Accumulation of salts in Australia
Accumulation of salts in Australia is a key degrading factor that is affecting the environmental conditions of the Australia state. These salts always have effects on the construction industry. The buildings that are built in Australia have some of the defects as a result of penetration of these salts to the building, and therefore they have adverse effects that result to high maintenance costs to these building. There are some of the practices that the surveyor need to consider when the construction of the houses is in the young stage so that the building will have fewer defects to the salts that are readily available to the land. These are the practices that tent to reduce the maintenance cost of building or instead avoid most of them from demolition.
Causes of salinity
Evaporation
The rate of evaporation is dependent on different factors including the ventilation, relative humidity, and the temperature. Temperatures that are high causes the water that is along the surface to evaporate and leaving the concentrations of many saline materials within the surface of the ground. Gradual evaporation of water on the surface increases the concentration of salts. This accumulation of salts to extreme levels causes the ground to be unproductive because the soil potential hydrogen is significantly affected. This has a greater influence on the construction industry(Ashby, 1957). When the humidity is driven towards these areas, the amount of the building that is directly exposed to the environment is affected.
The water that is carried out by the wind contains most of the salts. When the water is flushed to the building that is exposed to the surface area, then the salt affects the building. In case of the iron materials that are used to roof the house, in case of these salts flushed in these parts of the roofs the corrode. This is as a result of saline conditions accelerate the rate of rusting to the buildings. These roofs corrode and wear out to levels of linking the water in case of rain and penetration of the radioactive rays. This is one of the greatest impacts of the salinity in the Australia and result in the high maintenance costs of roofs and metals that are used in construction industry(Berdahl, 2008). Building surveyors need to implement some of the policies that are capable of dealing and reducing the impact of the salinity in the construction industry.
Amount of available water
In the areas that have access to the water table are most affected by the salinity. In these areas, there are a lot of available water. When the water in different stages of the hydrological cycle changes and therefore much of the salts are left on the level ground. These cycles involve evaporation and infiltrations of the water down the soil. When the water is passing the hardpan layer, most of the salts cannot infiltrate past the layer, and therefore they are left accumulated within the surface of the land. This saline environment due to humidity and moisture, gradually they are incorporated with the dust particles to cause the rusting of the roofs. When the wind blows, there are some of the places which are directly affected by the salts. In the case where the building material that is used in the construction is hygroscopic, the effects will be far worse(Cyrus, 1992). These salts absorb water to form a solution and therefore when used in the construction industry, they can be hazardous to the demolition of the building.
This also is a factor to consider when the surveyor is considering the sites to initiate and built the houses. In the areas where the hygroscopic salts are accumulated with time, they turn to be swamped. This is as a result of gradual accumulation of the hygroscopic salts that absorbs water to form a solution and mix with the sail that is available making the area to be swampy. Houses that are built in swampy areas are prone to demolition, and therefore it remains to be a factor to consider before the construction projects are initiated and built.
Water in the rivers are the key factors that lead to the accumulation of salts in Australia. During the flow, most of the water dissolve most of the compounds and soluble stones within the flow. These minerals that are dissolved and accumulated in the destination of the rivers become the main sources of salinity. Gradually, this accumulation of these salts reaches maximum levels where they cannot be controlled and therefore become hazardous and to the environment. For the destinations that do not have the outlets are prone to accumulation of salts and with time, the water becomes a saltwater destination(Fielder, 2005). This will affect not only the construction industry but also agriculture and production of different commodities within the state.
Dominant saline areas in Australia
Despite the fact that Australia is affected by the salinity levels, there are some of the specific areas that are actively influenced by the salinity levels. These are the most affected areas. New South Wales is one of the areas that has been affected by the threat of dryland salinity. Dryland salinity is a natural cause of the salinity due to the accumulation of salts from the normal process. In the current state more than half of the area under threat. More than 50% of the land is under threat. In the irrigated areas of the New South Wales, 15% of the land is under threat. The water that has been used for the irrigation contain much of the salts and as a result of this has led to a gradual accumulation of the salts, and it is significantly affecting production and agriculture in general. The main areas of this area that is much affected include the Murrumbidgee river catchment. This place is near the Griffith location where the accumulation of the salts has much affected the region(Rengasamy, 2002). The other region within this locality that has much been affected by the accumulation of the salts is the Murray River catchment and the jam along areas.
The other area that has been adversely affected by the salinity is the Victoria regions. This area has been affected by the accumulation of salts in lower levels. There are high-risk areas that have been listed to be affected by the saline. High-risk areas include the Campaspe areas, London, Corangamite and miller regions. Western Australia is another area that has been massively affected by the salts. So far more than two hectares of land has perfectly been affected by the salts accumulation and is productivity is lowered with great influence to agriculture. More than four hectares of land now has been listed to be land that is at higher risk of being contracted with the salinity. This creates threat in the Australia of the percentage of the land that is contracted with the salinity(Wolanski, 1986). More than fifty percent of the water catchment areas in Western Australia have been adversely affected by the salinity, and those water catchment zones have tuned to saline water bodies as a result.
Salinity is a defect that is commonly affecting the Australian economy as a result of reduced production and reduction in agricultural production. The other areas that are affected although not that much is the Tasmania areas and Queensland. These areas are not much affected but are listed to be most affected areas in future days(Rengasamy, 2002). The levels of salinity are not above normal although much, but they are likely to be influenced in future days.
