This catchment is in the groundwater province that includes 60% of the dryland salinity expression in Australia. The results of conceptual and numerical modelling of the catchment suggest that the land management for reduced recharge paradigm may be less effective in this groundwater province than in others. The scale of expression and salinity history of such catchments provides further impediments to management options aimed at controlling or reversing existing dryland salinity.