ANU key partner in $156.5 million initiative for Australia’s irrigation regions

A $50 million Federal Government grant through the Commonwealth Co-operative Research Centres Program, together with $106.5 million from 85 partners, will support a partnership aimed at achieving a more productive, resilient and sustainable Murray-Darling Basin and beyond through the newly announced One Basin Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

A tier one partner, the Australian National University (ANU) is joined by program lead University of Melbourne and partners including Sturt University, the Goyder Institute, Hort Innovation, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Sensand Technologies and the University of Sydney to develop and commercialise opportunities for Australia’s irrigated agriculture and rural water industries.

The initiative aims to secure the future of Australia’s irrigation regions through the successful development, commercialisation and adoption of new business models and technologies that will respond to challenging climate events and foster effective environmental stewardship. First Nations inclusion, recognition and respect is a core element of the One Basin CRC.

Researchers from the ANU Institute for Water Futures, ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU Mathematical Sciences Institute and ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, will lead the University's involvement. This will include the design and deployment of research projects within One Basin CRC’s focus areas; fore-sighting and decisions, technology and opportunity, and capability and commercialisation.

Professor Lorrae van Kerkhoff, Director of the ANU Institute for Water Futures said that the One Basin CRC provides the much-needed opportunity for researchers and practitioners to work together on future-oriented solutions to the complex challenges facing the region.

“These challenges are not only about responding to changing climates, they are also about building robust communities and industries who are resilient to a wide range of shifts, and can adapt to emerging opportunities as they arise. We can achieve far more toward this goal by working together across disciplines and sectors, and the One Basin CRC will make this opportunity a reality,” Professor van Kerkhoff said.

Associate Professor Barry Croke, ANU lead in the One Basin CRC bid, from the Fenner School of Environment & Society and the Mathematical Sciences Institute said that research driven by the One Basin CRC partners will have real impacts on regional areas of the Murray-Darling basin.

“One Basin CRC research initiatives will focus on improving water use and management and will consider all water users within the Murray-Darling basin. Projects will include foresighting future risks to water resources including climate change, developing new technologies to improve water use efficiency and aid water resource management, as well as improving the capability of water users to adopt to new ideas generated by One Basin CRC.”

"16 quick start projects are already approved by the CRC, having been developed in collaboration with One Basin CRC partners. One such project is a collaboration between ANU and Murrumbidgee Irrigation using irrigation demand forecasting to improve control optimisation of their supply system. This approach could be used a template for hundreds of water supply systems operating around the world,” Associate Professor Croke said.

Over its ten-year term, One Basin CRC’s activities will be concentrated across four regional Basin hubs located at Loxton, Mildura, Griffith and Goondiwindi, working directly with industry, businesses, First Nations, community and government.

Contacts

Associate Professor Barry Croke

Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates and pays our respects to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations Australians on whose traditional lands we meet and work, and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.