Developing water sharing plans that are comprehensive, rigorous and equitable requires sound scientific and technical knowledge. With competition for water increasing, it is important to understand patterns of water use and to ask where the opportunities are for water savings, and how can water be ‘best’ distributed to meet a range of needs? Answering these questions requires information about how much water is being used by different land use types at the catchment scale.
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a fundamental component of the catchment water balance, with approximately 90% of total precipitation falling in Australia returning to the atmosphere through ET. Several ground-based methods exist for measuring ET however, they are designed for use at a local scale, and unable to provide estimates at a catchment or planning scale.
A recent study funded by the National Water Commission, has used remote sensed ET data at a number of different regional and local scales to investigate how it can inform water planning and management in Australia. The results of this work revealed that remote sensing provides estimates of ET that can assist in determining regional water use while also understanding local scale influences. Remote sensing information can be used to assess the amount of water used by different land uses at different times, as well as predicting the effect of likely changes in land use (for example, annual to perennial crops) on water use.
There will be a workshop on this topic at the International Riversymposium where two fact sheets developed by the National Water Commission and the ARRC will be released. For more see our New Information and Knowledge Page…
Siwan
Tags: Evapotranspiration, Fact sheets, Irrigation, National Water Commission, Remote sensing technology, Tools, Water management, Water planning, Water use efficiency, Workshop
Information and knowledge management, News, Resources | Siwan Lovett | 
24 September 2010 10:11 am | 
Comments Off
In a bold move the International Riversymposium team has bravely left Brisbane to host the event in Perth! I applaud this initiative, as river protection, restoration and management is happening all around Australia and it is great to have the opportunity to attract people with a new location.
I am particularly excited about the Riversymposium this year, as it is my first as one of the domestic Riverprize judges – what an honour this is as we get down to our final round of judging. I have been so impressed with the quality of applications, and am heartened and thrilled to see so much great work going on in our river, creeks, wetlands and waterways. I encourage anyone who can, to get to Perth, I will be presenting a paper, as well as running a few workshops with Natalie Baker from the International River Foundation on ‘connecting through conversation’ and ‘knowledge sharing’. I look forward to seeing you there! For more information click here.
Siwan
Thanks to Twitter (yet again) I was alerted to this amazing web site called I count for my earth and videos on water. The video is called “Tapped” and covers everything from chemicals (including endocrine disrupting chemicals) in the water, to the amount of landfill created each year by plastic bottles used for selling drinking water. From plastic bottle production to the public’s right for water – this video has it all. Even though it is a US based site it is well worth a look.
After ploughing my way through this site I thought it was important to revisit a major piece of research undertaken by Land & Water Australia (LWA) on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Australian Riverine Environment by M Williams, M Woods, A Kumar and R Kookana. This report looks at evidence of endocrine disruption in wildlife populations, including skewed sex ratios, abnormal development of gonads and reproductive failure in exposed populations of aquatic organisms. Of particular interest are compounds including steroidal hormones, alkylphenols (degradates of non-ionic surfactants), phthalates (“plasticisers”), pesticides and organometals that have endocrine disrupting potency. This research is now being continued by CSIRO and was one of the fascinating papers presented at the recent ‘Knowledge for managing Australian landscapes‘ conference.
Nerida
Full and partial-tuition scholarships are now available for Australian and international students to study International WaterCentre’s Master of Integrated Water Management (Australia)
- Full tuition scholarships – AU$39,960
- Partial tuition scholarships
- Scholarships open May 1 – August 1
The program equips students with the integration, leadership and managerial skills to become part of an elite group of water leaders with sustainable and holistic solutions to global water and climate change challenges. The Master of Integrated Water Management is custom-designed and taught by leading practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines from International WaterCentre (IWC) member universities. For more information click here.
Over the next few months we will be bringing you a series of posts on publications produced by Land & Water Australia over the last 20 years. We would really like to highlight some of the wonderful work undertaken and tell you about the publications which provide the detail of this work.
Richard Stirzaker’s Out of the Scientist’s Garden is a true classic and was funded through Land & Water Australia. A few months ago Richard opened his garden up to the public through the Australian Open Gardens scheme and I got to see his work first hand. I was in complete awe of his ability to provide a food supply for a whole family from an ordinary suburban block in Canberra. Also I managed to purchase an autographed copy of Richard’s book. Read more »
