Salinity
Salinity is one of Australia’s greatest environmental challenges. The cost of lost agricultural production and damage to the [?] is likely to climb above $1 billion a year.
Scientists also predict that thousands of Australia’s unique native plant species run a high risk of becoming [?] unless we can halt the spread of dryland [?].
Salinity is the presence of soluble salts in [?] or water. Salts are naturally found in [?] and become a problem when the water table slowly rises toward the [?] surface. This occurs when more water enters the system from [?] and irrigation than leaves the system through [?] or use by [?].
Changes in land management, including removal of vegetation and over-watering have increased the salinity problem in some areas.
There are three common types of salinity:
· dryland salinity
· irrigation salinity
· urban salinity.
Management of salinity
To manage salinity, the amount of water entering the watertable must be [?] and the amount of water used from the watertable must be [?].
Actions that reduce the amount of water entering the watertable include:
· removing excess water from paddocks through the use of laser leveling and surface [?]
· removing excess [?] water through ground water pumping
· practicing [?] water-use efficiency
· avoiding periods of [?] ground
· conservatively stocking.

Actions that increase the use of water from the watertable include:
· increasing the growth of deep-rooted vegetation such as [?] pastures
· introducing salt [?] fodder plants (salt bush) and agroforestry plantations
· improving the health of existing [?]
· increasing crop yield
· growing high-water use [?] .