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The WQ Pixel Project is an on-farm water quality monitoring support project working with irrigators from the Lower Burdekin and Bowen region. The project aims to:
140 growers are currently participating with approximately 500 sampling sites from participating farms. Sample sites include:
The WQ PIXEL Project is funded by NQ Dry Tropics NRM through Reef Rescue and by the Federal Government through Caring For Our Country. To find out the latest WQ Pixel Project news, click here to read our monthly newsletter, or have a look at the progress reports below. What do your water quality results mean? Click here to see the WQ PIXEL Report Card for growers. The first year of funding through BDTNRM has now finished, click here to read the Final Report.
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Project Reports
January 2009
The project has secured funding for an additional 80 kits through Reef Rescue (40 kits) and Caring for Our Country (CfoC) Open Grants (40 kits). The CfoC funding extends the project to the 30/11/09 with the Reef Rescue currently only funded until 30/6/09, but is likely to be extended with the next round of funding. BBIFMAC will also work in partnership with Growcom to provide 10 kits and support growers involved in the Integrated Management Practices project funded through CfoC Open Grants. Adam attended the initial stakeholder meeting for this project on the 8/1/09 to discuss the development of the project and BBIFMAC’s role.
The CfoC funding provides for 100 soil and pesticide tests. We are currently developing the procedures for these tests in consultation with ACTFR and BSES. It is likely the tests will be done by BBIFMAC staff to maintain consistency and accuracy between farms.
The final report for the WQ Pixel Project’s 2008 funding was submitted to BDTNRM by the due date of 1/12/08. It has been accepted and the final milestone payment was processed late last year. A summary of the report has been posted on the BBIFMAC website.
New kits have been purchased and are starting to be distributed to growers that have registered interest in the project. We will begin promoting the project to growers and industry during January to raise further interest.
BBIFMAC will be holding interviews next week for a Project Support Officer for the WQ Pixel Project. The PSO will support Jude to expand the project and develop the school education program.
The project is now running at full capacity with 60 growers actively involved. Sample collections have increased with the warmer weather resulting in more frequent irrigations from growers. We have had almost 800 samples go through the lab since March 2008 with over 150 sites being regularly monitored across the Lower Burdekin.
The general trend has seen nitrate levels across the region remaining fairly low over the past few months, with a rise in the level of phosphate since harvesting began in June, particularly in the Delta area. Overall water quality has been fairly good in most run-off samples with only a few samples showing excessive levels of nitrate or phosphate.
The second WQ Pixel Project Info Session was held on Monday 27th October at the Queens Hotel Tuscan Room. It was well attended with nearly a third of participating growers attending. Five industry representatives also attended. The session was aimed at informing growers of the results from the last 8 months of sampling and identified areas of concern. Several specific grower examples were presented and discussed.
Some of the topics discussed included:
- Area results for nitrate and phosphate levels in groundwater, farm run-off and local creek sites
- Comparison of nitrate levels in irrigation run-off from different fertiliser types and application methods
- Grower access to secure online results from the BBIFMAC website
- Accessing area and creek results from the website
- Using the WQ Report Card on the BBIFMAC website to evaluate irrigation run-off
- Evaluation of the accuracy of the local lab compared to JCU's ACTFR lab
- Future directions for the WQ Pixel Project
- The growing interest in the WQ Pixel Project across Australia and Internationally
- Examples of specific outcomes from grower monitoring such as:
- Rainfall run-off results from recently fertilised paddocks
- Water quality results from a GCTB paddock
- the effectiveness of a thorough monitoring regime
- calculation of groundwater nitrate levels for reduction of applied fertiliser
- water quality results from an alternative crop
Funding has been secured for the WQ Pixel Project through Reef Rescue for the period of January 2009 - June 2009. After June 2009 the effectiveness of the program will be evaluated and, if successful, funding will continue for 4 more years. The new funding will provide 40 new kits to Burdekin and Bowen farmers and support 2 full time staff members.
