Managing your on-farm water
Information & Resources from a Community Workshop
‘Managing your on-farm water’ workshops were held in Esperance, Cranbrook and Williams on the 17th, 19th and 20th of September 2019. These workshops were delivered by South Coast NRM on behalf of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), in partnership with the Gillamii Centre and Peel-Harvey Catchment Council.
Below are copies and links to the information presented at the workshops and further resources and reading.
Presentations
John Ruprecht – Western Land & Water Consulting – Surface Water Management
Henry Hamilton – PCT – Implementation of Surface Water Management
Resources
Land Drainage and the Soil and Land Conservation Act
This website has many useful resources related to water management including access to a Notice of Intent to Drain form
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/soil-salinity/land-drainage-and-soil-and-land-conservation-act
Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914
https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/law_a700.html
Water Management
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-land-water/water/water-management
Surface Water Management
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/ water-erosion/surface-water-management
Review of Inland Drainage Research (2003 – 2015) Prepared by GHD for the Department of Water
GeoScience Australia – National Surface Water Information
Access to free elevation data
https://elevation.fsdf.org.au/
Follow the instructions on the website to download the required data. You can use QGIS (see below) to generate a contour map.
PLEASE NOTE: this data should only be used for broad level planning as it is unknown when the data was collected, how it has been interpolated and stitched together, and sometimes excludes information.
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions – NatureMap – mapping Western Australia’s biodiversity
Free mapping resources – QGIS
https://qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html (this will give you options of downloads depending on your computers operating system)
https://www.qgis.org/en/site/ (official website to QGIS, this has an active community that assists new users via their forums)
https://docs.qgis.org/3.4/en/docs/training_manual/index.html (Official user manual)
Appropriate grass options for drainage
We recommend you consult with the attached document and contact Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to talk to a pastures expert Esperance (08) 9083 1111, Albany (08) 9892 8444 or Narrogin (08) 9881 0222
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/pasture-establishment/perennial-pastures-western-australia
General tips on species selection. Species selected for vegetation cover should be appropriate and able to endure the range of operating conditions:
form dense ground cover with few gaps;
not form clumps or barriers to water movement;
generally less than 20 cm tall;
self seeding; and
suit the soil, water conditions and climate.
Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture in Western Australia
Agroforestry: realizing the triple bottom line benefits of trees in the landscape
https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP185003&dsid=DS4
Soil conservation earthworks design manual.
https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=pubns
Water Use of trees and shrubs in Mediterranean Climates in Southern Australia_1998
https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/98-063.pdf
These workshops have been made possible through investment by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and South Coast NRM wish to thank them for their support.
Supported by –
