A Bird’s Eye View of Australia’s Biggest Water User

Research commissioned by the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship and undertaken by the Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures has found that water management practices adopted by the Murray and Murrumbidgee basins’ $3.1 billion irrigation industry have substantially improved over the past decade. 

The irrigation industry has also begun to explore opportunities for balancing the use of water for agricultural and environmental purposes.

A summary booklet, Irrigation in Perspective: Irrigation in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Basins - A Bird's Eye View compiled by the Flagship  and the CRC was launched at the NSW Irrigation Council Annual General Meeting in Sydney in July. 

The CRC Irrigation Futures chief scientist Dr Wayne Meyer says the findings cover a wide range of issues including the motivations for change and areas where further improvements would substantially improve regional sustainability.

“There is enough evidence to indicate that every irrigated commodity can further improve its water productivity and profitability and in many cases the industry is already along this path,” Dr Meyer says.  “Dairy water productivity, for example, has shown considerable improvement over the last decade and there are good examples of greatly improved production systems from intensive summer fodder to pasture-under-spray systems. The rice industry has also reduced their water consumption approximately ten fold in the last decade. 

“Increased productivity also needs to be stimulated and accompanied by greatly improved water distribution systems, potentially freeing up 30-40% of current water use, providing opportunities for returns to the environment and irrigation development,” Dr Meyer says. 

CRC Irrigation Futures Chief Executive, Matthew Durack, says the report highlights the importance to farmers of considering profit-versus-risk factors when deciding their irrigation requirements for particular cropping mixes. “Irrigators apply a much more complex assessment protocol to crop selection than simple measures of gross return per ML often quoted in policy documents. This leads to resilient, adaptive and increasingly sustainable irrigation communities,” Mr Durack says.

The findings complement recent research led by CSIRO’s Dr Shahbaz Khan for the Pratt Water Group that identified the potential to save approximately 295 GL of water in the Murrumbidgee and Coleambally Irrigation Areas, while maintaining the current crop area and significantly reducing the environmental impacts of irrigation. This research has been summarised in two booklets, launched at the same meeting; Whole-of-Catchment Water and Salt Balance: Identifying Potential Water Savings and Management Options in the Murrumbidgee Catchment and Off- and On-Farm Savings of Irrigation Water: Murrumbidgee Valley Water Efficiency Feasibility Project.

Flagship Director Colin Creighton says irrigation efficiency gains will improve profitability, allow for further irrigation development and equally importantly, increase environmental outcomes. “Successful research involves collaboration - especially our scientist working with those that will lead the change” Our aim is to ensure there is a real benefit from Australia’s substantial investment in both irrigation and ecological research.  

The Flagship has extended this research across all irrigation areas of the Murray Basin and will deliver results outlining the key water saving and productivity opportunities over the next 18 months.  

All reports are available at:  http://www.cmis.csiro.au/healthycountry/publications.htm

More information contact:
Dr Wayne Meyer, CRC Irrigation Futures
Ph: +61 8 8303 8683
wayne.meyer@csiro.au
Dr Shahbaz Khan, CSIRO
Ph: +61 2 6933 2927
shahbaz.khan@csiro.au

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