Jude and Adam visited Maidavale State School recently to educate the students on the importance of water quality in the local area. The students participated in a hands-on demonstration, where they were taught how to monitor water quality using simple techniques. The school was provided with a modified test kit, similar to those given to growers, which will allow students to monitor the local lagoon and the school's bore water on a weekly basis. BBIFMAC will provide ongoing support to the school by collecting samples for lab analysis and interpreting results. BBIFMAC hopes to reach more Lower Burdekin and Bowen schools in the future to educate students on the importance of good water quality and its effect on the local and wider environment.
Maidavale Principal John Eade has informed us that another 3 schools would be interested in participating in BBIFMAC's educational program - Millaroo, Osborne and Gumlu. Peter Arthofer from BDTNRM has also indicated that several Bowen schools are interested in participating in the program.
September 2008
The project is running well with the majority of growers taking regular water samples from their farms. We are looking at recovering a few kits from farms that are changing owners, and redistributing these kits to growers on our waiting list. We currently have 5 growers waiting for kits.
Applications were submitted for the WQ Pixel Project to Caring for Our Country. A proposal was submitted to Open Grants to expand the project to 100 growers and incorporate Bowen. This proposal also included pesticide and soil testing for growers along with a pH and water hardness testing kit for mixing chemicals. We also submitted a backup proposal to Community Coastcare Grants for continuation of the project as it currently stands.
Jude put together a Community Coastcare Grants proposal for a Community Creek Monitoring Project, which will look at evaluating the health of the local creeks, and involving the community and schools. The project will fit in well with the Pixel project, providing an excellent evaluation of the major creeks in the Lower Burdekin with several different locations being monitored for each creek. This will allow us to identify water quality hotspots, and focus on improving farming practices within those areas through the Pixel project and other industry projects. The proposal also involves a training volunteers in water quality monitoring along with a comprehensive school education package. This will allow us to provide educational kits to every primary school in the Lower Burdekin.
Adam and Jude attended the 11th International Riversymposium in Brisbane from the 1st-4th September. There were some excellent presentations on the NRM work being done around the world and it was also a good networking opportunity. The WQ Pixel Project was presented on the Tuesday morning by Adam. Adam and Jude also attended a training workshop on effective stakeholder engagement, partnership development and capacity building approaches for river and wetland health. Adam was a facilitator for the workshop, along with Brad Lewis (formerly a facilitator for the Australian Government) and Kathleen Shurcliff from Terrain NRM. Adam also presented the WQ Pixel Project, explaining the methods used to engage and build the capacity of growers and build partnership within the industry. The feedback from the session was excellent and many of the participants commented that it was the most informative session they attended at the Symposium.
The website has been developing well and is almost complete. Jude has been working hard to get all the information from our various projects up. The Pixel project individual grower login pages are now being constructed and will be accessible to growers by next week. This will allow growers to login securely on the BBIFMAC website and access their individual water quality results.
We participated in the video recording of farming practices for the Burdekin by Henry Thomas. Avril Robinson was coordinating the project. Adam explained the Pixel project, and two of the growers, Brian Strathdee and Denis Pozzebon volunteered to demonstrate the use of the kits. This was recorded on video and should be released via the internet later in the year.
Henry also recorded sessions featuring Chris Hesp and the EAI project and Russell Jordan and the UHWBS project.
Jude attended the AACC Open Day on the 23rd August and displayed the WQ Pixel Project. There was interest shown from growers that attended and Jude also explained the project to others that attended.
The rain event at the end of July slowed the number of samples being collected by growers, with most growers holding off irrigations for the following month. However, we are now collecting a large number of samples as growers are starting to get into a regular irrigation routine with the warmer weather. Due to the high number of samples collected over the past 2 weeks and the expectation for this to continue for the next few months we have had to purchase more equipment for the lab to keep up with the sample analyses.
With the increase in the number of samples coming from recently fertilised paddocks, we are starting to see some elevated results for nitrate. However, some of the fertilised sites are showing low levels of nitrate, which is a promising result. We are collecting the fertiliser information from growers for these sites so we can evaluate the efficiency of the different fertiliser types and methods. There is a lot of interest from growers for this information.
We have also seen some elevated phosphate levels coming from recently harvested paddocks, in particular a few green cane trash blanketed paddocks. We will continue to evaluate these results as more come in over the following months and provide feedback to growers.
