Life Sciences Commons^™

Managing Water Quality To Enable Future Irrigation Development In The Kimberley Region, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources commissioned reports

Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Modelling to Evaluate the Effect of Farm Chemicals on the Lower Pools of the Keep River

The National Water Grid Authority awarded the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) a project entitled ‘Managing Water Quality to Enable Future Irrigation Development in the Kimberley Region’.

The purpose of the project is to review the current and future risk profile of agrichemicals (pesticides) in the Keep River catchment (Ord - East Kimberley) in the context of irrigation development across the last decade and proposed in the medium term. The results of the review were to define prospective mitigation …

Review Of Toxicity Of Agricultural Chemicals And Implications For Aquatic Fauna Of The Keep River, Samanatha Reynolds, David Morgan

Natural resources commissioned reports

This report was compiled for the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) as part of the National Water Grid Authority (NWGA) project entitled “Managing water quality to enable future irrigation development in the Kimberley Region, WA”. The purpose of this report is to review the toxicity of farm chemicals (herbicides and insecticides) used by farm operators in the Keep River catchment and their potential impacts on the aquatic species in the river, in particular those species that are listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It is designed to complement the report entitled …

Report On And Recommendations Arising From The Visit Of Dr Michael Warne (University Of Queensland) And Robert Sluggett To Kununurra, Michael Warne Dr, Rob Sluggett

Natural resources commissioned reports

Dr Michael Warne of the Reef Catchments Science Partnership and Robert Sluggett of Farmacist Pty Ltd were invited by Richard George of Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to visit Kununurra, Western Australia.

The project was financially supported by the National Water Grid Authority project “Managing water quality to enable future irrigation development in the Kimberley Region”. The aim of the visit was for Dr Warne and Rob Sluggett to engage with farmers, key stakeholders and staff from DPIRD in order to understand the agriculture and water quality in the Ord and Keep river region; and to share …

Using Landsat Satellite Imagery To Estimate Groundcover In The Grainbelt Of Western Australia, Justin Laycock, Nick Middleton, Karen Holmes

Resource management technical reports

Maintaining vegetative groundcover is an important component of sustainable agricultural systems and plays a critical function for soil and land conservation in Western Australia’s (WA) grainbelt (the south-west cropping region). This report describes how satellite imagery can be used to quantitatively and objectively estimate total vegetative groundcover, both in near real time and historically across large areas. We used the Landsat seasonal fractional groundcover products developed by the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program from the extensive archive of Landsat imagery. These products provide an estimate of the percentage of green vegetation, non-green vegetation and bare soil for each 30 m …

Geology, Soils And Climate Of Western Australia's Wine Regions, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

Bulletins 4000 -

This bulletin details what is special and unique about the geology, soil and climate of the south-west of Western Australia (WA), an area that encompasses the state’s 9 wine regions.

We have arranged the information into 2 parts:

• In Part 1, we broadly describe the special geological, soil and climate features of the south-west of WA to provide context for the wine regions.

• In Part 2, we describe the geology, soil and climate of the regions and subregions of the Geographical Indications (GI) scheme (administered by Wine Australia) for WA.

Through this work we have found that the wine regions …

Investigations Of The Potential For Irrigated Agriculture On The Bonaparte Plains: Hydrogeology, Aquifer Properties And Groundwater Chemistry, Don Bennett, Paul Raper, Robert Paul, Tim Pope, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

‘Cockatoo Sands’ is a common name for the Cockatoo Sands family of soils (comprising red to yellowish-red sands, sandy earths, and loamy earths) that have formed from quartz sandstone colluviums in relatively isolated patches throughout the East Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Cockatoo Sands are recognised as potentially suitable for irrigated agriculture because they are generally well drained and not subject to waterlogging or inundation. These characteristics allow them to be cultivated and prepared for planting various crops during the wet and dry seasons of northern Australia.

Expanding agricultural production onto the Cockatoo Sands around Kununurra …

Assessment Of Soil Sampling Equipment For Guiding Fertiliser Decisions, David Weaver, Robert Summers, David Rogers, Peta Richards, David Rowe

Resource management technical reports

A range of methods, technologies and equipment are used to collect representative composite soil samples from paddocks. Once collected, soil samples are analysed for various parameters that provide evidence to guide fertiliser decisions. The sampling methods, technologies and equipment used must result in samples that consistently represent the parameter of interest.

Soil sampling technology and equipment has advanced from manual devices (such as pogo-stick-style foot-thrust core samplers [pogo]) to a variety of mechanised core-thrust samplers and augers that are fitted to vehicles or battery drills. Each device may function differently under different conditions, and each requires differing levels of human …

The Applicability, Efficacy And Risks Of Natural Sequence Farming In The Dryland Agricultural Zone Of South West Western Australia, Nik Callow, Rose Anne Bell

Natural resources commissioned reports

Natural sequence farming (NSF) is an approach to restoring degraded agricultural land, developed by Peter Andrews on his property Tarwyn Park in New South Wales. The approach aims to rehydrate the landscape by slowing the movement of water with a series of structures and then using this water to drive plant growth and improve soil function.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development engaged the University of Western Australia to review the applicability, efficacy and risks associated with using NSF principles and practices in the south-west dryland agricultural zone in Western Australia. The review has combined information from the …

Desktop Review Of Groundwater Prospectivity For Irrigation In The Lower De Grey River Area, Don L. Bennett, John A. Simons

Resource management technical reports

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has identified priority areas in the Pilbara that warrant further investigation into their capacity for irrigated agriculture and related businesses. The De Grey River area is one of these.

The lower De Grey River area, upstream of the De Grey River Water Reserve, was identified by the Transforming Agriculture in the Pilbara (TAP) project for staged investigations of viability. Progression through these stages, each with increasingly detailed groundwater and soil suitability investigations, is dependent on prospectivity.

This document provides a summary of DPIRD’s initial desktop groundwater evaluation in the lower De …

Geology, Soils And Climate Of The Margaret River Wine Region, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

All other publications

This report is an extract from the broader description and analysis of the Geology, soils and climate of Western Australia's wine regions. It expands on the brief descriptions in the second edition of 'Viticulture' (Coombe & Dry 2004) concerning the soils and landscapes of Western Australia’s main wine growing regions. We have tailored this report extract to the specific needs of the Margaret River wine region. It contains local soil names and soil-landscape zones and systems maps.

The wine industry recognises the importance of giving customers an understanding of the vines’ environment and how that may influence wine character …

The Effect Of Soil Ph On Phosphorus Content Of Clover Pasture, David Weaver, Robert Summers, David Rogers, Peta Richards

Resource management technical reports

Testing of pasture soils from 2009 to 2018, as part of DPIRD’s Whole Farm Nutrient Mapping (WFNM) project in the coastal catchments of south-west Western Australia (WA), indicated that soil pH was so low it could be limiting plant access to nutrients. Observations by some farmers who had been involved in the soil testing were that lime application had not increased pasture production, even when pH_Ca (pH measured in calcium chloride) tests indicated that phosphorus (P) should become more available by increasing soil pH. Farmers also wanted to know if they needed to apply more P than soil testing …

Soil Amendment And Soil Testing As Nutrient Reduction Strategies For The Peel Integrated Water Initiative, Robert Summers, Peta Richards, David Weaver, David Rowe

Resource management technical reports

The Transform Peel program focuses on 42 000 hectares (ha) due east of Mandurah called the Peel Food Zone, 75 kilometres (km) south of Perth in the shires of Murray and Serpentine Jarrahdale and includes an assessment of intensified and enclosed agriculture and a business park. The Peel Integrated Water Initiative was developed through Transform Peel to identify water sources and minimise the effect of these projects on water quality by reducing the nutrient loads discharged into the Peel–Harvey Estuarine System, which has been suffering from poor water quality for this reason.

