Role:
Broad acre (sugarcane, cotton, cereal, lucerne, maize, chickpeas, sunflowers, sorghum, peanuts),
Horticulture (bananas, citrus, mangoes, tomatoes, pawpaws, avocados, tobacco, tea trees, coffee, grapes, stone fruits, custard apples, capsicums, eggplant, rockmelons, squash, pumpkins, watermelon)
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Coverage:
Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland typically north of the Tropic of Capricorn; including the Bundaberg, Emerald, Proserpine, Burdekin, Mareeba-Dimbulah (Qld), Daly (NT), Kununurra and Carnarvon (WA) regions |
Issues:
The tropical zone is characterised by strongly monsoonal weather patterns, distinct wet and dry periods which are highly reliable, large quantities of rain and high intensity rainfall, high temperatures, and high rates of energy transformation. These have all combined to produce unique ecological systems, opportunities and challenges in the tropics.
Issues of particular importance to be addressed within the tropical zone include:
Irrigation within a catchment context, including the need to understand likely long-term impacts of current and changed irrigation management practices, particularly on social, cultural and economic systems
Water availability, water storage requirements, environmental flow requirements. Although there are large rainfall events in the tropics that does not mean that water is necessarily available when it is needed for irrigation. The sustainable use of groundwater systems as water storages in areas where there are no or limited numbers of dams will need particular attention, as will the role of cultural water in overall water management
Development of a holistic understanding of tropical groundwater systems; their key hydrogeological features, and how best to set and meet water table targets (both quantity and quality)
The advantages / disadvantages of irrigation mosaics involving patches of irrigation of various sizes distributed across the landscape. The questions include if and where should irrigation be allowed, what should tropical irrigation systems look like, and how should they be managed ?
The need to understand and manage all three forms of salinity; dryland salinity which affects water supply; irrigation salinity which affects on- and off-site impacts; and sea water intrusion on coastal floodplains which affects groundwater quality and supplies and land productivity
The general lack of human resources and particular concern about the lack of diversity in research capability
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What's New:
- Feature Paper: Reducing Evaporation Losses
- TECHNICAL REPORT: Investment in Irrigation Technology: Water Use Change, Public Policy and Uncertainty
- From the CEO's Desk - May
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Stakeholders:
Indigenous and other local communities
Commonwealth, State, Territory and Local governments
NRM Regional Bodies
Fisheries and tourism
Agricultural industries
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Projects:
- Irrigation Futures of the Goulburn Broken Catchment
- An evaluation of the Corporate Governance arrangements of Australian Irrigation Water Providers
- Northern Australia Irrigation Futures
- The Sustainability Challenge
- The Irrigation Industry and the Living Murray
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Media Releases:
- Boost for farm dams
- Irrigators save water by SMS technology
- Improving knowledge about water in Australia's north
- Irrigation mosaics – do they have a role in northern Australia?
- Media Briefing on drought
- Sustainability Specialist joins Northern Australia Irrigation Futures Project
- CRC focuses on the sustainability challenge for irrigation
- A Challenge to share water knowledge
- Alternative water sources may hold the key to ongoing sustainability for horticulture
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Events:
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Workshops:
- Annual Research Forum 2008 - Presentations
- Annual Research Forum 2008 - Poster Session
- Annual Research Forum 2007
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Irrigation Toolkits:
- irriGATEWAY - development server for new irrigation tools
- WaterSense - a web tool for irrigation management
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Training:
- Irrigation TBL - Sustainability reporting for urban irrigation
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