WaterWorks: a decision support tool for irrigation infrastructure decisions at farm level

Khan, Shahbaz and Chen, Charlie and Mushtaq, Shahbaz (2008) WaterWorks: a decision support tool for irrigation infrastructure decisions at farm level. In: 2008 Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting , 29 July - 1 Aug 2008, Cairns, Australia.

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Abstract

Increasing water scarcity, climate change and pressure to provide water for environmental flows urge irrigators to be more efficient. In Australia, ongoing water reforms and most recent National Water Security Plan offer incentives to irrigators to adjust their farming practices by adopting water saving irrigation infrastructures to match with soils, crop and climatic conditions. WaterWorks is a decision support tool to facilitate irrigators to make long and short term irrigation infrastructure investment decision at the farm level. It assists irrigators to improve the economic efficiency, water use efficiency and environmental performance of their farm businesses. The WaterWorks has been tested, validated and accepted by the irrigation community and reachers in NSW. The interface of WaterWorks is user-friendly and flexible. The simulation and optimisation module in WaterWorks provides an opportunity to evaluate infrastructure investment decisions to suit their seasonal or long-term water availability. The sensitivity analysis allows substantiating the impact of major variables. Net present value, internal rate of return, benefit cost ratio and payback period are used to analyse the costs and benefits of modern irrigation technology. Application of WaterWorks using a whole farm-level case study indicates its effectiveness in making long term and short term investment decisions. The WaterWorks can be easily integrated into commercial software such as spreadsheets, GIS, real time data acquisition and control systems to further enhance its usability. The WaterWorks can also be used in regional development planning

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Commonwealth Reporting Category E) (Poster)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	No evidence of copyright restrictions, publication or peer review status. Full papers were not published.
Faculty / Department / School:	Current - USQ Other
Date Deposited:	25 Oct 2011 02:08
Last Modified:	08 Dec 2015 00:14
Uncontrolled Keywords:	decision support tool; water management; seasonal and long term investment; optimisation; simulation; benefit-cost analysis; whole farm; water trading; water saving; modeling
Fields of Research :	14 Economics > 1499 Other Economics > 149999 Economics not elsewhere classified 05 Environmental Sciences > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090509 Water Resources Engineering
Socio-Economic Objective:	B Economic Development > 91 Economic Framework > 9199 Other Economic Framework > 919999 Economic Framework not elsewhere classified D Environment > 96 Environment > 9609 Land and Water Management > 960999 Land and Water Management of Environments not elsewhere classified
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/7587

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