2018

How is Salinity
affecting the
Murray-Darling
river?

Charlie Peile

E-9A

10/12/18
How has humanity affected the Murray-Darling River? Charlie Peile

Table of contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………2
2.1 River System Overview……………………………………….…..2
2.2 Agriculture…………………………………………………………….3
3. The problem with salinity and how it affects humans……3
4. Management strategies………………………………………………4
4.2 Hydrologist’s Opinion…………………………………………….4
5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..4
6. Action Plan/works cited………………………………………………5

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How has humanity affected the Murray-Darling River? Charlie Peile

1. INTRODUCTION
With a basin of 1,062,469km2, the Murray-Darling
river is the largest in all of Australia. Its meanders and
tributaries cover up 13.8% of Australia’s land and the
river fertilises most crops in southern Australia. Over
the many years, humanity has used this river so much,
(for fresh water, bathing) that it is slowly drying up In
August 2013, the River Murray and its associated
wetlands, floodplains and groundwater system, was
listed as a ‘critically endangered’ ecological
community under the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) With
not enough water for the river, the minerals from
rocks have begun to seep into the waters
contaminating it and making it rich with sodium. Soon
enough, if the water continues to become more salty, the plants of the back of the
river will not be able to use the water to perform photosynthesis. Many cities rely on
the Murray-Darling river for supplies and without it, the civilization on the river will
not be able to sustain enough resources to keep running and the organisms which
rely on the river will die out or be forced to move somewhere where there are more
resources. The government of Australia has requested that this report be written by
the hydrologists of Singapore Hydrologic Facilities.

2.1 RIVER SYSTEM OVERVIEW

The Murray-Darling basin stretches 1,061,469km2 and
occupies the four states of Queensland, New South
Wales, South Australia and Victoria. (The British
Geographer). Over 2 million people live and depend on
the Murray-Darling river. The Murray-Darling is the
largest river in Australia, but it is actually made up of
two rivers and their basins. Two thirds of Australia’s
farmland relies on the river to keep the soil fertile for
their crops. The river has many tributaries and other
smaller rivers connected to it. There are subtropical
conditions in the far North and in the east has a high
alpine of mountains with snow in the winter. Most of
Australia’s land is dry, but the area around the
Murray-Darling river is very green and lush, but that
can all change sooner rather than later due to over
usage and salinity.

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How has humanity affected the Murray-Darling River? Charlie Peile

2.2 AGRICULTURE
Due to one third of Australia’s crops relying on the Murray-Darling river to
fertilise them, it would be devastating if something were to happen to the river. The
Murray-Darling river basin hosts a large percentage of many crops, most are a large
percentage of citrus fruits. The
graph on the right shows how many
of Australia’s crops were grown and
harvested on the Murray-Darling
river from 2010 to 2011 (Australian
Government. Department of
Agriculture). Over half of the
country’s apples, grape fruits,
plums/prunes, apricots, nectarines,
pears, peaches, and oranges rely on
the river. Less than half of these
fruits are grown elsewhere. Even though the river is used to fertilise many of the
citizen’s grocery fruits, It also serves as a fertile agricultural space for many
indigenous tribes.

3 THE PROBLEM WITH SALINITY AND HOW

IT AFFECTS HUMANS
Many cities rely on the river’s fresh water source
but as the river is being used, the affect known as
salinity is dominating the river’s waters. Salinity
refers to the movement and concentration of salt, in
landscapes. Both soil and natural waters can
become saline. (Agriculture Victoria) As there
becomes less fresh water, minerals from the rocks
and dirt contaminate the water and without enough
fresh water to balance out the saltiness, the river is
becoming undrinkable like the ocean. The picture on the right is a perfect example of
Salinity taking effect. Because the water is so salty, the plants can’t suck up the
nutrients in order to photosynthesise. The water has become too salty for the plants
to feet so salinity is killing the life around the river. Salinity is also bad for humans,
because if the water is rich in sodium, humans will not be able to drink the water.
Many Aboriginals will probably die because of the way they live their life. They.
Believe in a spiritual connection with the river and will not leave it. Near the river
there were once many swamps and billabongs. These were flooded each spring when
the melting of the winter snow in the Snowy Mountains filled the river (Bickford).
The crops will die out. Because most of Australia’s crops rely on the Murray-
Darling river to fertilise them, If the river becomes too salty, over half of Australia’s
crops will die.

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How has humanity affected the Murray-Darling River? Charlie Peile

4 MANAGEMENT STRATAGIES
In the 1990s, the Australian government agreed to put some reforms down to
help save the river from any further destruction.

