The CRC for Irrigation Futures took a significant gamble when it decided to support the System Harmonisation Research Program back in 2006. It was always going to be a real challenge to get a diverse group of researchers from a variety of institutions working together, and then keeping them focussed on the regional irrigation community’s needs. In particular, Western Sydney was going to be difficult due to the legacy of past decisions and the future challenges imposed by a rapidly increasing population.

People used to ask me "Why is the CRC interested in Western Sydney? It's a basket case!" And I would reply that there are two very good reasons. Firstly, the CRC IF has always taken a generic view of irrigation as “the conscious use of water to grow plants” – whether those plants were vegetables in a market garden, turf on a school oval, or Mum’s favourite camellia bush. So Western Sydney, with its mixture of commercial irrigation, public open space irrigation, and private gardens, is a good place to test ourselves. Secondly, the issues of competition for scarce water supplies and changing land use are common to all Australian cities, so if well targeted research can make a difference in Western Sydney, such research can make a difference anywhere.

It's really pleasing for the CRC IF Governing Board to see the risk was well worth taking. The WISER initiative came of age recently with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ourselves and the four major councils in the South Creek catchment. While the CRC IF comes to an end on September 30th, this MoU will continue on, with the University of Western Sydney taking over the lead, and I see a very positive future emerging for the work. My personal congratulations to everyone who has helped bring WISER to this point.

All the best,
Ian Atkinson
Chief Executive Officer

The Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures (CRC IF) has been offering MasterClasses since late 2008. The final one being offered is on Solutes, and is to held in Melbourne, 13 – 14 April.

Content to be covered:
• Industry and science context for study of solutes;
• Key principles for understanding salt and nitrates;
• Latest research outcomes;
• Current practices and tools for measuring, analysis and interpretation; and
• Future direction and priority areas for research and practice.

Presenters
• Richard Stirzaker – CRC IF & CSIRO
• Steven Falivene – CRC IF & NSW Industry and Investment (formerly Primary Industries)
• Anne-Maree Boland – RMCG Consultants

Cost for MasterClasses is $770 for early birds, $990 full rate and $550 for CRC IF members and students.

For more information on this MasterClass contact Deborah Atkins on 0415 135 457. To register, click on the link below.

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Are you an undergraduate student keen on attending One Water Many Futures? You’re in luck then. Water for Rivers is offering five scholarships that cover registration to the Australian Irrigation Conference and Exhibition 2010, and contribute to associated accommodation and travel.

To apply for this scholarship, send an email to kelly.salas@irrigationfutures.org.au before April 30th and tell us in 100 words or less why this conference is of value to you.

Download the flyer for further information. Or, to find out more about Water for Rivers, visit their website .

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Are you interested in distributing an irrigation product or service, but need help with the tricky transition from research prototype to commercial product? If so, the Professional Irrigation Services Network (PrISN) may be just what you’re after. The PrISN partners with water management consultants, agents and small businesses to provide the necessary assistance during the transition period.

Round 2 of PrISN registrations is now open. To show your interest, fill in the online registration form and then simply wait for your information pack to arrive.

CRC for Irrigation Futures Technical Report No. 05/09, Understanding the Water Cycle of the South Creek Catchment in Western Sydney - Part I: Catchment Description and Preliminary Water Balance Analysis, by Ranvir Singh, Bandara Nawarathna, Bruce Simmons, Basant Maheshwari and Hector Malano is now available online.

Executive Summary
Western Sydney's limited fresh water resources are under pressure. The South Creek catchment covers about 625 km2 of Western Sydney and is typical of development pressures experienced by peri-urban catchments on the edges of our cities. The population in the South Creek catchment is expected to grow by three times over the next 20 years, reaching approximately one million. This growth will significantly increase the demand for residential, non-residential, commercial and community water use, change the water cycle, and impact on water quality in the catchment.

The purpose of this report is to understand and characterise the water cycle of the South Creek catchment within the System Harmonisation framework developed by the CRC for Irrigation Futures (Khan et al., 2008). This report identifies the main components of the water cycle, the main water users and sources and brings together the existing geographical, meteorological and hydrological information for the South Creek catchment. The collected information is further used to construct an analysis of the macro surface water balance to examine current (1992-2006) and future (~2025) water use, demand and availability in the South Creek catchment.

If present water management practices are continued, the future water demand within the South Creek catchment is estimated to more than double, from 53 GL/yr under the present scenario, to 107 GL/yr under the future scenario. Most of this increase will be due to increases in residential and non-residential water use, followed by increases in irrigation requirements for recreation space.

A key finding of this report is to highlight that about half of the potable water use, under both current and future scenarios, could be replaced by non-potable water from stormwater harvesting and treated effluent in the South Creek catchment.

The macro water use, demand and availability analysis presented in this report suggests there is an opportunity to meet the catchment's domestic, industrial, agricultural and environmental water requirements, provided all water resources are integrated, used and reused in a harmonised fashion. The Water and Irrigation Strategy Enhancement through Regional Partnerships (WISER) project has been established to further analyse the feasibility, and economic and environmental benefits of developing an integrated water supply system in Western Sydney. As part of the WISER project, a simple catchment water balance model has been under development for accounting rainfall, runoff, evapotranspiration, potable water supply, wastewater discharges and surface water and groundwater extractions to simulate the complete surface water cycle of the South Creek catchment. This work will be reported as the second part of this report.

Download the full report at the link below.

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An important step towards securing the future sustainability of Western Sydney has been taken with an agreement for collaborative water research between local councils, the Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures (CRC IF) and the University of Western Sydney.

