Salinity

How big is the problem?

Download our Salinity fact sheet (PDF, 960 kB)

Australia's rivers and landscapes are under threat to rising salinity, particularly in Western Australia, South Australia and in the Murray-Darling Basin. 

With rising salinity, we face the loss of both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. For example, some 450 species of plant, insect and bird life are under threat in the megadiverse regions of south-west Western Australia alone. 

On the rural front, some 2.5 million hectares of land are already affected by salinity, and there is the potential for this to increase to 15 million hectares.  Much of this is Australia's most productive agricultural land.  The area damaged by salinity to date represents about 4.5 percent of present cultivated land, and estimated current costs include $130 million annually in lost agricultural production; $100 million annually in damage to infrastructure; and at least $40 million in loss of environmental assets.  Salinity affects regions in all parts of Australia.

More information

• Salinity options
• Salinity FAQ
• Technical reports
• Educational material for students and teachers 

Publications and resources

Visit our Publications page and search for "salinity" in our publications database.

Salinity research and possible solutions

• A Revolution in Land Use: Emerging Land Use Systems for Managing Dryland Salinity  
• Effectiveness of Current Farming Systems in the Control of Dryland Salinity  
• Using Groundwater Flow Systems (GFS) and top-down hydrological approaches to target salinity mitigation measures in the Murray-Darling Basin
• Airborne Geophysics - the latest weapon in land management arsenal
• Heartlands Fact Sheet No 3: Assessing and Managing Dryland Salinity (PDF 571 kB)
• CSIRO Land and Water research publications

Related issues

• Caring for our Country program [external site]
• National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality [external site - archive]
• National Dryland Salinity Program 1993 - 2005 [external site]
• Educational material for students and teachers 
• Images from ScienceImage