Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976

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Journal of Hydrology
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Research papers

Using reforestation to reverse salinisation in a large watershed T

a,⁎ b a a a
John Ruprecht , Tim Sparks , Ning Liu , Bernard Dell , Richard Harper
a
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
b
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, Western Australia, Australia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

This manuscript was handled by G. Syme, Restoration of water quality in deforested watersheds is a major environmental and economic challenge in many
Editor-in-Chief parts of the world. In south-western Australia water quality issues manifest as salinisation, where reactivation of
Keywords: groundwater systems has occurred post-deforestation with the consequent discharge of salts stored in deep
Salinity regolith into rivers. Prior to deforestation the stream salinity of the Denmark River (a forested watershed of
Hydrology 502 km2) was between 150 and 350 mg L−1TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and was developed as a small water
Reforestation supply with potential for a much larger development. By the 1970s, 20% of deep rooted vegetation in the
watershed was removed resulting in annual flow-weighted stream salinity of 1500 mg L−1TDS making the river
unsuitable as a water supply. Two main policy approaches were used to restore this watershed: (1) the control of
further deforestation on private land through regulation; and (2) a program to encourage private reforestation
with eucalypt pulp-wood plantations. By 2010, 14.5% of the watershed was reforested leaving only 5.5% still
deforested, with a strong relationship between streamflow and stream salinity and the amount of reforestation.
River salinity had fallen to 500 mg L−1 TDS by 2017. Although streamflow had fallen from a mean 28.6 GL yr−1
in 1985–1990 to 13.6 GL yr−1 in 2012–2017 this was with water that was potable. The challenge into the future
is to ensure the lower stream salinity is maintained through maintenance of forest cover. Importantly, this paper
demonstrates that stream salinity can be reversed following deforestation if an appropriate scale of reforestation
is deployed.

1. Introduction
Damage to land and water resources as a result of deforestation is a
major environmental and economic problem facing many parts of the
world (Millar and Stephenson, 2015; Ruprecht and Dogramaci, 2005).
As one major example of this, in many areas salinisation of rivers and
streams is considered a growing threat that poses a risk of causing se-
vere biodiversity losses and compromising the ecosystem goods and
services that rivers, wetlands and lakes provide (Cañedo-Argüelles
et al., 2013; Vengosh, 2003), with climate change potentially further
exacerbating the threat. The causes of river salinisation are varied and
include irrigated agriculture, mining, de-icing of roads, wastewater and
industrial effluent, and deforestation for agriculture (Cañedo-Argüelles
et al., 2013). Globally, the management responses to increasing river
salinity have included setting water quality targets, salt interception
schemes, improved farming systems, and improved irrigation efficiency
(Cañedo-Argüelles et al., 2013; Connor, 2003; Williams, 2001).
Stream salinity from secondary salinisation is a major water quality
issue in southwestern Western Australia (SWWA). Over 55% of the
rivers have salinities which make them unsuitable for public water
supply (Mayer et al., 2005). In addition to the high stream salinities,
more than a million hectares of farmland is salt-affected with many
more millions considered at risk (National Land and Water Resources
Audit, 2001). Consequently, and combined with broadscale deforesta-
tion, the region is considered to be a global diversity hotspot (Myers
et al., 2000) with 450 plant species across SWWA at risk of extinction
(Environmental Protection Authority, 2007).
The Denmark River (Fig. 1), with a watershed area of 502 km2 and a
mean flow of around 13.6 GLyr−1, was once considered a major po-
tential water supply for SWWA, with a major reservoir site proposed at
Mt Lindesay (Bari et al., 2004). The first signs of rising salinity in the
Denmark River came from stream gauging records on the main stream
and tributaries. The stream salinity of the Denmark River is estimated
to have been between 150 and 350 mg L−1 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)
before European settlement in the 1830s (Collins and Fowlie, 1981).
The rising salinity trend was also reported by Ruprecht et al. (1985),
Moulds and Bari (1995) and Bari et al. (2004).
Stream salinity increased as a consequence of replacing high-water-
use native forest with lower-water land uses with annual pasture and
crop species. This land use change altered components of the water

⁎
Corresponding author at: Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch WA 6150, Australia.
E-mail address: john.ruprecht@murdoch.edu.au (J. Ruprecht).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.123976
Received 23 May 2019; Received in revised form 9 July 2019; Accepted 20 July 2019
Available online 22 July 2019
0022-1694/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
J. Ruprecht, et al. Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976

Fig. 1. Map and location of Denmark River watershed.

