Inflo eNewsletter

From the CEO's desk - March

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

Contacts:
Mr Ian Atkinson