Water for Future: A civil war in the corner

As demand for water hits the limits of finite supply, potential conflicts are brewing between nations that share transboundary freshwater reserves. Look at the global climate change and sudden hysteria of action towards sustainable agriculture. Need of the hour is to balance the action towards need for drinking, luxury and food security. There is a long way to go to provide a sustainable way for urban and rural water distribution. The Future Irrigation – Practice and Technology program is focused on providing the leadership and capacity to capture, develop and promote new irrigation practices, technologies and management systems to ensure the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the urban, peri-urban and rural irrigation sectors.

Generating new insights into practiceNew information on innovative irrigation management practices has been developed. Within the Improving the Precision of Irrigation project, the use of partial rootzone drying and regulated deficit irrigation practices have been assessed in crops from pears to cotton. The Open Hydroponics project has examined the intensive, innovative horticultural management practice which uses almost continuous irrigation with nutrient enriched water. The irrigation and nutrition management principles used by open hydroponics systems can be efficient but the level of efficiency is directly linked to the implementation of good management. A preliminary ecological risk assessment identified several major risks to sensitive catchments from open hydroponics. The Improving the Precision of Irrigation project is developing the tools and frameworks for assessing and determining the importance of crop variation across the paddock. Based on this, the potential of adapting irrigation systems to deliver variable rate irrigation applications can be assessed within both biophysical and profitability frameworks.

Tools for improving performanceAs the value of water increases, growers and advisors are being asked to understand and manage their irrigation storage and distribution systems with greater precision. New tools are required to support these decisions. The Improving the Precision of Irrigation project has provided an economic ready reckoner to assist irrigators evaluate alternative evaporation reduction strategies for on-farm water storages. At the farm level, the project has delivered a tool for choosing the optimal irrigation system for dairy farms. In the paddock, tools have been developed for improving grower management of centre pivots and lateral move irrigation machines and refining performance of travelling gun irrigation machines.