Urgent action needed after decades of delay by Wayne Griffin
For more than 30 years, successive Queensland governments have kicked the can down the road, allowing a rising groundwater problem in Queensland’s largest cane-producing region to grow and spread, but finally action to tackle the Burdekin’s increasing soil salinity is underway. North Queensland’s Burdekin region is the cane-growing capital of Australia, harvesting roughly eight million tonnes of cane each year. This impressive yield is down to a combination of factors – the rich soils, the endless sunshine, and an abundance of water. In fact, Burdekin growers have the kind of access to water that most Aussie farmers can only dream of. But for some, this abundance has turned out to be a double-edged sword, with rising groundwater increasing soil salinity and impacting crops. What’s surprising about the situation is not the growing salinity problem in parts of the Burdekin, but that it has taken over 30 years and eight Queensland governments to finally get action.
Pictured: (below) BRIA Chairman and local grower Mario Barbagallo says dewatering is now the only option to address rising groundwater; (opposite) rising salinity can be localised, with healthy crops growing just metres from severly impacted sugarcane.
Following the completion of the Burdekin Falls Dam in 1987 and subsequent development of the Burdekin River Irrigation Scheme (now the BurdekinHaughton Scheme) in 1988, the Queensland Government began auctioning blocks of farmland. By the time the final block sold in 1998, approximately 40,000 hectares of farmland had been developed.
“Today it’s predominantly cane, but initially when it was developed the industry was still regulated, so people couldn’t just go in and start growing cane. They had to get assignments. Initially people grew rice and other crops, but as the industry was deregulated it all went to cane,” Burdekin River Irrigation Area Irrigators (BRIA) Manager Russ McNee said. BRIA has been aware of the rising groundwater problem from the very beginning, as has the scheme developer, the Queensland Government. “It’s something you’ve got to keep an eye on in all irrigation areas, not just the Burdekin. Every irrigation area that has been developed in Australia has had some sort of associated salinity problem,” Russ said. “Right at the outset of the scheme, one of the most knowledgeable scientists in the field, Roger Shaw, advised the scheme developers that there would have to be a certain amount of groundwater extracted every year to prevent the groundwater rising to a level where it impacted crops.” Unfortunately, the government of the day didn’t listen, instead leaving the problem for its successor to deal with - a trend that continued for three decades. Meanwhile, the problem continued to grow. “At the start they actually had policies in place that made the situation worse,” Russ said. “Growers were only allowed to pump 1ML of groundwater for every 8ML of water allocation they purchased. That practically ensured the groundwater would begin to rise, but it was done to make money. The government was selling the water allocations. “That policy, followed by years of not addressing the issue resulted in the problem we have today. continues page 26
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