Some points from Salinity review:

• There are significant gaps in information on groundwater quality in arid pastoral lands and in its accessibility for pastoralists.  Interviews with pastoralists indicated that the placement of new bores was based primarily on local knowledge (particularly by the local bore drilling team) rather than consultation with a database.
• Decline in animal condition and health would be expected for water supplies containing total dissolved salts in the range of 5-10,00mg/ml for cattle and 10-13,000 mg/ml for sheep.
• The key issue for reproductive success and growth in sheep reliant on saline drinking water is the survival of the 3 to 5 month old animal through the heat of the first summer
• An important consequence of provision of saline drinking water through summer is that stock can graze only a very limited distance from watering points resulting in adverse effects on stock food access and land degradation.
• No desalination systems are in use by the pastoral industry due to their prohibitive purchase costs and energy requirements.
• Hire of a reverse osmosis desalination system may be cost effective to enable a flock/herd to get through a dry summer. 

Possible options to address the issue of saline forage/saline stock-water combination– J Addison

1. More water points at reduced distance from one another
2. Use better quality water supplies (where available) to replace/shandy poor quality supplies during the hotter months.
3. Develop small low-cost surface water harvesting/storage facilities distant from permanent water(s).  Closure of permanent water(s) when fresh water available at the surface facilities will:

4. • Encourage more even utilisation of the paddock forage
   • Accumulate non-saline forage in the vicinity of the permanent water(s) for use in hotter months.

5. Increase the percentage of non-saline feed for use in hotter months

6. • Use saltbush/bluebush pastures in cooler months only

7. Manage saltbush/bluebush pastures to encourage a higher perennial grass component.

Further information available in Groundwater salinity, desalination equipment and practices applicable to the rangelands pastoral industry Review compiled by David de Vries,BSc (Hons), BNat, PhD (information on this page extracted from review)