Reduction of salinity impacts
In the construction industry, they have manipulated the major ways of cubing with the influence of the salinity in Australia. These are the methods that are set aside to service the lifespan of the houses that are constructed in Australia. Many of the mechanisms have been developed to reduce the effects of salinity on buildings that have been constructed.
Use of paints to the roofing is a major way of reducing the impacts of corrosion to the building. All the surveyors have implemented the policy of always painting the roofs of the houses with the paints to prevent direct contact with the salts, water and the mental to come in contact to cause corrosion(Ashby, 1957). This is an approach that has led to reducing the corrosion of roofs and other delicate metals that are used in the construction industry.
The affected areas can be utilized by flashing them with the fresh water. Freshwater combines with the saline and the salts that are available within the soils, and therefore it is pumped out of the region. This is the sure way of reducing the accumulation of the salts in most of the swampy areas that need to be reclaimed for the construction industry(Berdahl, 2008). Freshwater plays an important role in the dissolving of the materials that are available upon flushing out of the salty water within a region.
Medium and high impact damp proofing membranes
Damp proofing membrane is the resistant material that is fixed in walls to prevent the water from going up the wall. This is essentially used to prevent dampness from rising. It depends on the thickness of the material that is a barrier. High impact damp proofing membrane is the name that is given to the thick membranes that are used to prevent the damp from rising the walls. It is around 0.22mm thick and therefore termed as the thick. It is the thickest membranes that are used to prevent the wetness of the walls by the constructors. Medium impact proofing membrane is the membranes that are medium-sized and used as the barriers of the dampness(Fielder, 2005). The phenomenon that is controlled in the application is the capillarity. The role of the polyethylene is used to control the upward movement of water up the walls a phenomenon that is referred to as rising damp. Capillarity is controlled not to allow water to go up.
Government policies
Since in the current world, the fertilizers that have been used in the agricultural industry have high concentrations of different salts that are not fully utilized in the farms, these salts have been ferried to the rivers and to other zones where they have been accumulated in those regions. The government has initialized the move of using the lower toxic levels of fertilizers in the farming industry(Cyrus, 1992). This has significantly resulted in the importation and manufacture of fertilizers that are free from the toxic salts that can increase the levels of toxicity in the farms.
The government also has initiated campaigns on the importance of reduced accumulation of salts in Australia to have minimized accumulations. The campaigns have initialized the move towards reducing and keeping the environment free from the factors that accumulate the rates of salts. This has significantly helped in reducing the salt concentrations in Australia.
Australia government has led to the implementation of the salt grow. This is a hybrid kind of gum that is used to reverse the adverse effects that have occurred in the places that the salinity has maximally occurred. The government encourages and facilitates the planting of these groups in the affected areas to reduce the effect of the salinity. The crops reverse the state, and therefore the areas grow other shrubs that are not resistant to salinity(Rengasamy, 2002). This is the best way of reversing the adversely affected areas in the large areas.
The other basic role that the government has played an important role in the control of the salinity in Australia is the intergovernmental agreement with different organizations that are capable of reversing the status of the adversely affected lands. The government has agreed to the natural action plan for salinity and water quality to implement some of the policies that are targeted to increase productivity and reclamation of the saline lands of Australia(Ashby, 1957). These organizations have collaborated with the other small organizations in implementing the reclamation procedures that need to be undertaken in Australia to bring forth the wasted land back to normal.
Photos of salinity on buildings
Photos of salinity in houses
Conclusion
Australia has been an adverse effect part of the continent where almost 70% of its crust is affected by salinity. Many of the causes of salinity have the greatest effects on the construction industry involving high maintenance costs. Some adverse effects led to the demolition of large houses and therefore posting a lot of loss to the stakeholders. There are some of the locations that are prone to salinity more than the others. These are the areas that need attention to reverse the state. Surveyors have implemented their ways of reducing the effects of this saline to the building they use. The damp roofing membranes are some of the approaches that the surveyor put into consideration to enable and protect the walls from damp through capillarity.
The government has tried to put the effort into measures that reduce the effect of salinity in the adversely affected areas. Some of the measures include agreements that are targeted at increasing the reclamation of the land that has been affected.
References
Ashby, W. a. B. N., 1957. Studies in Halophytes: III. Salinity Factors in the Growth of Australian Saltbushes. Ecology, pp. 344-352.
Berdahl, P. A. H. L. R. a. M. W., 2008. Weathering of roofing materials–an overview. Construction and Building Materials, pp. 423-433..
Cyrus, D. P. a. S. J. M. B., 1992. Turbidity and salinity in a tropical northern Australian estuary and their influence on fish distribution. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, pp. 545-563..
Fielder, D. B. W. A. G. a. P. P., 2005. The effects of salinity and temperature on growth and survival of Australian snapper. Pagrus auratus larvae. Aquaculture, pp. 201-214.
Rengasamy, P., 2002. Transient salinity and subsoil constraints to dryland farming in Australian sodic soils: an overview. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, pp. 351-361.
Wolanski, E., 1986. An evaporation-driven salinity maximum zone in Australian tropical estuaries. nEstuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, pp. 415-424.
