Full Title
Minimising Environmental Damage from Water Recovery from Inland Wetlands: Determining water regimes to minimise the impact of sulfidic sediments (potential acid sulfate soils)
Contact Person
Gavin Rees and Darren Baldwin
Project Team
Collaborators NSW Murray Wetlands Working Group
Funding Body
National Water Commission
Duration
June 2007 to December 2010
Outcomes
Details
Summary
The Australian Government through the Raising National Water Standards program will contribute funds to this project to determine appropriate wetting and drying strategies in inland wetlands to minimise the formation of sulfidic sediments. It will provide environmental water managers with tools and guidelines on how to best manage inland wetlands to prevent the build-up of acid sulphate soils, and how to remediate affected systems. The tool will be tested across different inland wetland regions of Australia affected and potentially affected by this problem to see if it can be applied as a national model.
Sulfidic sediments (potential acid sulfate soils) in wetlands across Australia are an emerging and significant threat to the long-term ecological sustainability of inland wetland systems. This threat has come from significant changes to the hydrologic regime of wetlands thereby creating conditions that are (1) favourable for the development of sulfidic sediments and (2) facilitate the detrimental environmental impact of sulfidic sediments. This project will deliver clear recommendations for the delivery of appropriate watering regimes to both minimise the onset of the development of sulfidic sediments in non-impacted wetlands and, minimise ecological harm in those wetlands already affected.