The mineral sand miner MZI Resources Pty Ltd …

Hydrogeology Of The Gillingarra Palaeochannel, Russell Speed, Adele Killen

Resource management technical reports

Previous groundwater investigations had identified the presence of palaeochannel sediments under the Capitela Valley in the Perth Basin, about 25 kilometres south-west of Moora. The sediments of this Capitela Palaeochannel were thought to form a discrete aquifer of good quality groundwater suitable for agriculture.

To improve our understanding of the Capitela Palaeochannel, its distribution, water quality and potential as a groundwater resource, we undertook an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) geophysical survey of the area in December 2012. This led to the discovery of a palaeochannel located in the Darling Range between Gillingarra and New Norcia, and we named this the Gillingarra …

Groundwater Chemistry And Salinity Processes In The Myalup Region, Adam M. Lillicrap, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

The Myalup region, which incorporates the Myalup Irrigated Agriculture Precinct (MIAP), is located about 100 kilometres south of Perth between the southern end of Lake Clifton and the northern tip of the Leschenault Inlet. It covers 17 800 hectares, with about 2100ha being irrigated. The precinct produces mainly carrots, onions, potatoes and leafy vegetables. In 2016–17, the total value of agricultural production for the MIAP, including on-farm processing and packaging, was more than $120 million.

Irrigation water is mainly from the surficial Myalup aquifer, with limited abstraction from the underlying Leederville aquifer. Average annual rainfall is about 800 millimetres, but …

Groundwater Investigations To Support Irrigated Agriculture At La Grange, Western Australia: 2013–18 Results, Robert J. Paul, Gregory Paul Raper, Richard J. George Dr, Nicholas J. Wright, Adam M. Lillicrap, Peter S. Gardiner

Resource management technical reports

The Broome Sandstone aquifer is the main aquifer and groundwater resource in the La Grange area, near Broome in the West Kimberley, Western Australia. Land use is dominated by cattle grazing on pastoral stations, dispersed mining and tourism. Irrigated agriculture has developed at a small scale, with about 470 hectares under cultivation in 2014. Groundwater abstraction is licensed under the La Grange groundwater allocation plan (Department of Water 2010) and managed by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation. The La Grange groundwater allocation area is split into the La Grange North subarea and La Grange South subarea, with groundwater …

Crop And Climate Suitability For Irrigated Agriculture In The Midlands Area Of Western Australia, 2nd Edition, Leon Van Wyk

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment is a $4.7 million Water for Food project. Its aim is to confirm groundwater availability at one or more focus areas that may form precincts of 2000–3000 hectares suitable for intensive irrigated horticulture. This report forms part of this project.

Firstly, this report describes the climate of the Midlands study area and highlights the subtle differences between the two selected focus areas, Irwin and Dinner Hill. It discusses the importance of climate in determining crop suitability. We also investigated the following additional factors that determine crop suitability: water quality, water quantity, land capability (soils) …

Soil Capability Assessment For Expanding Irrigated Agriculture In The Dinner Hill Focus Area, Midlands, Western Australia, Edward Arnold Griffin, Angela Stuart-Street, Leon Van Wyk, Peter Tille

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment is a $4.7 million Water for Food project using Royalties for Regions funding. It is seeking to confirm groundwater availability in focus areas that may form precincts of 2000–3000ha suitable for intensive irrigated horticulture. The Dinner Hill focus area is one of these.

The Dinner Hill focus area covers about 50 200ha to the north-west of Moora and north of Dandaragan, in the Midlands area of Western Australia. This report provides details of the soil-landscapes, land capability and land management units for the Dinner Hill focus area.

We reviewed existing soil-landscape mapping for the …

Soil Capability Assessment For Expanding Irrigated Agriculture In The Irwin Focus Area And Surrounding Lands, Edward (Ted) Arnold Griffin, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter Tille

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment is a $4.7 million Water for Food project using Royalties for Regions funding. It is seeking to confirm groundwater availability in focus areas that may form precincts of 2000–3000ha suitable for intensive irrigated horticulture. Irwin is one of these.

The Department of Water identified the Irwin focus area for investigation for irrigated agriculture potential. It covers almost 7000ha to the east of Dongara in the Mid West region of Western Australia.

