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PDF file

• Sequential biological concentration - review (PDF - 1240 KB)

About this report

The institutional reforms of the Nation’s water industry of the past two decades have resulted in changes in approach to the management of drainage from irrigation farms. Farmers, irrigation companies and governments have instituted new ways to reduce the amounts of drainage water and accelerated actions for its reuse.

Whilst proven technologies such as drainage water recycling, tile (horizontal) drainage are being adopted on a much larger scale the basic problem of what to do with the saline water unfit for conventional crops has yet to be seriously addressed.

CSIRO has been to the forefront of research and development of new approaches for managing agricultural drainage waters and those from municipal treatment plants and rural industries, eg wineries. CSIRO Division of Land and Water laboratory at Griffith in collaboration with a number of local public and private entities from 1998 to 2001 conducted an experiment of a new approach to drainage and re-use under the title Sequential Biological Concentration for saline drainage water management in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

A series of reports on the SBC experiment were assembled and submitted to the Murrumbidgee Sustainable Development Committee, which in turn brought them to
the notice of the Murrumbidgee Valley Water Efficiency Feasibility Project or Pratt Water Project. The focus of the Pratt Water Project is on investment investigations that will improve water use efficiency and create water savings in the Murrumbidgee Valley.

The CSIRO as part of their studies scaled-up the results into a commercial-sized venture where a wide range of agricultural and related rural industries were assessed. Whilst conventional investment tools were applied the exercise was a desk-top one it nevertheless provided some valuable insights into the application of SBC at a commercial level. To assist in placing the findings of the work of CSIRO in a broader context and to provide guidance as to their possible application within the Pratt Water Project a review was commissioned of SBC. This report presents the findings of that review.

The primary objectives of this report into Sequential Biological Concentration are:

• Provide a contextual background to the work of CSIRO via a discussion of the National water reforms and the policies of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission.
• Review the literature on drainage water management and the research results of CSIRO experiments with a particular focus on the financial aspects.
• Advise on the potential locations for application of SBC as a management tool for drainage waters of the intensively irrigated areas of the Murrumbidgee Valley.