July 2008
We have now given out all 60 monitoring kits, with more growers showing interest. It is positive that many of our newest participants heard about the project through recommendations and word of mouth. Nearly 500 water samples have now been collected and analysed in the lab.
The latest results were presented at an info session on the 30th May after the BBIFMAC general meeting, which was well attended.
Results so far have shown:
Run-off nutrient levels have remained low in the majority of samples, although we are starting to see elevated levels from a few fertilised farm sites and also the Barratta Creek site.
- Growers are recording their fertiliser application method, timing, type and rate.
- It is too early to tell if there are any patterns emerging, so we will have to wait and see. A few growers have taken samples from this week’s rain run-off and the test strip results have been quite interesting.
We are now testing the phosphate samples unfiltered at both ACTFR and the MAFIA Lab. Both ACTFR and the MAFIA lab are recording similar results for both nitrate and phosphate.
I will be presenting the WQ Pixel Project at the River Symposium in the first week of September. Jude and I have also been invited to be facilitator and give a presentation for an intensive training workshop at the Symposium called:
“Effective Stakeholder Engagement, Partnership Development and Capacity Building Approaches for River and Wetland Health”.
It is being organised by Brad Lewis from the Australian Government NRM Team.
The website is now up and running. Although still incomplete, it contains basic information about BBIFMAC, such as staff profiles and how to become a member. We are now working to fill it with up to date project information, and the password protected results section for the Pixel project participants. The next step will be encouraging growers to log on.
I am currently working on a proposal to Caring for Our Country Open Grants for funding to continue and expand the scope of the Pixel project. Ideas so far include:
- Expansion of the project to incorporate Bowen growers
- Increasing the number of kits from 60 to 100
- Chemical Testing
- Water Hardness and pH testing for efficient mixing of chemicals, and
- Soil Testing
Jude has been working on a proposal for the Community Coastcare grants. The project will look at ambient monitoring of 35 sites from 10 local creeks in the Lower Burdekin on fortnightly basis. This will tie in well with the Pixel project by closely evaluating the health of local creeks and identifying hotspots for water quality issue. These hotspots can then be addressed through involvement of growers in the Pixel project.
There will also be a lot of community involvement with the project including:
- Water quality kits, training and education packages for Lower Burdekin schools.
- A BBIFMAC member of staff will visit local schools to educate students on environmental issues in the Lower Burdekin region and each child will receive an educational showbag
- Schools will also receive a modified water quality monitoring kit.
- Bi-monthly community field days, where participants will receive hands-on training in water quality monitoring and wetland health, and
- The chance for volunteers to assist BBIFMAC staff with water quality monitoring of local creeks.
May 2008
We have 41 growers now involved in the project, with 300 water samples collected from over 120 sites since February.
Highlights of the project have included a bus trip to Ingham 03/04/08 where Burdekin growers participated in the launch of the field guide for Water Quality Monitoring in the Australian Sugar Industry. The day, organised by SRDC and Canegrowers, included presentations of the water quality monitoring projects being undertaken in North Queensland, with a presentation by Adam Connell on the WQ Pixel Project.
Adam and Jude gave a presentation and demonstration of the project for the ASSCT conference, during their field trip to the Burdekin, with keen interest shown in the project amongst participants.
The project has been accepted for a presentation at the 11th International Riversymposium in Brisbane in September. This will help to promote the project to the International community and benefit the Burdekin region.
The project has been a feature of several media articles recently, including several articles in the Canegrowers Magazine and the NQ Register.
The BBIFMAC website is nearing completion and the WQ Pixel Project will be a major feature of the site, allowing growers to access their water quality data online. Most growers have expressed their interest in using the site once completed.
Grower’s attitudes have been mostly positive toward the project and this has been shown by the number of samples collected so far. Several growers have used the kits to monitor water quality on farm sites not included in the scope of the project, indicating acceptance of the kits as a management tool.
Burdekin Christian College approached us to purchase a water quality monitoring kit from an environmental grant. We also visitied the school and talked to the students about water quality monitoring, handed out the Nutrients, Catchments and Reef booklets, and taught the students how to use the kits with an interactive demonstration. The students will use the kit to monitor sites around the school and at a local cane farm.