This report provides the land assessment for the Irwin area. We expanded the investigation to include land outside of the focus area because …

Investigations Of The Potential For Irrigated Agriculture On The Bonaparte Plains: Land Capability Assessment Report, Henry Smolinski

Resource management technical reports

This report describes 55 000 hectares of predominantly red sands and sandy loams — locally referred to as Cockatoo Sands — on the Bonaparte Plains about 70 kilometres north of the Ord River Irrigation Area, Kununurra. It builds on soil surveys conducted in 2009 and 2015, which identified significant areas of red soils in the Kununurra area that could be suitable for agriculture.

The Cockatoo Sands generally have loamy, sand topsoils that grade to sandy loam with depth. The soil profiles are very deep, well drained to rapidly drained, and highly permeable. These soil characteristics support a large range of …

Investigations Of The Potential For Irrigated Agriculture On The Bonaparte Plains: Bore Completion Report, 2nd Edition, D L. Bennett

Resource management technical reports

Drilling programs were undertaken in 2013 and 2016 by the former Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia and in 2017 by DPIRD, at 10 sites in the Bonaparte Plains area, north of Kununurra in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia (WA).

These drilling programs were a component of resource availability and risk investigations conducted to determine the potential for developing irrigated agriculture on 30 000 hectares of Cockatoo Sands — free-draining loamy soils that have the potential to support crops in the wet and dry seasons. There was limited hydrogeological information available at a suitable scale for the …

Pindan Soils In The La Grange Area, West Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Irrigated Agriculture, 2nd Edition, Henry Smolinski, Paul Galloway, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies areas of Pindan country along the Great Northern Highway, south of Broome from Roebuck to Mandora, which have high potential for irrigated agriculture. The area contains significant reserves of potable groundwater defined by the La Grange groundwater allocation area, which is based on the surficial Broome Sandstone aquifer.

Over the past 30 years, several small- to medium-scale irrigation developments have been successfully established in the region. The water opportunities project aims to identify and quantify the land and water resources of the region to ensure any future expansion of irrigated agriculture is sustainable and will not have …

Hydrological Hazard Assessment For Irrigated Agriculture In The Irwin Focus Area, Russell J. Speed, Adele L. Killen

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment project aimed to identify 2000–3000 hectare precincts suitable to develop intensive irrigated horticulture. The primary focus area was at Irwin, where the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation investigated groundwater resources and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development undertook a multi-faceted site assessment. This report describes the hydrological hazards assessment for the Irwin focus area.

The Irwin focus area is located on fertile loam and clay flats associated with the Irwin River. In the east, it encompasses the Irwin River valley floor and the western boundary loops to the south of the …

Shay Gap Soil Survey: Investigating The Suitability Of Soils And Landforms For Irrigated Agriculture In The Western West Canning Basin, Paul Galloway, Dennis Van Gool, Justin Laycock, Karen Holmes, David Rowe

Resource management technical reports

This report describes the soil and land resources of the Shay Gap study area (SA), which is south of Wallal Downs Station, in unallocated Crown land in the Shire of East Pilbara. It assesses the study area’s capability for three types of irrigated agriculture and examines land resources to ensure any future irrigation developments are sustainable and do not degrade the environment.

The Shay Gap SA lies within the West Canning Basin, an area of about 3500 square kilometres at the western margin of the onshore Canning Basin. The West Canning Basin has a substantial groundwater resource that provides fresh …

Distribution Of Classified Soils In South-West Western Australia, Dennis Van Gool, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter Tille

Resource management technical reports

This report provides areas, locations and properties of the main soil classifications identified in south-west Western Australia using current conventional soil map data. It is a reference point for classified soils in the south-west. It provides a way of communicating how soil properties or productivity are likely to relate to soils with similar classifications found elsewhere so that soil research or knowledge can be effectively shared around the state and across Australia.

