Options for alternative irrigation water supplies in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia : a case study of the Shepparton Irrigation Region

Andrea Smith, Basant L. Maheshwari

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    7 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Irrigated agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) currently faces serious challenges due to water scarcity, degradation of water quality, waterlogging and salinity resulting from inappropriate water and land use practices. In particular, there is now increasing risk of water quality degradation due to nutrient rich drainage water in the river system. Therefore, the future of irrigation will depend on the strategies that protect water quality and make best use of water available in the Basin. In this paper, we examine various options that irrigators have to augment water supplies on their farms using the Shepparton Irrigation Region (SIR), Victoria, as a case study. Here, we also discuss the suitability of the 'Drainage Water Storage Scheme' (DWSS) in providing additional water supplies to irrigators and in reducing the risk of water quality degradation due to flow of nutrient rich runoff into Basin's river systems.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)41-55
    Number of pages15
    JournalAgricultural Water Management
    Volume56
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2002

    Keywords

    • Shepparton Region
    • Victoria
    • irrigation water
    • storage
    • water
    • water quality management
    • Water quality and nutrient runoff
    • On-farm water storage
    • Water supply options

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