I always thought that salinity was a rural problem in Australia.
But from a web page of National Dryland Salinity Program,
I learnt that salinity and rising water tables have recently been recognised as a
growing problem in Western Sydney region. Since we live in Western Sydney,
Dad took me for field trips in the region, hoping that before we went to Wagga Wagga,
I would learn something on the field close at home.
First, we contacted the Department of Land and Water
Conservation.
They sent us a map of the salinity hazards in the region. We went on three field trips,
but they weren't as simple as we thought because most of the places were on private property
and some were not accessible by car. However, on each field trip we managed to find some
places with patches of waterlogged soil and dying trees. These are symptoms of salinity.
My First Field Trip in Western Sydney
Date: 12th of May 2001
Based on the map we received from the DLWC, we set off to look for sites with signs of
soil salinity. At first we could not find any because many locations were inside private
properties. At the end, we found a place at Wilberforce on Argyle Reach Road.
The land was very flat and was occupied by farms. We found ditches by the roadside,
which were dug to drain away excessive water from the field. This showed that the
water table there was very high. We took some photos there.
On the other side of the road, we saw a patch of waterlogged land.
There, we also discovered some salt-tolerant vegetation. We used a book called
"Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney" to identify them.
They were couch grasses (Cynodon dactylon) and native reed (Phragmites australis).
