Unlocking water resources to expand agriculture - Australian Water School
25/04/2024

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Unlocking water resources to expand agriculture

Case-studies from the Northern Adelaide Plains and remote Indigenous communities.

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About

We need to get smarter about how we maximise the use of our water resources. The global demand for more and better water has led water resource managers and scientists in Australia to develop a number of innovative cross-disciplinary assessment methods drawing from the fields of soil science, environmental chemistry, climate science, hydrogeology, hydrology, geophysics, remote sensing and spatial analysis.

In this webinar, two leading researchers working with the Goyder Institute for Water Research, discuss new approaches that have been successfully applied to assess the availability and potential use of surface water, groundwater and recycled water resources, in two case studies from South Australia: the extension of an irrigated agricultural area in the Northern Adelaide Plains using a range of water supply options; and the identification of groundwater resources in a data-poor arid region opening up development opportunities such as small-scale agricultural projects.

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Presenters

Dirk Mallants

CSIRO

Dirk is Senior Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Land & Water. He has a background in soil and groundwater hydrology with more than 25 years of experience in characterising and modelling wat... Read more
Dirk Mallants

Adrian Costar

DEW

Mr Adrian Costar is a Senior Hydrogeologist with the South Australian Department for Environment and Water. His background and experience is in the fields of hydrogeology and geophysics having worked ... Read more
Adrian Costar

Background:

This webinar will discuss two water resource management scenarios where targeted research conducted by the Goyder Institute for Water Research is unlocking the potential for economic development:

  1. Water resources on the Northern Adelaide Plains (NAP) in South Australia;
  2. Groundwater in Australia’s remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.

NAP: The Northern Adelaide Plains (NAP) is one of South Australia’s premier food producing regions, with fresh produce grown in the area worth over $250 million per annum. Growing global demand for food presents a large economic opportunity but requires greater certainty about water availability to support further investment and future agricultural expansion in the region.

APY Lands: A significant source of groundwater was discovered in this remote part of South Australia in 2018 as part of the Goyder Institute for Water Research’s Finding Long-term Outback Water Solutions (G-FLOWs) project, which provides opportunities for the local indigenous communities. Work has now begun mapping the size and shape of the resource using a variety of high-tech geophysical techniques. The aim of this collaborative and interdisciplinary G-FLOWS project is to evaluate the opportunities and constraints for groundwater resource development, to help future water resources planning, investment and management both in South Australia and beyond.

News article about the NAP project:

http://www.goyderinstitute.org/news/2019/research-to-support-the-sustainable-expansion-of-irrigated-agriculture-and-horticulture-in-the-northern-adelaide-plains-nears-completion/

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