Rehabilitation included fencing, the sowing and establishment of salt tolerant plants, planting trees and more efficient methods of irrigation. Quantification of the salt problem induced investment by farmers of both time and money and of government resources resulting in the plains once again becoming a viable and productive area. The Salty Salmon story looks at Serial Biological Control, a system being trialed at Undera in the Goulburn Irrigation District near Shepparton in Northern Victoria. Undera has a serious rising groundwater and salinity problem, and every year more and more farmland is lost to salt degradation and waterlogging. S.B.C. aims to reduce the amount of ground water on a farm while increasing the concentration of salt in that water.
Ground water is pumped up and used to irrigate a salt tolerant woodlot.
The trees use some of the water and what's left passes through the soil into a tile drain several metres under the surface. As the salty water passes through the soil it takes more salt with it. The salty water in the tile drain is piped to an evaporation basin housing caged marine fish. As water evaporates salt concentration increases. The salty water is moved to a second evaporation basin where salt levels increase even more.