Oz eyes new dams to boost agriculture

Sydney, Oct. 20: Australia’s government is looking at investing in nearly 30 irrigation schemes and reigniting along- stalled programme of dam building to combat growing water shortages constraining agricultural production.

The country is a leading producer and exporter of crops such as wheat, sugar and cotton, but output faces risks from prolonged drought across much of the Australian east coast.

Australia has previously floated ambitious plans to use dams and irrigation to develop marginal land in the outback, but financial and environmental constraints mean it has not built a major new dam in decades.

According to a government policy paper released on Monday, the amount of water available per capita from dams has fallen more than 20 per cent since 1980 and is set to drop further. Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce said investment in water infrastructure must be prioritised, but the paper did not say how the new projects might be funded or give financial detail.

“Effective water infrastructure will be critical to the profitability and productivity of Australian agriculture into the future,” Mr Joyce said at the publishing of the government’s preliminary agricultural policy paper in Canberra.

Australia is considering some level of investment in 28 potential projects, with six irrigation projects in Tasmania and Victoria seen as the most feasible within the next 12 months. Longer term, the paper highlighted two potential dams in Queensland, which has suffered the biggest impact from recent dry weather, and sites in Western Australia and Victoria as possibilities, though less advanced than those further south.

“We had a big rise in the building of dams and that slowed because we ran out of places that it was economically and hydrologically sensible to do so,” said a hydrology expert at the University of Queensland, adding that some new sites were previously considered marginal.