Table 1
Summary of land clearing in Denmark River watershed.
Watershed Watershed area (km2) Maximum area cleared (%) Current area cleared (%)

Upper Denmark (Kompup) 242 35 5

Lower Denmark (Kompup - Mt Lindesay) 260 6 6
Denmark River(Mt Lindesay) 502 20 5.5

balance. Evapotranspiration decreased allowing more of the rainfall to
infiltrate past the root zone to recharge groundwater systems, and in-
creased groundwater pressure brought salt stored in the regolith to the
streams (Peck and Williamson, 1987; Ruprecht and Schofield, 1991). A
similar pattern recurred across the region; such that any watershed with
significant deforestation had an increase in stream salinity (Mayer
et al., 2005).
Because deforestation had been shown to cause increased stream
salinity (Peck and Williamson, 1987), it was considered that refor-
estation would reverse it (Bartle, 1991). There had been some prior
confirmation of this hypothesis, in the Mundaring watershed where
native forest was removed in the 1890s to increase water yield, but was
accompanied by an increase in stream salinity (Wood, 1924). Refor-
estation was found to reverse this (Schofield et al., 1988). Deforestation
in the Denmark watershed, however, occurred at scale (52 km2) much
greater than in the Mundaring watershed, and there were consequent
debates about the scale of activity required to reverse stream salinity
and whether this was in fact possible (State Salinity Council, 2000).
Nonetheless, a range of regulatory and policy mechanisms were
employed in the Denmark watershed to both retain and replace forest
cover (Bari et al., 2004). This paper therefore examines the dynamics of
streamflow and stream salinity in response to land cover change in this

2
J. Ruprecht, et al.
Fig. 2. (a) Land cover change history for Kompup Watershed and (b) forest cover in the Denmark Watershed derived from Landsat data in 1988 and 2017.
watershed; ranging from the original deforestation to through the re-
forestation period.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Watershed characteristics
The Denmark River discharges into Wilson Inlet at the town of
Denmark on the south coast of Western Australia (Fig. 1). There are
three reference points relating to streamflow and salinity along the
Denmark River: the mouth of the river (Station No. 603032, 704 km2),
the Mt Lindesay gauging station (Station No. 603136, 502 km2), and the
Kompup gauging station (Station No. 603003, 242 km2). The Denmark
River watershed experiences a Mediterranean-type climate of mild wet
winters and hot dry summers. The mean annual rainfall varies from
1200 mm at the southern boundary to 700 mm at the northern
boundary of the watershed, with most rain falling between May and
October. Mean annual pan evaporation ranges from 1250 to 1430 mm.
The watershed is characterised by undulating lateritic plains and
poorly drained flats, hilly terrain with rock outcrops and deeply incised
valleys where the Denmark River and tributaries have incised the sur-
face and exposed the weathered profile and underlying bedrock (Bari
et al., 2004). Pre-Cambrian gneiss and granitic rocks overlies a deeply
3
Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976
weathered mantle. The hills that are a feature of the landscape, parti-
cularly near the coast, are an expression of this basement.
2.2. History of land use
2.2.1. Deforestation history
Deforestation of native forest for agriculture in the Denmark River
basin began in the 1870s and continued at a steady rate until it rapidly
expanded from the late 1940s, when heavy machinery became more
widely available (Collins and Fowlie, 1981). The native, deep-rooted
perennial vegetation was replaced by annual shallow-rooted pasture
and crops changing the water balance. The lower evapotranspiration
rate of the new vegetation and the consequent increased infiltration of
rainfall to groundwater stores resulted in higher groundwater levels,
saline valley floors and hillsides, and increased saline discharge into
rivers and streams. As recognition of the salinity problem spread, in
1961 the government placed a ban on further alienation of crown land
for agricultural development.
In 1978, the Denmark River watershed was constituted as a Country
Areas Water Supply Act 1947 watershed area and made subject to
clearing controls to limit salinisation. By then 35% of the upper wa-
tershed had been cleared and over the following years $3.63 million
compensation was paid to landholders not to clear 2750 ha of native
J. Ruprecht, et al. Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976

1000 60.0

900 50.0

Annual streamflow (GL)

Annual rainfall (mm)

800 40.0

700 30.0

600 20.0

500 10.0

400 0.0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year Year

5000 35000

4500

Annual salt load (TDS tonnes)

30000
Annual flow-weighted salinity

4000
3500 25000
(TDS mg L-1)

3000 20000
2500
15000
2000
1500 10000
1000
5000
500
0 0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year Year

Fig. 3. Rainfall, streamflow, salinity, and salt load for Denmark River – Kompup (603003). Dashed lines are 10-year moving average.

Table 2 were planted during 2008–09 and by 2010 over 5200 ha of plantations
Summary of Mann–Kendall (M-K) trend analysis for annual streamflow and had been established. Small areas of the lower Denmark River wa-
rainfall. tershed had also been planted with blue gums. The area of watershed
Statistic Upper Denmark River (Kompup) Lower Denmark River (Mt Lindesay) under forest or plantation for the upper watershed (Denmark River –
Kompup) by 2011 had returned to the 1940s levels (Fig. 2).
Rainfall Streamflow Rainfall Streamflow

Z −0.46 −2.68 0.18 −2.96

Slope −0.47 −0.16
Tau −0.04 −0.25
p-value 0.64 0.007
Z is the Mann-Kendall Z-statistic; Slope is the Sen's slope (Sen, 1968); p-value is
Mann-Kendall P-Value and Tau is the Mann-Kendall’s Tau.
vegetation on farms (Ward et al., 2011). There had been only minimal
clearing (just 6% cleared by 1979) in the Lower Denmark River wa-
tershed (Table 1). Overall, 25% of the Denmark River basin, to the river
mouth, had been cleared by 1979.
2.2.2. Reforestation history
Tree planting in the watershed began in the early 1990s with the
Integrated Catchment Management – upper watershed project pro-
moted by the then Water Authority and the Department of Agriculture
(Ferdowsian and Greenham, 1991). This project helped farmers prepare
farm plans that identified areas suitable for planting trees and con-
structing fences and drains. The Water Authority supplied investment
capital and the Department of Conservation and Land Management’s
Timberbelt Sharefarming Scheme acted as a vehicle for managing the
plantations (Bartle, 1991; Schofield et al., 1989). Some farmers also
used their own capital to plant additional trees. These projects proved
to be the catalyst for the commercial blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus)
industry in the south-west of Western Australia and from the late 1990s
extensive areas were planted with blue gums. By 2007, 4500 ha had
been planted, predominantly in the upper watershed. A further 700 ha
0.21 −0.36 2.3. Data
0.02 −0.28
0.858 0.003 The climate data (precipitation (P) and potential evapotranspiration
(PET)) used in this study were derived from the 0.05° gridded ‘SILO
Data’ of the Queensland Government Department of Environment and
Science (https://silo.longpaddock.qld.gov.au). The P was interpolated
from point measurements made by the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology, while PET was calculated from the gridded incoming
solar radiation, maximum and minimum temperature and actual va-
pour pressure using Morton’s wet environment (Morton, 1983).
Monthly streamflows of Kompup (603003) and Mt Lindesay (603136)
stations were obtained from the Department of Water and
Environmental Regulation, Western Australia. Forest coverage since
2010 was derived from tree cover data using the National Carbon
Accounting System classification (Furby, 2002).
2.4. Statistical analysis
The 10-year moving average and Mann-Kendall (M-K) trend method
(Burn and Elnur, 2002) with trend-tree pre-whitening auto-correlation
removing method (Yue and Wang, 2002) were used for analysing the
time trend of rainfall and streamflow, while the change-point algorithm
- Pruned Exact Linear Time with a nonparametric cost function based
on the empirical distribution (Haynes et al., 2017) was used for de-
tecting the multiple breakpoints of salinity.

4
J. Ruprecht, et al. Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976

1100 90.0

1000 80.0
Annual rainfall (mm)

70.0

Annual streamflow (GL)

900
60.0
800 50.0

700 40.0
30.0
600
20.0
500
10.0
400 0.0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year Year

1600 40000

1400 35000
Annual flow-weighted salinity

Annual salt load (TDS tonnes)

1200 30000
(TDS mg L-1)

1000 25000

800 20000

600 15000

400 10000

200 5000

0 0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year Year

Fig. 4. Rainfall, streamflow, salinity, and salt load for Denmark River – Mt Lindesay (603136). Dashed lines are 10-year moving average.

