Many coastal sandy soils have poor phosphorus (P) retention capacity and are prone to becoming saturated with the nutrient. Loss of soluble P in runoff and leaching from P-saturated coastal sandy agricultural soils is a major cause of eutrophication in the estuaries of south-west Western Australia. Adding high-P-adsorbing materials to these soils to slightly increase P-adsorption capacity offers a management option to immediately reduce P losses to waterways.
Healthy Estuaries WA is a Western Australian State Government program, building on the work of the Regional Estuaries Initiative (2016 to 2020). Both programs have sought to improve the health of estuaries in south-west Western Australia by reducing nutrient losses from their catchments. Innovative remediation options are one way to do this.
This report presents scientific findings from research into soil amendments for treating high-nutrient-loss soils at Mucca Dairy in the Peel-Harvey catchment.
