A new digital platform is helping Western Australian farmers take the guesswork out of water infrastructure planning. The Water Evaluation Platform (WEP) enables users to choose the most effective dam infrastructure strategy, based on their local climate, budget, and water needs.
The Platform is the result of two years of research and field trials at demonstration sites and was made possible through the WaterSmart Dams – Making Dams Work Again project. Led by the Grower Group Alliance (GGA), through the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, this project is a collaborative effort with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Western Australian grower groups, farmers, and the Centre for Water and Spatial Science at UWA.
The WEP is now live, free and publicly available to all for evaluating potential drought resilience solutions.
Key platform features include:
- Cost-benefit tools for specific catchment and water demand
- Determination of the ideal catchment surface and area for water needs
- Evaporation reduction strategies
- Evaluation of options for optimal dam size and performance
- Simulation of dam performance using historical local weather data, and more…
WaterSmart Dams Technical Lead Dr Nik Callow from UWA’s Centre for Water and Spatial Science said the WEP will help users assess their water security in a variety of ways, while understanding the costs and benefits of dam infrastructure investment.
“The WEP puts powerful modelling tools in the hands of growers and advisors to support evidence-based dam infrastructure planning and boost their dam’s performance,” Dr Callow said.
“It offers an expanded selection of surface catchment options that have been tested against real data and helps users choose the best strategy based on their climate, budget, and water needs.”
Farmers, consultants and advisors are encouraged to explore the WEP and see how it supports smarter planning, especially in dry seasons.
GGA Head of Projects Dr Daniel Kidd said the Platform is the result of an integrated effort between modellers, app developers, and water science expertise from UWA and DPIRD, supported by locally generated data from grower hosted demonstration sites funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
“Water security is an issue for many farming operations, and now there is a reliable way to help users review their catchments and dams to ensure they remain fit for purpose and offer innovative solutions to meet their future water demands,” Dr Kidd said.
“The WEP has been created with the support of four GGA Network member groups; Compass Agricultural Alliance in Darkan, Southern Dirt in Kojonup, Merredin and Districts Farm Improvement Group in Merredin, and the Fitzgerald Biosphere Group in Jerramungup, in collaboration with local growers, to gather data from demonstration sites across the Southwest of WA.
“Through these demonstration sites, project partners were able to evaluate the effectiveness of water capture approaches, such as lined catchments, evaporation reduction using dam covers and vegetated banks, and investigate how subsurface drainage can contribute to dam water supply in wet years.
“This locally generated data has helped ground truth the models to build the fit-for-purpose Platform, for Western Australian farmers, earthmoving contractors, and agricultural consultants.”
A suite of short videos and case studies will be released in coming weeks, with limited information sessions to follow, which will be hosted by local grower groups.
Explore the Water Evaluation Platform now: https://waterevaluationplatform.app/dam/
