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Topics > River Murray > Improving river health

Salinity Management Measures

About the Salinity Management Measures program

The Salinity Management Measures project aims to reduce the amount of salt that enters the Pike floodplain and complements the work completed through the Pike Floodplain Restoration Project to protect the wetlands and floodplains.

This project has been completed over a two staged approach. The first round of works commenced in June 2018 along the Sturt Highway near Paringa and involved installation of a series of groundwater pumping wells and monitoring wells. The second stage of works commenced in August 2019 completed a pipeline that connects the pumping wells together and moves saline groundwater away from the floodplain.

Salinity Management Measures
Salinity Management Measures
Groundwater pumping wells and monitoring wells along the highland of the Pike floodplain

In total the project included construction of approximately 15 km of new pipeline (completed in in two parts) and up to 35 wells approximately 50m deep on the highland and floodplain. This will prevent up to 120 tonnes of salt entering the Pike floodplain each day from groundwater in the highland and around the floodplain. This will contribute to the long term management of salinity in the Pike area into the future.

The groundwater management wells will pump the salty water away from the floodplain to a disposal basin located at Noora. Reduced levels of salt will help restore and protect the floodplain environment by improving water quality for native flora and fauna, and for local and downstream irrigators.

The works completed through the Pike Floodplain Restoration Project involved construction of environmental regulators and associated infrastructure that is used to deliver environmental water to the floodplain. This will help improve the condition of the plants and trees by providing water for the environment more often. It will allow for more frequent managed floodplain watering events to occur and over time will help flush out the high levels of salt which have accumulated across the landscape over the past century.

Salinity Management Measures
Salinity on the creek beds at the Pike floodplain

Why has the salinity it increased?

River regulation (controlling flow using locks and weirs) of the River Murray since the 1920s, vegetation clearance and irrigation development on the highland has caused naturally saline groundwater beneath the floodplains to rise. As a result, the root zone of vegetation is increasingly exposed to high salinity.

The frequency and duration of floods, which previously leached salt away from the plant root zone, has also reduced. The combined effect is long-term salt accumulation in the floodplain soils, groundwater and surface water.

Salinity Management Measures
Salinity on the Pike floodplain

Will the salinity increase in the river during a floodplain watering event?

Over time we expect to see water quality improve in the Pike River and Mundic Creek waterways due to these works. Any watering event, whether natural or managed comes with the risk of changes in water quality. Modelling indicates that managed floodplain inundations will result in a temporary increase in salinity both during and after an event. The potential magnitude of any salinity spike will be determined and communicated to stakeholders prior to any inundation. Adaptive management will reduce the magnitude and/or duration of salinity spikes during an event. Repeated operation of the regulator to enable floodplain inundation will, over time, reduce the build-up of salt in the soil profile.

Salinity Management Measures
Pike regulator at the Pike floodplain

Lead agency

Department for Environment and Water.

Partners

SA Water, Pike Community Reference Committee, Pike River Land Management Group, Renmark-Paringa Council and Renmark to the Border Local Action Planning.