Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
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Cleaning up the floodwaters at Narrabri
Fast-flowing runoff from the Narrabri floodplain has, over many years, caused serious damage to Peter Wall's property and the nearby Namoi River. But a simple plan has done wonders to stop the land erosion and clean up water flowing into the river.
"Effluent that discharges from the Northern Narrabri floodplain and a number of creeks empties straight onto our property," Peter said.
"About 1,500 to 2,000 acres can get inundated by floodwater travelling very quickly, carrying silt and causing a great deal of erosion.
"So the country was being washed away and the sediment went straight into the river system."
Funding
In 2003 the Australian Government gave Peter over $28,000 to help reduce the impact of flooding on his 1,680-acre sheep and cattle property, as well as on the Namoi River.
Activities
With this funding, and advice from the NSW Departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and National Parks and Wildlife, Peter set out to reduce the speed of the floodwater travelling through the property.
"The silt is carried by large volumes of water at high speed. You can't alter the amount of water, but you can alter the speed at which it travels," Peter said.
"By establishing an impoundment we've slowed down the water coming across the plains in two places to a quarter of the speed it used to travel, which means the silt falls to the bottom.
"We've also restructured about 10 kilometres of fencing and put in 2.4 kilometres of new fences, which will help us graze our stock in a more sustainable way."
Achievements
Peter said the results have proved far more successful than he anticipated.
"The soil is no longer being heavily eroded and the water flowing into the Namoi River is now nearly clear, with more than 50 per cent of the silt being deposited into the impoundment," he said.
"We'll always have flooding, but the couple of major inundations since completing the work showed us it's been a successful operation. In fact it's been a lot more successful than we'd hoped."
Peter said an unexpected benefit has been that the silt beds have shown to be a very good growth area for clover.
"The seeds deposit on top of the silt beds, and as they dry out they germinate - this gives us a useful short-term legume crop. That's one advantage we hadn't foreseen," he said.
More information
- Peter Wall: (02) 6793 1121 or graziers@bigpond.com
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