3. Results
3.1. Changes in streamflow and stream salinity
Annual rainfall for the upper Denmark (Kompup 603003) watershed
(Fig. 3 and Table 2) does not show a discernible trend of reducing
rainfall. A similar lack of a trend in rainfall was also observed for the
Denmark River watershed (Mt Lindesay 603136). This was in contrast
to the areas further north in the broader south-west region of Western
Australia (Hope et al., 2006; Smith and Power, 2014), where winter
coastal rainfall in the SWWA has sharply fallen from the 1970s followed
by a more gradual decline from the late 1990s onwards. The presence of
both wet and dry years (10 and 90 percentile) in the recent records was
also in contrast to the broader SWWA trends.
The streamflow record for 603003 (Denmark River – Kompup)
shows a decline in streamflow from the 1990s with some indication of
reaching a new equilibrium in the mid 2010s (Fig. 3). The streamflow
record for 603136 (Denmark River – Mt Lindesay) shows a similar trend
with a reduction in streamflow to a new equilibrium in the 2010s
(Fig. 4). Similar significant declining trends (p < 0.01 of M-K trend
test) in streamflow were observed in Kompup and Mt Lindesay stations.
To distinguish a rainfall trend from the declining streamflow, runoff
was plotted against watershed rainfall for Denmark River – Mt Lindesay
– 603136 (Fig. 5). This shows a clear change in the rainfall to runoff
relationship in the mid-1990s. For an annual rainfall of 800 mm the
runoff on average was expected to be 30 mm from the period of record
2000–2017, compared to 60 mm for the period 1964–1999.
The stream salinity for the Denmark River at 603003 shows an in-
creasing trend until approximately 2010 then, based on the 10-year
moving average, a reduction in salinity in the early 2010s (Fig. 3). In
comparison, the Denmark River at 603136 reached an equilibrium by
1990 and then declined over the next 20 years (Fig. 4).
The comparison of six years prior to significant re-forestation
(1985–1990) and the last six years of recorded data (2012–2017)
(Table 3) shows that the mean streamflow at the Mt Lindesay gauging
station fell by over 50%, from 28.6 GL to 13.6 GL yr−1 with the major
component of this coming from the upper watershed where the forest
plantings occurred. However, of greater significance was the reduction
in salt load of 76% from the upper watershed. This meant that the
salinity at the Mt Lindesay gauging station declined to a mean annual
flow-weighted of 546 mg L−1 TDS with a range of 377 to 709 mg L−1
TDS.
This demonstrates that for large watersheds such as the Denmark
River where there is cleared and forested areas, that by reducing the
salt load from the cleared areas with plantations the forested areas are
able to dilute any residual high salinity streamflow from the cleared
area.
3.2. Causes for changing streamflow
The primary cause for the changing streamflow for both 603003 and
603136 was land use change. Analysis using the theoretical framework
of the Budyko curve with Mann-Kendall trend test and Pettitt’s change
point tests (Liu et al., 2019) showed that 603136 (Mt Lindesay) was one
of only three watersheds studied in SWWA which had a significant
change-point at the 5% level. The change-point from the analysis (Liu
et al., 2019) for 603136 was 1999, four years after the reforestation
commenced. The rainfall record pre and post this period does not in-
dicate any major change. However, the change-point analysis is con-
sistent with the changing land-use with the reforestation occurring four
years before the change-point.
The statistical analysis in determining the contribution from climate
change or vegetation to streamflow found that 79.5% of the post-
change period streamflow was from vegetation change (Liu et al.,
2019). A cumulative plot of rainfall versus streamflow for 603003
(Kompup) indicated a change point at the same year – 1999 (Fig. 6).
This supports the statistical analysis for 603136.

5
J. Ruprecht, et al. Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976

Fig. 5. Relationship between annual rainfall with annual runoff for Denmark River – Mt Lindesay.

Table 3
Denmark River hydrologic summary for 1985–1990 and 2012–2017.
Watershed Watershed Area (km2) Mean annual Streamflow (GL) Mean annual Flow-Weighted Salinity (TDS mg L−1) Mean annual Salt load (TDS t)

1985–1990 2012–2017 1985–1990 2012–2017 1985–1990 2012–2017

1
Upper Denmark 242 (48%) 13.8 (48%) 3.7 (27%) 1950 1407 15.2 (82%) 3.6 (53%)
Lower Denmark 260 (52%) 14.8 (52%) 9.9 (73%) 223 332 3.2 (18%) 3.2 (47%)
Denmark River2 502 28.6 13.6 873 (713–1402) 546 (377–709) 18.4 6.8

