Reliable, modest-cost seepage and evaporation measurement for farm dams using 'EvapCalc'

Abstract

Faced with the diminishing availability of water for irrigation there exists an urgent need for reliable and affordable seepage and evaporation measurements for farm dams. ‘EvapCalc Software’ developed by the NCEA (a research centre of the University of Southern Queensland) within the CRC for Irrigation Futures ‘Farm Dam Evaporation Project’, achieves the required partitioning of non-consumptive water losses at modest instrumentation cost and at an adequate-to-high accuracy. Field experience to date indicates that the water balance technique using EvapCalc provides a useful and practical tool for highly accurate seepage and evaporation measurements for farm dams at a modest-cost.