Blacktown, Hawkesbury, Liverpool and Penrith City Council Mayors signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CRC IF and UWS which will advance much needed peri-urban water research and assist the planning, management and delivery of water for agricultural, commercial, environmental and domestic uses in Western Sydney. The agreement demonstrates growing cooperation among the local councils, research organisations and NSW Government agencies to work together to achieve regional water security.

The MoU continues the work begun under the Water and Irrigation Strategy Enhancement through Regional Partnership in Western Sydney (WISER), a CRC IF project led by the University of Western Sydney. “The agreement is an important step to ensuring the long- term sustainability of the region and will provide a model for regional water cycle management,” said Mr Kevin Rozzoli, WISER Chairman, adding that the new agreement will help the signatories tackle the complexity of meeting the environmental, social and economic needs of Western Sydney’s residents and businesses.

Much of Western Sydney drains to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River but the region also depends on the river for most of its water needs. Currently 390, 000 Sydneysiders live, work and play in a major Western Sydney catchment - South Creek. But in the next 25 to 30 years that population is expected to swell to one million. This population increase will have an immense influence on the river and regional water management challenges.

Associate Professor Basant Maheshwari, from the UWS School of Natural Sciences and CRC IF, explained that Western Sydney is facing multiple challenges in the 21st century including climate change, water scarcity, increasing population and increasing demand for water. “There is a vital need to secure water for peri-urban agriculture in Western Sydney to maintain the multimillion dollar market garden, horticulture and turf growing industries. At the same time, demand for water for sporting fields, parks and home gardens also needs to be met,” said Associate Professor Maheshwari. “Only once a complete picture of the water cycle – stormwater, effluent and groundwater - is captured using scientific methods can we begin to redistribute and use that water in a sustainable way.“

Visit the link below for more information on the WISER program.

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This month's feature paper, entitiled Insubstantial Tenuous and Vague Laws - The Achievement of Ecologically Sustainable Development by Water Supply Business CEO’s, comes from Prof Jennifer McKay. It was published in the Australian Business Law Review in 2008. Please email Prof McKay for a copy of the article.

Abstract
Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) appears in many Australian laws at the State and federal level since 1992. These laws regulate the land and water using behaviour of water users and land use planning agencies. In some cases, the relevant water supply business is specifically enjoined to consider ESD in decision making. Some specific acts require ESD to be part of the objects of the operations of a water supply business. In addition to these requirements there is a willingness of water supply businesses to report on ecological footprint in annual reports and indeed private companies are also keen to report in response to vocal demands for companies to have a social license to operate. In the UK, all company Directors are bound to consider the impact of activities on the community and the environment. The Federal Government provided a definition of ESD, based on international sources and bodies such as local government that have voluntarily sought to bind themselves to this goal.

This study first established that there were approximately 333 water supply businesses in Australia with 14 different legal forms. 183 of the CEOs were then interviewed in relation to ESD as defined by the Commonwealth. The results show that CEOs were keen to implement ESD and considered it to be part of the social licence but were searching for understanding of the meaning of the Australian definition.

The interviewed CEOs were asked about their ability to achieve ESD, to rank the effort that they have put in to achieve it, and to identify the barriers to achieving their ESD objectives. The results indicate a pessimistic outlook in relation to ability to achieve ESD related to a lack of community cohesion and lack of co-ordination between government agencies.

The Pivots & Laterals course is designed for growers and managers who are considering to purchase, or who have purchased, centre pivot and lateral move irrigation systems.

Course Content
• Financial considerations
• Planning considerations
• Design considerations
• System performance
• Sprinkler packages
• Operational issues of CP&LM machines

Date: April 13 - 14, 2010 (starting at 9:00 am)
Location: Struan Research Centre
Cost: $450 (including GST)
FarmReady funding is available to eligible primary producers. Visit the website for further information.

Click on the link below to find out more.

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System harmonisation, teamwork, collaboration, participation and transparency were some of the main themes discussed at the recent Burdekin Water Forum in north Queensland.

The forum held on February 15 – 16, hosted by Burdekin Water Futures, brought together water resource stakeholders from across the nation to discuss the complex and difficult challenges being experienced by those involved in integrated water resources management.

International experts, Professor Shahbaz Khan (UNESCO, France) and Dr Ken Knox (URS Corporation, USA), set the scene during the Monday evening session with their opening addresses, highlighting international trends in irrigation and water management, and international groundwater challenges and initiatives.

Interactive discussions continued at the following day’s workshop, with a focus on the challenges being experienced within the different stakeholder sectors. Throughout the workshop it was evident that the different sectors within the catchment are linked and need to be considered as such when planning to manage water within a catchment context. Water resource planning and allocation, environmental needs, surface water supply, groundwater supply, farming enterprise operations and community water needs were all discussed, with a panel discussion on positioning for future prosperity bringing the forum to a close.

CRC IF System Harmonisation Program Leader, Dr Keith Bristow, the driving force behind the forum, was pleased with the outcome of the event and the progress the Burdekin has made in recent times. “The Burdekin catchment is a unique and complex system. It is important that government, industry and the community work together to take a whole-of-system approach in the management of its water, so that this resource is sustained into the future. Bringing stakeholders together in forums such as the Burdekin Water Forum, is an integral step in increasing knowledge and understanding, and highlighting the importance of working together to achieve the best for the region’s future,” explained Dr Bristow.

More information on the Burdekin Water Forum, its speakers and presentations, can be found at the link below.

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