• There will be no more subsides for irrigation

• Farmers would be responsible for the
maintenance of channels and dams
• Each river and tributary would be studied to
calculate the sustainable allocation (the
British Geographer)

Even though these reforms were made, it didn’t do

much to help prevent or even slow down the affects of
salinity. Another solution that. Authorities have been
planning and acting upon are salt interception
schemes. There are eighteen of them set up along the
main river. These slat interception schemes are
engineering tools which divert approximately half a million tonnes of salt away from
the river and adjacent landscapes each year (MDBA). Authorities are planning a new
salt interception strategy for 2030 and say that Salt interception schemes will
continue to be critical for protecting the river system from salinity. The salt that has
been extracted has been sold for commercial usage or other salt companies.

4.2 HYDROLOGIST’S OPINION

This is a very effective way to extract the salt and purify the river’s waters. This
should be introduced to more rivers that are having similar problems because it
could really help and it would also create a good profit for the salt one could sell
while also “cleaning” the river. They should set up more Salt interceptors so that the
authorities can get the most amount of salt out of the river in a non-harmful way.

5 CONCLUSION
Overall, salinity has become a massive issue regarding the Murray-Darling river
and needs to be sorted out as soon as possible in a more efficient way. If the river is
not taken care of or if authorities don’t come up with better solutions, the forest
around the river will die out and the settlers and civilization there will be forced to
move out. The salt interception method has been the most effective method in
getting rid of the salt from the river and it also allows Authorities to gain profit by
selling the extracted salt. The salt interceptors have been the most effective way of
purifying the river’s contaminated waters. Hopefully the Australian government will
think of more efficient and accurate ways of saving the Murry-Darling river from
salinity.

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How has humanity affected the Murray-Darling River? Charlie Peile

Murray-Darling Action Plan:

The main How is Salinity affecting the Murray-Darling river?
research question

Justification of I’m curious to see just what Salinity is doing to the

relevance Murray-Darling river so that I can make other people
aware of the problems by writing the report.

Sub questions •Where is the Murray-Darling river?

•How long is it?
•What is salinity and how does it affect the river?
•Do we overuse the river?
•How does it affect the native tribes living along the
river?
Methods to be I will use more than three different sources. Website,
used In the YouTube video, an a geography book from the library.
investigation

Identify the relevant

sources / evidence
ABARES. “Horticulture Farms in the Murray-Darling Basin.” ABARES About My
Region - Greater Sydney New South Wales, 1 Aug. 2017,
www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/surveys/irrigation/horticulture.

bickford, anne. “People of the Murray River - Aboriginal Communities.” About the
Murray River, 1982, www.murrayriver.com.au/about-the-murray/murray-river-
aboriginals/.

Department of Economic Development, Agriculture Victoria. “Salinity

Explained.” Care and Welfare | Pets | Agriculture Victoria, Department of Economic
Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 8 May 2017,
agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/farm-management/soil-and-water/salinity/salinity-
explained.

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How has humanity affected the Murray-Darling River? Charlie Peile

McCormick, ill. “Murray-Darling Basin Management.” Home – Parliament of

Australia, CorporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; Address=Parliament House,
Canberra, ACT, 2600; Contact=+61 2 6277 7111, 12 Nov. 2013,
www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_
Library/pubs/BriefingBook44p/MurryDarlingBasin.

MDBA. “Water Quality.” Australian Government - Murray-Darling Basin

Authority, 29 Sept. 2015, www.mdba.gov.au/basin-plan-roll-out/water-quality-and-
salinity.

The British geographer. “the_murray.Pdf.” Google Drive, Google,

drive.google.com/file/d/1kjZSTlCJYRHHV3T9X1HS1A1vgNgqp74W/view.

Water and catchments, Victoria state govenment. “Overview: Murray-Darling

Basin.” Water and Catchments, Water and Catchments, 13 June 2018,
www.water.vic.gov.au/mdb/murray-darling-basin-plan/overview.

What steps will Research a little and 21/11/18

you follow to finish action plan.
address/answer the Research and record 28/11/18
research question? information about the
Murray-Darling river.
Start on the river 1/12/18
report
Finish river report 7/12/18
Re-read river report 8/12/18
(check it)
Evaluation Next time, I should use more different types and more in
general sources. I shouldn’t have left the report so late. I
should check all of my sources and make sure they are all
trustworthy. I should check more than one source for the
same information. I should use the last lesson of I+S for
review only not finishing the report.

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