1
Kompup gauging station.
2
Mt Lindesay gauging station.

3.3. Causes for changing salinity
The reduction in salinity at the Mt Lindesay gauging station has
been substantial with mean annual flow-weighted salinity reducing to
546 TDS mg L−1 for 2001 to 2017, compared to 873 TDS mg L−1 for
1985 to 1990 (Table 3) with mean annual rainfall similar (within 5%)
for both periods.
The change-point analysis (Fig. 7) is consistent with the land-use
change observed in the watershed. The change-point at 1981 is con-
sistent with the full extent of the clearing of native vegetation and
conversion to annual pasture (Fig. 2a) whilst the change-point of 2004
is consistent with the substantial conversion of pasture to plantation.
The conversion to plantation commenced in the late 1980s and by
2004, 75% of the conversion had occurred.
The salinity to streamflow relationship for Mt Lindesay shows that
for lower flows the annual flow-weighted salinity was reduced (Fig. 8).
For example, for a typical 10 GL annual streamflow the annual flow-
weighted salinity is now expected to be approximately 533 TDS mg L−1
(2006–2017) compared to 962 TDS mg L−1 (1975–2005), a reduction of
nearly 430 TDS mg L−1 (45%). When compared to the data in Table 3, it
can be seen that the reduction in stream salinity at Mt Lindesay is due to
the reduction in salt load at Kompup of over 76%. This meant that the
contribution of salt load from Kompup to the salt load at Mt Lindesay
reduced from 82% to 53%.
4. Discussion
The statistical analysis has shown that both streamflow and stream
salinity for the Denmark River watershed responded to the initial land
use change of deforestation (clearing). This response is consistent with
the paired watershed studies undertaken in the Collie River watershed
(Ruprecht and Schofield, 1989, 1991) where clearing of native forest
led to significant increases in streamflow and of stream salinity.
Through watershed modelling or paired watershed studies, the impact

6
J. Ruprecht, et al. Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976

Fig. 6. Relationship between annual rainfall and annual runoff for Denmark River at Kompup Station.

Fig. 7. Change-point analysis of salinity at Denmark River – Mt Lindesay.

of reforestation ranged from negligible at 17% of cleared area refor-
ested to 24% for 40% cleared area reforested (Bari and Boyd, 1994; Bari
and Schofield, 1992; Bell et al., 1990; Schofield et al., 1989). These
results across SWWA are consistent with the watershed scale result for
the Denmark River.
Zhang et al. (2011) determined that reforestation could explain 93%
of the change (reduction) in streamflow for the upper Denmark River
watershed. In a sub-set of the other watersheds in eastern Australia
studied by Zhang et al. (2011) reforestation explained 28–60% of the
change in streamflow. In a global study on forest change and water
yield in large forested watersheds, reforestation was found to decrease
water yield, but the effects of forest cover change and climate varia-
bility were additive or offsetting (Filoso et al., 2017; Li et al., 2017).
The separation of climate effects is important but complex to objec-
tively assess the benefits of a reforestation program. Reviewing hy-
drological responses on forest change across a range of spatial scales,
Zhang et al. (2017) concluded that annual runoff is more sensitive to
forest cover change in water-limited watersheds than in energy-limited
watersheds for all spatial scales, including large watersheds.
Studies in eastern Australia have raised concerns that reforestation
would have a negative impact by the streamflow reduction being
greater than the corresponding reduction in stream salinity. Van Dijk
et al. (2008) modelled the efficiency of afforestation on stream salinity
based on data from 2000 bores and 27 watersheds in the Goulburn-
Broken region of southeast Australia and found that stream salinity
could be reduced but would require significant areas of afforestation.

