For salt of the earth, reclamation is up to us

Our Water at Risk

Stephen Lunn - Environmental writer

THE AUSTRALIAN - The Nation - Friday February 4, 2000 p5

Max Chamberlain's neighbours thought he was mad when he first started planting trees 20 years ago on his farm near Wagga Wagga to combat the growing problem of salt patches on the land.

Waste of space, they thought - and money. But within a decade, Mr Chamberlain's approach to groundwater salinity became the conventional wisdom, a method that can return previously unusable land back into the profit mix, ready for pasture.

"People kept telling me I wasn't going to be able to change things in my lifetime, but it's only been three lifetimes that has left it in the state it is now in," said the 53-year-old NSW sheep, canola and grain farmer.

Mr Chamberlain, a founding member of his local landcare group in 1990, was busy representing NSW farmers yesterday in an unusual forum that included the state's Conservation, Aboriginal and Social Service councils.

They met in Wagga to agree on a united community position on the critical salinity issue ahead of next month's statewide conference on waterways, called by NSW Premier Bob Carr.

"I understand why city people find the problem confusing, with us complaining there's all this water rising to the surface, but of course it is taking the salt that naturally occurs in the soil with it," Mr Chamberlain said.

Rising water tables result from the clearance of the trees that previously used the water, hence the revegetation projects. Without revegetation, salt water not only causes salt scalds on the land, it enters the surrounding streams before finding its way into the nation's major west-flowing rivers - such as the Murray - and contaminating the flow for downstream users, including Adelaide's drinking water.

But such reclamation projects are costly, and much of the debate over the coming months - including an important report to be handed down in May by four federal ministers, including Treasurer Peter Costello and Environmental Minister Robert Hill - will centre on who bears the cost of restoring the land.

"This is a huge issue and the federal Government does have a role," Mr Chamberlain said.

"I think the role of governments is to initiate programs and educate, but we can't expect the taxpayer to entirely fix this one. Some of it is up to us."

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