2002 – Responding to Environmental Imperatives: Managing Salinity in the Hunter River

Brian Walford and Ross Killick

Increasing salinity in Australian river systems is a major issue that is attracting attention from politicians, environmentalists and the wider community. The successful coexistence of mining and agriculture in the Hunter Valley has resulted in the need to tackle river salinity with a cooperative approach to not only contain salinity, but also reduce it. Mining companies have participated in the development of a tradeable emission scheme to manage the discharge of surplus saline water, resulting in the construction of mine water dams that are designed to release a large volume of saline water in 2– 3 days.