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March 31, 2005
The picture below of the Stockyard Plains is of a salt interception scheme near Waikerie in South Australia.
So much underground salty water enters the River Murray that it is intercepted just before it enters the river and then pumped to a holding basin.This keeps the salt level of the River down for irrigators and towns that rely on the water.
Alas, the salty water of the basin--a lake to all intents and purposes --is not contained within the basin. The basin is leaking and as it does it kills all the vegetation around it, including the farmland, and contaminating the underground water systems.
The leaks are so great that new ponds are forming nearby the original one.
On the ground knowledge suggest that water from the basin is leaking back into the river.
Many more of these kinds of salt basins are planned along the Riverland section of the River Muuray.
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