Department for Environment and Water - Basin Salinity Management 2030…

The Basin Salinity Management 2030 Strategy is a joint Basin government commitment to manage salinity in the Basin. The strategy builds on the successes of preceding strategies in 1998-2000 and 2001-2015, and the National Water Quality Management Strategy, delivering cost-efficient and streamlined programs of coordinated salinity management.

Implementation of the strategy is supported by targets in the Basin Plan, including:

water quality targets for managing flows (which include specific salinity targets)
salinity targets for the purposes of long-term salinity planning and management
an objective to export a minimum average of salt through the Murray Mouth.

Significant investment in salinity management measures has already been made by Basin governments over several decades. This has considerably reduced long-term average salinity levels (as measured at Morgan in South Australia) since the 1990s. Basin states have also invested in salinity zoning and salt interception schemes which continue to deliver significant salinity reductions in the River Murray.

The Basin Plan also requires Basin states to develop water quality management plans as part of their water resource plans. Since 2019, for each water resource plan area in South Australia, a water quality management plan has been in place that considers the impacts of wider natural resource management and land management on water quality, including salinity.

Why manage salinity in the Basin?

The high levels of salt of the Murray-Darling Basin are the result of millions of years of rainfall and the weathering of rocks and ancient ocean sediments in the Basin.

Flat terrain, low rainfall, and high evaporation rates – typical features of most of the Basin – have allowed salt to accumulate in the Basin landscape, while the groundwater and river systems only slowly return the salt to the ocean. With agriculture and native vegetation clearing, more water drains into groundwater systems where it mobilises the salt into rivers and wetlands. River locks and weirs, and increasing water extraction for irrigation and other uses, have also changed river flow patterns and increased river salinities.

Salinity is a significant challenge; if left unmanaged, it has serious implications for water quality, biodiversity, food and fibre production, water for human needs, and the longevity of infrastructure.

The joint commitment made by the basin states in Basin Salinity Management 2030 Strategy will ensure that South Australia continues to benefit from efforts by basin jurisdictions to manage salinity, including through salt interception schemes, until at least 2030.

Read on the website of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority:

Basin Salinity Management 2030 strategies and reports
Salinity
Salt export objective and salinity targets for flow management (includes assessments)
Managing salinity

Basin salinity management reporting

South Australian salinity management activities, as well as compliance against the Basin Salinity Management Strategy and Schedule B of the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement are provided in the following annual reports: