Salinity Watch

Salinity risk

Groundwater is a valuable water resource for irrigation however it contains dissolved salt which can affect plant health and soil structure. The shallow groundwater system in the Shepparton Irrigation Region has salinities that range from fresh (less to 500 EC units) to brackish (greater than 5,000 EC units) and can vary markedly over short distances. Landowners who irrigate with groundwater should take care to avoid productivity losses through salt damage. Where groundwater is used for irrigation it is critical to understand the salinity level of the water applied to crops. Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Agency has asked HydroNET to automatically generate live interactive embeds for their Salinity Watch website which informs landholders and farmers in the Shepparton Irrigation Region information about the current status of salinity risk and the possible measure to manage the risk.

HydroNET solution:

The interactive embeds present the current ground water levels in relation to the salinity risk zones. Furthermore, an overview map is generated which presents spatial distribution of the current salinity risk within the region. To be able to provide this information, HydroNET has been connected to the groundwater database (Aquarius) and the salinity risk data (FEWS) from Goulburn Murray Water.