Predicting the effects of landuse change on water and salt balance—a case study of a catchment affected by dryland salinity in NSW, Australia

An integrated and comprehensive framework for the assessment of water and salt balance for large catchments is presented. The framework is applied to the Mandagery Creek catchment (1688 km^), located in the south-eastern part of Australia. The catchment is affected by dryland salinity and the effects of landuse, climate, topography, soils and geology on water and salt balance are examined. Landuse change scenarios designed to: (a) increase the perennial content of the pastures and crop rotations and (b) increase the current remnant native woody vegetation with additional tree cover are investigated to determine the level of intervention required to develop ameliorative strategies. Likely downstream impacts of the reduction in water flow and salt export are also estimated.