Irrigation

Use of Reclaimed Effluent Water in Australian Horticulture

Australia currently sends to ‘waste’ close to 86% of effluent water. In the past 4 years national re-use of effluent has doubled to 14% of all effluent produced, however this remains a small proportion of the amount of water still running to ‘waste’. The potential exists to use this water for horticultural production freeing up costly potable water. There are concerns about the use of recycled water from both a horticultural producer and consumer perspective. Participants (more)...

Delivering Sustainability through Risk Management

This project was designed to achieve an improved level of adoption of ecological risk assessment and risk management methods in the Australian irrigation industry and in regulatory agencies. Adoption of risk-based approaches is considered to be vital if the industry is to achieve its goal of long-term sustainability.

Long term sustainability of precision irrigation

There is now strong evidence of serious soil structural decline under precision irrigation, but practical tools to identify the conditions for this degradation are not yet available. We will identify a range of paired (precision-irrigated / non-irrigated) texture-contrast soils in vineyards across the Barossa Valley and assess the impact of this irrigation on soil properties important for root growth and water uptake.

Tri-State Project - Impact of Salinity on Horticulture in the Lower Murray

The project, started in November 2003 and to finish in early 2007, is split into two stages and deliverables are spread over agreed milestones. Stage 1: Specific tasks and main deliverables for Stage 1 are: A detailed literature review of the salinity relationships for the commonly grown crops (grape, citrus, stone fruit, melon and vegetables) in the Lower Murray region; Identify the knowledge gap in salinity relationships; Explore the salinity (more)...

Changing Irrigation Systems and Management in the Harvey Irrigation Area

Project DAW45 was conducted over the Harvey irrigation seasons 2003-04 and 2004-05. Seasons in Harvey are relatively consistent extending usually from October to May.

The project was conducted in two stages to ensure adequate consideration of the issues and planning for the case study, along with integration with other related research work, prior to the commencement of the case study.

Open Hydroponics: Risks and opportunities

An open hydroponic system (OHS) is a continuous method of supplying a crop’s water and nutrient needs in a very precise way. Unlike traditional soiless media hydroponic systems, in the open field hydroponic system the soil is used as the medium in which the plant grows and its primary function is to provide the support structure to anchor the plant and accommodate its root system.

Coordinating Deep Drainage Research in the Northern Darling Basin

This project will provide coordination and information exchange as necessary between the various stakeholders to optimise the various deep drainage projects outcomes. This task will be achieved by having 2 groups.