Wines and wetlands

Photos: Arthur Mostead

A winery’s wetland will be getting a top-up of water. The partial refilling of the wetland area at Banrock Station winery will help prevent what could be irreversible damage from increasing salinity and will also be critical in saving plant and animal habitat.

Banrock Station is a winery on the banks of the Murray River in the Riverland area of South Australia. They have turned a section of the winery’s land, once used for grazing sheep, into a wetland, restoring it to its original environment; attracting many birds and wildlife to the area.

The wetlands will receive 617 megalitres — that’s over 6 million litres — as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s (MDBC) Living Murray program in late May. This water comes from stores of water set aside for environmental purposes.

Banrock Station’s Manager, Mr Tony Sharley, welcomes the watering and said his company was pleased to be able to continue its responsible environmental management during difficult times.

Dr Wendy Craik, CEO of the MDBC, explains,

“The wetland has been completely dry since March 2007 and the surrounding vegetation has not been inundated since November 2005. As a result, saline groundwater is rising to the surface and threatens the vegetation.”

The lack of water to the wetlands could seriously impact on many plants and animal species, such as river red gums, lignum thickets, sedgeland and populations of the southern bell frog and river snail. River red gum communities are already dying and suffering due to severe stress.

“By watering in autumn and early winter we minimise evaporation and reduce the volume of water needed and make the most efficient use of our precious water resource. The wetland will be monitored for salts, nutrients and organic matter to determine if it will be later reconnected to the Murray,” Dr Craik said.

Banrock Station was listed as a Ramsar Convention wetland in 2002, recognising it as an internationally significant wetland.

For more information contact Sam Leone, phone: 0407 006 332