Groundwater recharge caused by inefficient irrigation practices, high leakage rates from light textured soils, poor surface and groundwater drainage and inappropriate crop rotations caused rising watertables under the rice growing areas in southern New South Wales. Shallow watertable and secondary soil salinisation have a major impact on the long term sustainability of these areas.Land and Water Management Plans have been developed in these irrigation areas to address sustainability issues by implementation of on-ground works and community actions to control waterlogging and salinity. The proposed on-ground works and community actions can achieve the desired benefits only if their effectiveness can be assessed prior to implementation, restrictions on rice areas can be quantified and resulting changes in environmental conditions can be measured on the landscape. This paper describes how GIS databases, remote sensing and hydrological modelling techniques are helping land and water management actions in the rice growing regions. Read More
