Salinity Province 130, West Goulburn Plains

Salinity in the West Goulburn Plains Salinity Province is primarily associated with the irrigation development on the Goulburn River floodplain between the bedrock hills in the south and the Murray River in the north.

Local and regional scale Groundwater Flow Systems comprised of alluvial plains unconsolidated sediments underlie this large province of over 180,000 ha. Irrigation water for the province is sourced from the Goulburn River via an extensive channel network from Waranga Basin. A high watertable resulted from greatly increased recharge to the groundwater system following irrigation development, poor surface drainage and the wetter climate phase from the 1950s to 1990s, causing soil waterlogging and salinity. Depth to watertable maps from the 1980’s can be found on the Goulburn-Broken CMA website (external link). These show the dynamic nature of the high watertable that peaked in 1995, then declined and contracted during the 1999 - 2009 drought decade.

Salinity and high watertables are managed through an integrated program that improved irrigation water use efficiency; built a surface drainage network; installed groundwater pumps to manage high watertables and supported environmental protection works and incentives.