7
J. Ruprecht, et al.
1400
Mean annual flow-weighted salinity
1200
1000
(mg L -1 TDS) 800
600
400
200
0
0.0
Fig. 8. Salinity to streamflow for Denmark River – Mt Lindesay.
For some reforestation projects the impacts from reduced streamflow
and loss of agricultural production may be more than the benefit of
reducing stream salinity (Nordblom et al., 2010). Vertessy et al. (2003)
argue that the issue of reduced river flows caused by the establishment
of forest plantations to reduce stream salinity can be minimised by
careful planning and strategies to minimise impacts.
Consequently, an understanding of the process of stream salinisa-
tion requires an ongoing study of the relationships between evapo-
transpiration, rainfall, streamflow, groundwater and land use, as well as
the watershed setting and its physical characteristics such as its geology
and hydrogeology. Because the social, economic and environmental
effects of land use will change over time, they need monitoring and
reviewing. The projected hydrological effects of implementing refor-
estation needs to be based on long-term groundwater and surface water
measurements and projections from computer models that are simpli-
fied versions of real-world processes.
The approach with the Denmark River was to protect native vege-
tation, maintain existing plantations and to establish new ones.
Plantations were found to be an effective approach to improve water
quality with minimal additional social and environmental impacts.
However, all of the plantation forestry is in the private sector and hence
is subject to the economic climate, so there is no guarantee that they
will continue to exist. Government involvement may be necessary to
ensure that any reductions in the area covered by plantations are de-
tected promptly and the effects of these on salinity are managed, par-
ticularly where water supplies are either at risk or considered a viable
option in the medium term.
There is increasing concern that secondary salinisation of rivers and
streams globally is a growing threat that might be amplified by climate
change (Cañedo-Argüelles et al., 2013; Vengosh, 2003). Whilst the
causes, such as irrigation, mining activity or the use of salts as de-icing
agents for roads may be different to the experience documented in this
paper, the understanding and approach to management is relevant.
Many major rivers globally are experiencing salinity issues, including
Ganges (India), Jordan River (Jordan), Sandpruit River (South Africa),
Rhine River (Germany) and Euphrates River (Iraq) (Vengosh, 2003).
Large river responses to salinisation, such the Murray-Darling in
Australia and the Colorado River in the USA, have been considered
successful in reducing the predicted increase in river salinity, but the
Denmark River response has shown a clear reduction in stream salinity.
Primary strategies implemented with the Colorado River Basin Salinity
Journal of Hydrology 577 (2019) 123976
1975-2005 2006-2017
y = 2687.3x -0.446
y = 656.69x -0.09
10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0
Annual flow (GL)
Control Program (Bureau of Reclamation, 2011) include implementa-
tion of best management practices in irrigation districts, desalination,
erosion control on public lands, and reduction in point source inputs
from natural geologic sources. In the Murray-Darling Basin, eastern
Australia, salt interception (currently 18 salt interception schemes op-
erating) and improved farming systems (irrigation and dryland) have
been the focus for salinity management (Murray-Darling Basin
Authority, 2015).
Traditional solutions promoted for water agencies facing long-term
river salinity issues are diversion, dilution or desalination. Diversion
involves interception and transfer, dilution involves transfer of fresh-
water into the river, and desalination requires large-scale treatment of
sea-water or brackish water. Diversion is no longer considered sus-
tainable without treatment, and both diversion and dilution may be
unpalatable to communities impacted. Desalination can create new
water but given the costs involved is mainly focused on drinking water
rather than water for agriculture. In more recent years the focus has
been on setting water quality targets (Environment Canada, 2001),
credit trading schemes (Department of Environment and Conservation,
2003), and best practice land and water management (Bureau of
Reclamation, 2011).
5. Conclusion
The response to the salinity issue in the Denmark River involved:
regulatory response, including compensation through clearing controls,
community engagement, and facilitating economic option through a
tree-farming scheme.
Whilst there are merits to each response it has required all three to
lead to the situation where there is a river with a watershed of over
500 km2 which has been recovered from salinisation and returned as a
potable water supply. However, in more recent years the economic
impacts have meant that the viability of large areas of blue gum plan-
tations in south-west Western Australia is questionable. In some areas,
landholders have elected not to carry onto a second rotation following
the initial harvest and to convert the land to pasture for livestock
production. An alternative to conversion to pasture is an improved
plantation management approach (Zohar et al., 2008) that could in-
clude delays in re-establishment of plantations to improve soil water
storage, reduced intensity of plantings, or targeted short-term biomass
plantations (Harper et al., 2014).
8
J. Ruprecht, et al.
The return of plantations to pasture is likely to lead to increased
stream salinity of the Denmark River. However, there may be sig-
nificant lag in the development of the increased salinity which provides
an opportunity for a management response. The risk of land-use change
coupled with climate change mean that monitoring and evaluating the
resource drivers and conditions will be critical in years to come. The
challenge into the future is to maintain the lower salinity and to use the
watershed as an example to apply the learnings to other potentially
more complex situations both nationally and globally.
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