This is a high-level summary of the relationships between the main soil classifications currently used in Western Australia. These are: • Western Australian Soil Groups, WASG (Schoknecht & …

Groundwater Prospectivity In The Midlands Area, L J. Baddock, S Johnson

Natural resources commissioned reports

As part of the Water For Food Midlands project, Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development (DPIRD) is undertaking mapping of high-quality agricultural land (HQAL) to identify areas of agricultural value. This mapping utilises data relating to soils, land capability and rainfall, that is being integrated into a GIS-format that is easy to comprehend and can be incorporated into planning processes. This report details the development and results of a GIS-based product that represents groundwater resource prospectivity for irrigated agriculture in the Midlands project area. The output maps will be useful for landowners and developers highlighting the opportunities and risks …

Land Capability Assessment For Expanding Irrigated Horticulture Around Myalup, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia, Dafwa

Resource management technical reports

The Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development (DPIRD, formerly Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia), assessed the suitability of land for expanding irrigated horticulture around Myalup, Western Australia. The assessment builds upon existing soil-landscape mapping produced by van Gool and Kipling (1992), and Barnesby and Proulx-Nixon (2000). This report provides guidance to decision-makers and investors about areas with potential for irrigated horticulture.

The survey area for this assessment is east of Myalup, covering 37 800 hectares (ha). Johnston Road forms the northern boundary and the Brunswick River forms the southern boundary (Figure 1.1). The sandy soils of the …

The Application Of Aem To Mapping The Aquifer And Groundwater Characteristics Of The La Grange Groundwater Area, Wa, David Annetts, Tim Munday, Richard J. George Dr, Nicholas J. Wright, Gregory Paul Raper, Kevin Cahill

Natural resources commissioned reports

This report describes the interpretation of a large airborne electromagnetic data survey that was designed to aid characterisation of groundwater systems in the La Grange groundwater allocation area which lies south of Broome, Western Australia. Characterisation of these systems is critical to developing policy around water use in the region, especially for the development of agriculture. This report is the second of two reports and it is designed to refine surfaces which are used as inputs to groundwater models. The volume defined by these surfaces viz. the seawater intrusion in the west, the top of the Jarlemai siltstone and the …

Identifying Soil Constraints That Limit Wheat Yield In The South-West Of Western Australia, Dennis Van Gool

Resource management technical reports

This is a novel approach using regional-scale information. The analysis estimated that:

• most of the wheat-growing land in south-west WA has one or more soil constraints
• about 1.6 million hectares (9% of the total area) are not suitable for cropping
• about 2.2 million hectares (12% of the total area) are suitable for cropping but are subject to many (more than 3) constraints; soil amelioration is unlikely to significantly improve profitable yield gain
• subsurface acidity extends over 12.6 million hectares (about 70% of the total area); about 7.6 million hectares of that area (42% of the total area) is estimated to …

Identifying Soil Constraints That Limit Wheat Yield In The South-West Of Western Australia, Dennis Van Gool

Resource management technical reports

Wheat is grown on about 18 million hectares in the South-West Agricultural Region of Western Australia from north and east of Geraldton to Esperance in the south-east. Yields are frequently constrained by a range of soil factors.

This report uses existing conventional soil-landscape mapping to analyse the effects of 17 known soil constraints that limit crop production and roughly prioritises the areas where they occur.

Traditional land capability maps are prepared using a most-limiting factor approach, which assumes that ameliorating the most limiting constraint will result in a yield increase until the next most-limiting constraint is reached. Where there are …

Identifying Groundwater - Dependent Wetlands Of The Broome Sandstone Aquifer In The La Grange Groundwater Area, Nicholas Wright, Richard J. George Dr, Robert Paul, Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies wetlands that are likely to be dependent on the Broome Sandstone aquifer within the La Grange groundwater allocation area. The Broome Sandstone aquifer is the dominant groundwater resource in the area. With potential agricultural growth of this area, it is necessary to understand, monitor and manage the aquifer and its dependent wetlands. This report describes how we created a watertable surface that was used to identify wetlands and to determine which of the previously mapped wetlands are likely to be sourced from the Broome Sandstone aquifer. A watertable surface was created from 148 points taken from bore …