Predicting Environmental Sustainability For
Proposed Irrigation Schemes
Author(s)
N. Norton, S. Dawson, B. Ellwood & L. Mead
Abstract
We have developed an innovative approach for predicting the environmental
sustainability of proposed irrigation schemes on rivers. There are three key
elements to this approach. First, the water resource potentially available to be
taken for out-of-stream use must be defined by setting a river flow regime that
sustains in-stream and other environmental values. Second, the capacity of the
environment to support intensified land-use must be evaluated, by predicting
effects on water quality and related values, and identifying ways to mitigate
adverse effects. Third, the predictions must be integrated in a way that allows
iterative adjustment of the proposal and assists decision-makers with the holistic
evaluation of positive and negative effects. We trialled the approach for a
proposed irrigation scheme that would divert 20 m3/s from the Waitaki River,
Canterbury, New Zealand, to irrigate 40,000 ha of pasture. This river has a mean
annual flow of 369 m3/s downstream of a large hydropower dam. Water is used
for irrigation and environmental flows, as well as electricity generation. Under
New Zealand legislation an assessment of environmental effects (AEE) is
required for proposals to use natural resources. Our team of scientists, engineers
and planners collaborated to prepare an AEE for the proposed irrigation scheme.
Predictive models were coupled in novel ways to achieve integration between the
technical disciplines. For the first time in New Zealand we were able to make
quantitative predictions of key cumulative effects at the catchment scale, of both
the water abstraction and the use of water for irrigation. The predictions were
integrated and the proposal adjusted to achieve a balance between the needs of
conflicting values. This approach should achieve better information about the
true environmental costs of alternative future water use scenarios and thus lead to
better decisions on the environmental sustainability of irrigation proposals.
Keywords: environmental impact assessment, irrigation management, river flow
regime, water quality, land use intensification.
Keywords
environmental impact assessment, irrigation management, river flow
regime, water quality, land use intensification.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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