Sustainability Indicator for the Coleambally Irrigation System

Amgad ELMAHDI, CSIRO LAND AND WATER
Hector Malano, Mleb. Univ
Shahbaz Khan, CSIRO land and water

Abstract

Abstract An indicator defined as a function of the total water diversion through the Coleambally canal and the potential irrigation demand is selected to represent the sustainability of the irrigation water system in the Coleambally irrigation area, Australia. A simulation procedure was developed to evaluate the indicator. The procedure includes water diversion assessment, potential crop water demand and total gross margin.

Three cases of water supply options (ground water pumping and water trading), two cases of changes in the total agricultural area and three cropping pattern scenarios were simulated to better understand their impact on sustainability. The simulated results indicate that increasing the agricultural area will reduce the sustainability of the irrigation system as the demand will be more than 80 percent despite increase the gross margin. The scenarios shown that imposed water trading and ground water pumping would considerably increase the supply system having a positive impact on the sustainability. The paper concludes that a multi-objective sustainability indicator taking account of economic and environmental issues could be more useful.