Water quality and forests in Southwestern Australia: review and evaluation

Summary

Water restrictions imposed during 1977 have focused attention on the adequac of Perth's water supply. However the deterioration of water quality through increasing salinizauon is at least as serious a problem, both now and in the future. Maintenance of a healthy forest cover, to which fresh water catchments are restricted, is crucial. But forests are being depleted by a range of causes, of which intensive forestry practices are one of the most important. The mechanisms by which soluble salts are redistributed in the landscape following forest clearing, and the severity of the effects where forests are to be regenerated, are the subject of dispute. This uncertainty, allied with the seriousness of the water quality situation, suggests that it is insufficient to merely monitor the situation to see what happens.