Upper Haughton Water Balance Study (UHWBS)
The Upper Haughton grower’s project, funded by the Sugar Research and Development Corporation (SRDC), aims to improve the knowledge of growers and other agencies to understand and better manage groundwater.
This project is providing growers with valuable information, giving them considerable insight into the factors causing the ground water rise in the area.
At a recent steering committee meeting the group contemplated actions that they and other growers can take to minimise the loss of water to the underlying aquifer. Some examples are:
- Increase pressure in fluming by adjusting cup size or pumping rather than gravity feeding from channels.
- Altering the interval between irrigations depending on soil type and other circumstances. Increase awareness of water use by calculating water balance.
- Metering your irrigation water use.
- Use monitoring equipment such as lysimeters or enviroscans to better understand the hydrology of the profile.
- Use modelling such as “Water Sense” to fine tune the irrigation schedule.
- Use alternative irrigation methods such as drip or OHLP for greater control of irrigation water.
Andrew Durick of AGE Consultants uses the results to create models which are then presented and discussed at meetings. Data collection and interpretation is continuing and it is hoped that this information will give clear directions for future actions.