Chapter 3
I Background
II Early European Settlements
III Assessment Of Available Water Resources
IV Water Supplies For Goldmining Development
V Irrigation Development
VI Farm And Stock Water Supplies
VII Urban Water Supplies
VIII Wastewater Management And Treatment
IX Water Quality Management
X Limnological And Water Quality Research
i Drinking water quality
ii Irrigation and Stock Waters
iii Descriptive phase research
iv System understanding phase
XI New Techniques In Water Resource Planning And Management
XII Legislation
XIII Conclusion
XIV List Of Abbreviations
XV Acknowledgements
XVI Plantations-high Productivity Resources
References
Index
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Descriptive phase research
The systematic chemical analysis of river and reservoir water was commenced by the various water authorities soon after they were established. Typical is this extract from the 1890 Annual Report of the Victorian Department of Water Supply (now the Rural Water Commission) -Thirty-five samples of water were analysed . . . Seventeen of these were examined for their potability and eighteen of them for their manurial value in irrigation.
The potable waters were analysed for total solids, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and alumina, chloride, sulphur, silica, organic matter, nitrate and nitrite, ammonia, albumenoid nitrogen, hardness (permanent and temporary). Some biological examinations were also conducted by an eminent analyst from Sydney.
Some excellent pioneering work was done by V. G. Anderson in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He postulated that there were three main factors in controlling the quality of natural waters in Australia -
- the proportion of oceanic salts initially present in rain water;
- the proportion of soluble matter taken up from rock formations, and
- the extent to which the soluble matter is concentrated by natural evaporation
and transportation.
These views, not widely circulated at the time, have since become generally accepted.
In the early 60s, original work on the chemistry and biology of salt lakes around Australia was commenced by Bayley and Williams. Concurrent studies began on the composition of rain and sources of salts in fresh and saline lakes.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Victoria. Government Departments
People in Bright Sparcs - Anderson, V. G.; Williams, W. D.
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 185, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
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