Pyramid Salt Pty. Ltd.

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Pyramid Salt Pty. Ltd.

Pyramid Boort Road
Pyramid Hill VIC 3575
AUSTRALIA

Phone: 03 5455 1299
Fax: 03 5455 1330
EMAIL: contact@pyramidsalt.com.au

Environmental Benefits

Introduction

Prior to European occupation, the billions of tonnes of salt in the Murray-Darling Basin were stored in the geological profile. However, the introduction of land clearing and inefficient irrigation methods by European settler farmers increased recharge to the groundwater systems.

Dying black box across the bed of Gol Gol Swamp

Dying black box across the bed of Gol Gol Swamp

Consequently the water tables have risen and mobilised the previously dormant salt. The result has been the salinisation of large volumes of groundwater and an increased discharge of natural and induced saline water to the rivers, lakes and agricultural land.

When the saline watertable reaches within about 1 metre of the ground surface, capillary action causes the salts to be drawn to the surface thus accumulating through the evaporation in the topsoils. Depending on the concentration of these accumulated salts in the topsoil, they can result in degradation ranging from reduced productivity to the inability of the soil to support any vegetation at all.

A recent audit of the Murray Darling Basin indicated “Between 3 and 5 million hectares of land in the eastern and southern regions of the basin will be salt affected within 50-100 years” if remedial steps are not taken to reverse this process. The Murray Darling Basin incorporates 75% of Australian irrigation and provides over 41% of Australia’s gross value of agricultural production.

It has long been recognised that lowering and maintaining the water table below 1.5 – 2.0 metres could reverse this salinisation process. Lowering of watertable can be achieved by groundwater pumping from shallow aquifers. The problem that existed was what to do with the groundwater pumped for such purposes.

A chance meeting between John Ross and Gavin Privett in 1991 led to the establishment of Pyramid Salt Pty. Ltd. The company was formed to research and develop methods of land desalinisation through groundwater pumping and commercial solar salt production.