Water Resource Management Commons^™

Results Of Investigations Into The Groundwater Response And Productivity Of High Water Use Agricultural Systems 1990-1997 : 6. Summary Of All Sites, A D. Smith, Richard J. George Dr, P R. Scott, D L. Bennett, R J. Rippon, G J. Orr, Peter J. Tille

Resource management technical reports

The south-western Woolbelt receives annual rainfall between 500-700 mm with long dry summers and cool wet winters. The dominant land use is grazing of Merino sheep for wool productiion, with smaller areas (5-15%) of cropping. All of the catchments selected were affected by salinity, but the extent and severity varied. In all catchments the location of the major expression of salinity was the valley floor.

Las Vegas Wash Water Quality Monitoring Program: 1996 Report Of Findings, Richard A. Roline, James J. Sartoris, U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey

Publications (WR)

Las Vegas Wash, a natural wash east of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, carries stormwater, groundwater drainage, and sewage effluent from three sewage treatment plants to Lake Mead. The Wash provides nearly the only surface water outlet for the entire 2,193 mi² of Las Vegas Valley. A drainage area of 1,586 mi² contributes directly to the Wash through surface flow which is channeled to Las Vegas Bay of Lake Mead, while drainage of the remaining 607 mi² is presumably subsurface and may drain toward Las Vegas Wash.

In the 1930's and 1940's, sewage treatment plants were …

Evaluation Of Deep, Open Drains In The North Stirling Area, R Ferdowsian, A T. Ryder, J Kelly

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Salinity And Hydrology Of The Wamballup Swamp Catchment, R Ferdowsian, A T. Ryder

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

The Salinity And Hydrology Of The Tambellup Townsite And Jam Creek Catchment, R Ferdowsian, A T. Ryder

Resource management technical reports

The study area covers the Tambellup Town and the Jam Creek Catchment (top photograph on cover). The Tambellup Town is located 115 km north of Albany. The town has a population of 360 people (800 in the whole Shire). Tambellup is experiencing increasing salinity problems. Saline groundwater levels are close to the soil surface and cause deterioration of buildings, roads, infrastructure, death of trees and scalding of land including the sporting grounds. Many hectares of land in the Jam Creek Catchment has become salt-affected and salinity is on increase. The objective of this study was to define the present salinity …

Catchments Of The Esperance Region Of Western Australia, S T. Gee, John Andrew Simons

Resource management technical reports

This document provides a catalogue of the cultural and physical characteristics of the 32 catchments and internally drained areas in the Esperance agricultural region. Nineteen topographic catchments externally drain to the coast and the remaining 13 areas drain internally within their own boundaries.

Morilla Swamp Hydrological Investigation, Russell John Speed, E B. Lefroy, John Andrew Simons

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of The Effects Of Afff Inputs On The Vip Biological Nutrient Removal Process And Pass-Through Toxicity. Phase 1a. Volume Ii. Appendix Vii. Acute Toxicity Test Results, Mujde Erten-Unal, Gary C. Schafran

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This report discusses the results of a bench scale study conducted to evaluate the potential inhibitory effects of untreated AFFF wastewater to the Virginia Initiative Plant VIP biological nutrient removal process. A bench-scale study was conducted to evaluate the potential inhibitory effects of untreated AFFF wastewater to the nitrification process of the Virginia Initiative Plant biological nutrient removal system. Under this testing, bench-scale reactors simulating the nitrification process were loaded at various AFFF concentrations and the influence on the process performance was evaluated. The purpose of this effort was to determine the level of AFFF that could be incorporated into …

Western Australian Salinity Action Plan, Agriculture Western Australia, Department Of Conservation And Land Management, Department Of Environmental Protection, Water And Rivers Commission

Natural resources published reports

Salinity is one of the State's most critical environmental problems, threatening major economic and social consequences. It is preventable and, in the long term, reversible. Complete elimination is not realistic, but we can dramatically reduce its impact.

Salinity is caused by replacing deep-rooted native plants with shallow-rooted crops and pastures. More rainfall passed below the root zone and accumulates as groundwater so that watertables rise. The groundwater mobilises natural salts in the soil as it rises and carries them towards the surface, eventually degrading land and streams.

Bulletin 4329 - Environmental Hazards Of Farming In Western Australia, Greg Hamilton, Ian Foster, Philip M. Goulding

Bulletins 4000 -

This Bulletin is one of a series on crop establishment practices which minimise soil disturbance and improve stubble retention. In partnership with primary producers, Agriculture Western Australia 1s focussed on improved and profitable farming which conserves or improves the quality of the State's soil resources.

