Letter to the editor feature: Minister comments on Whittington scheme.

In response to Mr. Whittington's letter on July 4th, 1979 where Mr. Whittington raises a number of matters which deserve comment. The interceptor drain system was constructed by Mr. Whittington at Batalling Creek to investigate the effectiveness of the drains to reduce stream salinity. A monitoring system was installed by the Public Works Department to determine the amount of salt moving through the shallows and deep groundwater systems. The data collected during 1978 clearly indicates the shallow subsurface flows are fresh and that the major salt source is from the deep groundwater. The trial confirms that the interceptor drains do collect the fresh subsurface flows. Calculations by Mr. Whittington of the reduction of salts transported from Batalling Creek assumes that the salts coming from the deep groundwater are prevented from contaminating the fresh flows collected by the interceptor drains. Mr. Whittington suggests that should the Batalling Creek pilot test prove that it can reduce salinity then a larger area should be tested. The evaluation by Professor Holmes will soon be completed and Mr. MacKinnon believes it is sensible to wait for the report before deciding upon extensions to other areas. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide a public view of this newspaper article as the copyright is held by the publisher of The Pingelly-Brookton Leader. If you would like to obtain a copy of this newspaper article for research purposes, please ‘request a copy'. This article is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection