ABN 75 951 271
684
Registered Office: Brolga Place, Coleambally
2707
Phone 02 6954 4003 - Fax 02
6954 4321
The Secretary,
Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
References Committee
Suite SG.62
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Re:
Inquiry into Rural Resource Usage
I wish to make the following brief statements relating
to the Coleambally Irrigation District (CID), and our rural community, in the
context of your Committees terms of reference.
- The CID
was established by the NSW Government in the 1960s associated with the
concluding stages of the Snowy Hydroelectric Scheme development. The
irrigation scheme is centred on the township of
Coleambally.
- The NSW
bulk water licence provides Coleambally Irrigation Co-operative Limited (CICL)
with access to 632,000 Ml of water, annually, subject to climate availability.
CICL uses this licence to provide services to 437 farms and to support a rural
community of approximately 2500 persons.
- The
bulk licence usage component contains approval to service 110,000 Ha of
intensively irrigated cropping land the supports livestock industries, broad
area cropping and specialty horticultural production. This use right is
supported by a land and water management plan (LWMP), which has operated
effectively since 1994, to provide a range of services to landholder
irrigators that promote sustainable farm management
practices.
- In
response to this LWMP the water usage history of the CID has progressively
declined, continually improved, and lead to the introduction of world class
water efficiency technologies (eg TCC and SCADA[1])
and more efficient cropping programs at the farm
level.
- There
are a number of optimising concepts are being pursued to further the adoption
of sustainable agricultural practices by irrigators. These concepts
include:
- The
replacement of instantaneous sampling metering devices with continuously
recording volumetric metering equipment in all open channel structures.
Particularly where water is supplied for consumptive
use.
- The
adoption of continuous monitoring of specific data, as opposed to generic
data, for the management and control of open channel waterways (river
operations). I.e. replacing manual systems with automatic systems that use
continuous automated intelligence and adaptive
learning.
- The
direct facilitation of crop changes from low value added to high value added
($/Ml) returns by introducing value added supply chain opportunities to
landholders in the form of partnerships or direct equity opportunities. (eg
CICLs purchase of Excello)
- The
adoption of long term planning models focused on infrastructure life (50 to
100 years) and real replacement costs to provide for intergenerational equity
and market pricing for irrigation water use.
Coleambally Irrigation can provide you with additional
information on each of the above concepts and additionally provide extant
examples of each optimising concept.
With regard to other matters, your committee may wish to
consider concurrently with these optimising concepts I highlight the following
issues for rural communities:
- The
provision of vital supporting infrastructure to enable water use efficiency
optimising initiatives to be implemented. For example, the needs of rural
communities that currently have access to water for natural gas pipelines to
provide efficient energy costs to support changes in water use
efficiency.
- Modern
medical facilities and trained doctors. These essential services are needed to
attract the skilled staff that is required to operate and service the above
optimising technologies and their associated changes (on farm and within the
rural community).
- Water
security and property rights in water that support and match the investment
horizons for technologies used on water infrastructure to provided the
necessary efficiency gains in consumptive use.
CICL currently provides a wide range of information on
the changes being made to rural water use and sustainable farming practices on
our web site www.colyirr.com.au I will be pleased to provide your
committee with additional information if requested.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Bramston
CEO