Agricultural land in Western Australia is naturally fragile and susceptible to degradation. Salinity and wind erosion are the most visible and significant forms of degradation, but all forms are present over large areas of agricultural land (House of Representatives Enquiry into Land Degradation in Western Australia, 1988).

The fragility of Western Australia's soils has been …

Salinity Action Plan, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In November, the Premier of Western Australia, Richard Court, released his governments strategy to tackle one of the State's most serious environmental problems - salinity. This article provides a summary of the action plan, full details are available in a two volum set 'Salinity - a situation statement for Western Australia' and 'Western australian salinity action plan'.

Copies of the reports are available from Publication Section, Agriculture Western Australia, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth 6151. Phone (09) 368 3729

Toolibin Catchment Revegetation Manual, Avril Baxter

Natural resources published reports

In1983, heavy winter rains resulted in severe inundation and flooding of the lower parts of the Toolibin catchment. The damage to crops and pastures was immense and costly. Local farmers realised that they needed to work together to minimise the impact of heavy rainfall events on their farm productivity.

At the same time the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) was concerned about the quality of both ground and surface water in the catchment area for Toolibin Lake, the last remaining wooded freshwater lake in the southern wheatbelt. This mutual interest led to the formation of the …

Buntine-West Wubin And West Maya Catchment Management Report, William Oldfield, Natalie Hunt

Natural resources published reports

Buntine West/Wubin land Conservation District was formed when a number of landholders wanted to extend and join on to some existing deep drains. At first the group concentrated on the deep drains with some farmers joining on anda project to connect the drains up througha naturally occurring saline area and to run the main drain into a salt lake system. Funding was attained for 50% of the project and farmers with drains paid for the rest. It was considered unfair for landowners whose land this drain went through to pay all the cost as it was not draining arable land. …

Remnant Vegetation Inventory On The Southern Agricultural Areas Of Western Australia., G R. Beeston, G Mlodowski, A Sanders, D True

Resource management technical reports

Remnant vegetation mapping and its incorporation into a Geographical Information System (GIS) data base is the first stage in an overall documentation and promotion of conservation of remnant vegetation in Western Australia. The primary objective of this project being to determine the amount, distribution and regional location of native vegetation remaining on private land in the agricultural area of south-west Western Australia.

Groundwater Investigations In The Jerramungup Shire, S B. Martin

Resource management technical reports

Drilling was carried out with a dry rotary auger rig, with a depth limit of 31 m for the first 28 piezometers and 40 m thereafter. Farmers assisted in the site selection and construction of the piezometers in most cases and will in the future be responsible for monitoring their piezometer(s) regularly. The average depth to bedrock was 18 m and the average dept to groundwater was 9 m, with an average salinity level of 3600 mS/m. The average total salt storage was approximately 2800 tonnes per hectare.

Bulletin No 4174 - Tree Planting On Farms In High Rainfall Areas, Ken Angell

Bulletins 4000 -

Many of the techniques described in this Bulletin are applicable to broadacre farms. However, they are specifically directed to small rural properties in the high rainfall areas.

Trees can usually serve more than one purpose on small rural properties. They can be used as ornamentals, to provide shelter and shade, for erosion control, as a wildlife habitat, or for waterlogging and salinity control.

Preliminary Groundwater And Salinity Investigation In The Eastern Wheatbelt. 4. Kitto's Hillslope, Tammin - 1985-90, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

The investigation revealed that a deep, brackish to saline groundwater system and dolerite dyke, contained within the saprolite were responsible for the secondary salinity; the annual discharge of water and salt at the seep from the damp groundwater system was about 2800 kL and 17 tonnes respectively; and the water-tables were not rising and that the most appropriate management of the site was to plant salt tolerant forage plants in combination with trees.

Shallow Drains For Reducing Waterlogging And Salinity On Clay Flats, Don Mcfarlane, Tim Negus, Arjen Ryder

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Flooding, waterlogging and salinity are problems which commonly occur together on the broad valleys of the wheatbelt. Drainage lines often become poorly defined once they reach the valleys and flood waters spread out, causing inundation and waterlogging. This excess water needs to be controlled because it contributes to salinity

Seepage Interceptor Drains For Reducing Waterlogging And Salinity, Don Mcfarlane, Jim Cox

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Shallow interceptor drains can reduce waterlogging on sloping sites. Such drains will more than pay for themselves from the increased crop yield. Recent work has shown that these drains also decrease salinity so that they are cost-effective in the long as well as the short term.

