The Campaspe_East Loddon Plains Salinity Province covers a relatively large area of over 100,000ha and is located on the west side of the Campaspe River up to the Murray River floodplains. It occurs on alluvial, floodplain origin unconsolidated sediments, which form a large, regional scale Groundwater Flow System.
The majority of the province (the east and central areas) is part of the Shepparton Irrigation Region (SIR). Water for irrigation is supplied mainly from the Goulburn River via the Waranga Western Channel, with supplementary water from the Campaspe Deep Lead and diversion from the Campaspe River. High watertables, waterlogging and salinity followed development of irrigation and peaked in 1995 following the 1950s to ‘90s wet years. It then declined during the 10 years of drought from 1999 to 2009. Depth to watertable maps of the SIR area can be found on the Goulburn-Broken CMA website .
Being a mix of dryland and irrigation country, salinity has had differing impacts and management approaches applied to each.
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