Informing future irrigation and water management at the Ord River, Western Australia

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:54:01 +0000

This project will synthesis opportunities afforded and resources required to pursue accreditation as a HELP basin through lessons learned from other Australian HELP basins, including the Murrumbidgee and Lower Burdekin. Results will be presented to stakeholders in the Ord Catchment to determine local interest in pursuing accreditation.

IDs and People

Program:

National Program for Sustainable Irrigation

Research Type:

Research Project

Research Scale:

Catchment

LWA Project Code:

BRO005191

Researchers:

Anna Price

Subjects

Subjects:

Water (General)

Keywords:

Future

irrigation

Water

Management

Ord

River

Western

informing

Project Information

Outcomes:

Accreditation proposal for the Ord Catchment to join the UNESCO-IHP HELP initiative if the Ord Catchment Community, through this project, deems that accreditation will help deliver significant benefits.
Defined opportunities for funding and collaboration including increased understanding of the key mechanisms and drivers for funding and successful collaboration for the Ord Catchment.
A brief on benefits and support requirements for UNESCO-IHP HELP accreditation that can be made available to other catchments and the program itself.
Key knowledge gained fed back to the key stakeholders interviewed as part of the scoping phase as well as other catchments where deemed beneficial.

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Background

Project Background:

In many parts of Australia there are extensive gaps between community aspirations and scientific research, particularly in regional and remote areas that are geographically separated from decision making centres. These areas often have large natural resource bases that offer substantial development opportunities, particularly in agriculture and irrigation, but limited capacity to plan and manage the optimal sustainable utilisation and development of these resources. None more evident than the abundant water resources that exist in parts of northern Australia in comparison to the current and increasing water scarcity in many other parts.

The Ord Catchment is particularly pertinent because the water resources that have been harvested are only partially utilised with existing plans to expand irrigation in the area. This situation is unusual in Australia and the opportunities to learn how to better manage existing water use and incorporate updated knowledge into planning for expansion of irrigation are unmatched anywhere else in Australia.

Aims:

The aims of these interviews is to investigate and quantify:

the funding opportunities achieved through accreditation
opportunities for local, national and international collaboration, created through accreditation
assistance in developing research direction and opportunities to bridge the gap between water law and policy experts, water resource managers and water scientists and facilitate the free flow of the latest information
accreditation management requirements.

From this visit a summary brief will be prepared. This will form the basis for the brief to be discussed with key stakeholders in the Ord Catchment and will define:

potential benefits to Catchments in becoming accredited with the UNESCO-IHP HELP program
identify particularly pertinent benefits to the Ord Catchment through its remote location and unique resource base
key avenues to successfully using the UNESCO-IHP HELP network to generate funding and collaboration.

This document will be circulated for review by the key individuals involved in the UNESCO-HELP program and those involved in the initial interviews.

Resources

External Links:

Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy Website

Irrigation Futures for the Murray

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:30:06 +0000

The Murray Darling Basin (MDB) irrigation sector is facing several issues including over-allocation, droughts, decreased water supply and changed reliability of water. This project aims to engage with key stakeholders/policy makers to get them to identify a few of the key policy questions regarding water trading, carry-over rules and spatial optimisation under different flow regimes (historic, dry, medium and wet) and identify relevant policy mechanisms critical for a sustainable irrigation sector in the MDB.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Program Theme:

Innovation Call

LWA Project Code:

CLW005036

Host Organisation:

CSIRO Land and water

Researchers:

Ejaz Qureshi

Subjects

Subjects:

Innovation

Irrigation

Keywords:

irrigation

murray darling basin

Current Activities

Status:

Pending

Location

State & NRM Region:

National

All in irrigation

Informing future irrigation and water management at the Ord River, Western Australia

Irrigation Futures for the Murray