Feature
Issue No. 8 - December/ 2002/january
City of Salisbury - a World Leader in Wetlands Technology
Access to cheap, clean water is one of the most critical issues facing our State’s development—but enough rain falls on Adelaide over winter to satisfy its annual water consumption.
Furthermore, for years we have spent millions on piping water from the Murray, an increasingly troubled waterway, while piping stormwater and sewerage to the coast, where it has poisoned the marine environment.
Exploiting its natural advantages, the City of Salisbury to Adelaide’s north has addressed these wasteful imbalances in an imaginative way.
Salisbury lies on a flood plain which was marshy in its pre-settlement state. After Salisbury Council created a wetland recreational asset—The Paddocks—in the late 1960s, it was observed that as well as attracting wildlife the huge natural filter also was cleaning pollutants out of inflowing stormwater within a few days.
By the mid-90s, prompted by the City’s huge irrigation costs, engineers sought a way to store large volumes of water cheaply. The first experimental Aquifer Recharge Bore was trialled in The Paddocks in 1994.
“These trials were very successful, and proved that the aquifer can be readily used to store large volumes of water for subsequent reuse,” a City of Salisbury summary states.
“A side benefit is the fact that the aquifers beneath the City of Salisbury have been heavily depleted through intensive agriculture and other ground water users. Recharge bores, which combine recharge and extraction capacity within the same structure, monitor water quality and shut the injection process down if quality falls below acceptable standards.
“The City of Salisbury is now recognised as a world leader in the field of wetlands technology, with over 30 wetlands totalling approximately 250 hectares in area and costing in excess of $16 million. Stormwater – traditionally regarded as a problem, and in some cases a threat – is n...
