ENGINEERING OLUTION TO SALINITY: Drainage system installed

摘要

THE SALINITY problem for some waterways in Western Australia has become so acute that revege-tation alone will not provide a solution. So in a radical approach to save two lake systems, farmers, engineers and land-conservation specialists have joinedforces to use a drainage solution as the first stage of attack to rectify the situation. Agriculture WA hydrologist Dr Richard George told the Productive Use and Rehabilitation of Saline Lands conference at Albany, WA, earlier this year that unless broadly supported solutions were found for salinity throughout the agricultural area, farm land and remnant vegetation on private and public land will be threatened. "In addition to 30% of farmland which may be lost to salinity, up to 80% of susceptible remnants on farms and up to 50% on public lands will be lost within the next century unless priorities are set and local action plans developed by communities and government," he said.