Water management on Farms
February 9th 2007 07:26
Broad acre dams - can they be improved?
There is never one answer to the questions related to watering crop and stock on farm. We are a diverse nation with diverse needs. Our continent ranges from tropical jungle to desert. Rainfall varies from thousands of millimeters to one or two hundred every few years. Farming practices range from irrigation, stations using the artesian basin (water stored underground) and those who must rely solely on what falls directly from the skies. How does one make a policy for all Australians when there is such diversity?
For the broad acre farmer, more are using troughs for their stock and pipes from one place to another are well established. Many farmers have found ways of creating drainage systems to best capture the water during run-off. But little work has been done on improving dams or establishing other means of storage of run-off from paddocks to best avoid evaporation. Perhaps there is a place for research in such things as the placement of trees in the vicinity of the dams, or are we ready for large shade cloths?!
A nostalgic windmill
In the area of intensive agriculture where irrigation becomes part of the story, there are many concerns. Storage is not the issue as these farmers know they have a finite resource to pump from the river source, as they are supposedly allocated a certain amount from the authorities with which to work their farms. This is what a lot of the fuss is about between the States that rely of the Murray/Darling river system. All believe that those upstream from them have been allocated too much, and State Governments are not brave enough to work it out themselves. Hence the Federal Government has felt a need to step in. (That’s what I understand anyway). While many farmers are using very efficient drip systems to minimize water usage, it would appear, if we are to believe the experts there are gross inefficiencies in the actual delivery of the water to the farms. Open channels creating more evaporation, leaking channels and pipes and tampering with the gauges at the pumps from the main water flow (farmers are sometimes as greedy as the rest of the community!) are all problems. Also of major concern is the assumption that with irrigation we can grow anything - so water hungry crops such as rice and cotton – to name only two- are grown in areas where they should never have been.
There is no either/or when it comes to the question of whether we should be spending money on improving water delivery and storage or finding ways to stem the climate change. It is simple. Both need our attention – and fast. Ten billion dollars is a start for the water problems – it may not be enough, but let’s get that spent properly and efficiently first and then if more is needed well more will have to be given –it’s as serious as that.
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