Modernising irrigation infrastructure, Victoria Australia
Date
2009-11
Authors
Oakes, Tony, author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
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Abstract
In response to more than a decade of sustained drought the Victorian State Government has embarked on a major infrastructure upgrade of the State's largest irrigation system. This two billion dollar investment program is being executed in two phases with the first phase, that represents A $1B focusing on improving the channel delivery systems and the second $1B focusing on farm system improvements. The primary focus of the investment is to improve the distribution efficiency and improve customer service with the first phase targeting annual water savings of 225,000 ML, which is the subject of this paper. These savings are to be equally shared between the environment, farmers via an increased allocation and an agriculture-to-urban transfer where 75,000 ML will be pumped into the Melbourne Urban system. The paper will provide background on the project and then a high level overview of the technical challenges in implementing around 6,000 in-system regulating gates and 15,000 farm meters.
Description
Presented at the fifth international conference on irrigation and drainage, Irrigation and drainage for food, energy and the environment on November 3-6, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah.