The water and salt balance of the reservoir catchments of the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia

Abstract

This study was made possible through a new observational programme, which determined the chloride and sulphate rainfall accession, and access to the monthly data files for the reservoir systems in the Mount Lofty Ranges during the period 1985-1996, together with the statistics on borewater and farm dam irrigation. The principal result is that 27% of the salts input into the reservoirs arises from borewater irrigation, 38% is due to groundwater (salinisation), 20% is pumped from the River Murray, and 15% originates in rainfall. This budget indicates that irrigation has a major negative impact on the Adelaidean water quality, independently of the negative impact of the River Murray water, whic..