Level Banks Used To Decrease Waterlogging Can Increase Salinity, Don Mcfarlane, Richard Engel, Arjen Ryder, Maurice Eales

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Some farmers have used level W1SALTS banks to control surface zvaters above areas affected by ivaterlogging and salinity. Because the amount of waterlogging has been reduced, crop yields have increased downslope of some banks. However, the banks divert fresh surface water into deeper salty groundwater and, in the long term, worsen salinity. This article details an investigation of the effect of level WIS ALTS banks on saline groundwaters and discusses alternative methods of preventing the waterlogging of saline areas.

Coordinated Water Management In A Basin With Erratic Surface Supplies: The Law North And South Of The Pecos, Charles T. Dumars

Boundaries and Water: Allocation and Use of a Shared Resource (Summer Conference, June 5-7)

11 pages.

Contains references.

Saltland Management, Tim Negus

Natural resources published reports

Salt land problems in Western Australia are categorized into one of three types:

* Valley waterlogging

* hillside seepage

* dry land salt

Catchment Salinity : Report On A Study Of The East Perenjori Catchment, C J. Henschke

Resource management technical reports

Dryland secondary salinisation has debilitated large areas of land in Western Australia due to clearing of native vegetation for agricultural development. The initial aim of the project (which is the subject of Part I of this report) was to establish a landscape framework for hydrogeological examination of the salinity problem. A catchment of 139 km2, located 30 km east of Perenjori townsite was selected for detailed study. It was mapped for soils, vegetation, topography, landform and salinity using both old and recent aerial photography. A field survey of soil hydraulic conductivity was undertaken to help define recharge areas. Soil-vegetation associations …

The Homestake Project & Water Quality Issues, Tad Foster

Water as a Public Resource: Emerging Rights and Obligations (Summer Conference, June 1-3)

5 pages (includes 1 map).

Conflicts Between Water Rights Administration And Water Quality Protection, Jan D. Laitos

Water as a Public Resource: Emerging Rights and Obligations (Summer Conference, June 1-3)

43 pages.

Salinity Control In Northern China, G A. Robertson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

China has vast areas of saline land, perhaps as much as six million hectares. Some of this saline land is a result of marine influence in coastal areas and some is the resultof soil formation in areas with saline geological deposits and inadequate rainfall to leach out the salts at that time.

However, most saline soils in China are as a result of secondary salinisation processess induced by a hydrological imbalance resulting from over-clearing of the land or irrigation. This imbalance has produced rising watertables bringing the salt closer to the soil surface.

In this article, G..A. Robertson, Commissioner …

Increasing Groundwater Salinity In The Northern Wheatbelt, R J. Mcgowan

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Every farmer in western Australia's northern wheatbelt will know of a groundwater supply, be it bore, well or soak. that has become increasingly saline. The groundwater may have become more saline over a period of 15 years or more, or have been noticed only recently. Inevitably, the bore will lie within an area cleared for agriculture. This increase in groundwater salinity may be associated with soil salinisation. Although researchers have some understanding of the processes causing salinisation of groundwater in the wheatbelt and the extent of the problem, little is known about the rates of salinisation and groundwater rise. A …

Evalution Of Drainage Tile To Alleviate Salt Building In Heavy Soils Irrigated With Brackish Water And Cropped With Rice And Soybeans, T. C. Keisling, J. T. Gilmour, H. D. Scott, A. M. Sadeghi, R. E. Baser

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The use of tile drains for alleviating soluble salt accumulation on silt loam soil was investigated during 1984. Although the chemical analyses of the floodwater and tile drainage water were very similar suggesting that the floodwater was moving to the tile drain, the overall results so far indicate that this is not a feasible solution owing to lack of significant drainage. Application of DRAINMOD utilizing soil and weather data from Arkansas showed no significant effluent from the tile drains for our experimental site during rice production. This was attributed to the extremely slow saturated hydraulic conductivity values for this particular …

A Survey Of Soils Irrigated With Arkansas River Water, John T. Gilmour, H. D. Scott, R. E. Baser

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

Interest in the use of Arkansas River water for irrigation has increased recently as land adjacent to the river is converted to crop production and river water is considered as an alternative to depleted underground supplies. Since the Arkansas River can contain elevated concentrations of sodium chloride, this study was designed to determine if soil conditions adverse to crop growth were developing where river water has been used. The impact of river water on sites where river water was used as either the sole source for up to 3 years or as a supplement to another surface source for up …

Hydrological Studies In Soil Salinity, C J. Henschke

Resource management technical reports

Investigations involved examination of near-surface indurated layers to investigate their role in saltland formation. It was found that groundwater could move readily through this layer due to the presence of macro-pores. Close examination of apparently impermeable pallid zone clays, shows that decayed tree roots and large diameter voids provide a continuous pathway for the veritical transport of saline water from deeper aquifers.