The Barrier Reef TAFE will also be using a kit for training students in a water sampling subject. The students will use the kit to monitor ponds on site as well as the local effluent discharge facility.
BBIFMAC officers have been monitoring 5 local creeks on a fortnightly basis to give an indication of ambient water quality levels in the local environment. This aims to give growers a baseline level for the area and also an indication of the overall effect of their practices on the local environment.
Results from the project are starting to form an impressive picture. Although it is still early in the project we are seeing that the majority of farmers are recording low levels of nutrients in their run-off water. Groundwater has been interesting, with some areas showing elevated levels. In some cases this has allowed growers to consult with BSES extension officers and may lead to reduced levels of fertiliser being applied to their crops in the future.
Run-off nutrient levels have remained low in the majority of samples, with only a few instances where high levels have been recorded. These include a paddock with unincorporated mill mud, and a paddock with an unincorporated legume crop. These results may prove to be useful tools for future management practices.
The conductivity meters have also proved very useful to some participants, being used as a tool to quickly and accurately mix salty groundwater with channel water.
Bryce, Adam and Jude attended a 2 day intensive training workshop at BDTNRM for the newly developed monitoring and evaluation program being used for the Pixel Project. The M&E program is the first to be used for a natural resources project and the Pixel Project is being used as the ‘guinea-pig’ to evaluate its effectiveness. BDTNRM were happy with our progress so far and the training session provided a good opportunity to discuss any issues associated with the project.
There have been a few hurdles arising with the lab analysis of the samples, particularly with the phosphate analysis. Samples containing soil particles have been showing elevated levels of phosphate, due to the bound phosphate reacting in the analysis. We have been working closely with Sonya Hesp and have devised an easy filtering technique to rectify the problem.
March 2008
Since the launch of the project Adam and Jude have done 23 initial farm visits, which includes handing out the water quality monitoring kits and hands-on training, as well as selecting suitable sites for sampling. We have approximately 40 growers on our contacts list and most are expected to start participating in the project by the end of the month. Feedback from growers has been very positive, although the recent wet weather has slowed the initial progress of the project. Now irrigation has resumed on farms, samples are being collected and results will start to be collated. When it is dry enough to permit access, the GPS points of all sampling sites on participating farms will be collected to allow GIS mapping.
Media releases include
- an article and advert in the Ayr Advocate and Home Hill Observer within the Burdekin Grower feature on the 21st and 22nd February.
- the NQ register on the 7th February.
- the Cangrower Magazine on the 18th February.
- the Burdekin BSES newsletter for March, with a distribution to 1400 people in the Burdekin community.
- the February Burdekin Canegrowers newsletter, with a distribution of 500.
A 15 minute presentation was done at the Focus on Water Workshops, held at the Queens Hotel, Ayr on the 12th February and the Clare Club, Clare on the 14th February. A 30 minute presentation was given to the Women In Sugar Group on the 6th March with a hands-on demonstration. The project has also been promoted by various people at the BSES/BPS CPI meetings held throughout the district over the last few weeks.
The first water samples were collected on Monday 10th March and taken to the Hesp lab for analysis. The lab is ready to go and can start analysing samples as soon as they come in. We aim to collect samples 1 day a week for the moment and once we have 60 growers involved we will probably need to make it 2 days a week to get around to all the farms.
A database has been setup using Microsoft Access to store individual grower data and analyse the region’s water quality results. We are also gathering information on fertilisation practices to help with our analysis of water quality on farms.
Growers will have access to their individual farm data through a secure online website currently under construction. A password specific login will be provided for growers to keep their specific data confidential. General data for the project will also be available for public viewing through the BBIFMAC website once constructed.
Sugar Industry Water Quality Monitoring Guide
The Water Quality Monitoring Guide, designed by Jude, will be released by Canegrowers and the SRDC on the 3rd April. There will be a launch day held in the Ingham area on the 3rd April and we aim to take a bus along with any interested growers. The day will include a workshop, presentations, a field trip and barbeque at Macknade Bowls Club. . BBIFMAC will receive 100 copies of the guide. All growers involved with the WQ Pixel Project will be given a copy of the guide when it is released.
Grower Results Login
What do your water quality results mean? Click here to see the WQ Pixel Report Card for growers.