The Northern Territory Irrigated Agriculture Feasibility Study (NTIAFS) assesses the feasibility of managed aquifer recharge to increase the available water and water security for irrigated agriculture in selected sites
across the Northern Territory. This project is funded by the Commonwealth Government to consider the
potential for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and conjunctive water use (CWU) to support the development of irrigated agriculture in northern Australia.
The project has three stages, and this report documents the first stage of the project:
1. Master Planning
2. Site Feasibility and Economic Assessment
3. Business case
The Master Planning stage involves a desktop and site inspection to assess the relative merits of irrigation
schemes supported by MAR or CWU in seven locations. The key objective of Stage 1 is to identify up to three prospective sites for more detailed studies in Stage 2. A range of factors have been considered such as the available source water, local hydrogeology, soil suitability and potential irrigation demand. A cost benefit analysis was completed on the feasible sites to determine the capital and operation and maintenance costs of water supply and on-farm benefits.
The seven areas considered during Stage 1 are:
Option 1 – Upper King River
Option 2 – Lower King River
Option 3 – Stray Creek
Option 4 – Fergusson River
Option 5 – Roper Creek and Elsey Creek near Mataranka
Option 6 – Swim Creek in Wildman River catchment
Option 7 – Ti Tree,
Notes
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).,
Department of Environment and Natural Resources.,
Table of contents
Executive Summary -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Overview -- 1.2 Purpose -- 1.3 Project context -- 1.4 Report structure -- 2. Water availability and land uses -- 2.1 Climate conditions -- 2.2 Agricultural production -- 2.3 Water availability for irrigated production in Northern Territory -- 2.3.1 Surface water availability -- 2.3.2 Groundwater availability -- 2.4 Soil resources -- 2.5 Water allocation policy -- 2.5.1 Tindall Limestone Aquifer, Katherine WAP 2016-2019 (DLRM, 2016a) -- 2.5.2 Tindall Limestone Aquifer Mataranka – Daly Waters Water Allocation Plan (DENR, to be commenced in 2017) -- 2.5.3 Draft Oolloo Aquifer WAP (DLRM, 2016a) -- 2.6 Managed Aquifer Recharge/Conjunctive Water Use opportunities -- 3. Strategic context -- 3.1 Mega trends in agriculture -- 3.1.1 Increased protein demand -- 3.1.2 Farming smarter -- 3.1.3 Food security -- 3.1.4 Food ethics -- 3.2 Market potential -- 3.2.1 Supply potential -- 3.2.2 Demand potential -- 3.2.3 Beef Industry -- 3.2.4 Horticultural Industry -- 3.3 Policy drivers -- 3.3.1 Federal Government -- 3.3.2 State Government -- 3.4 Constraints to agricultural development -- 4. Site Assessments -- 4.1 Option 1 – Upper King River and Roper Creek, near Leach Lagoon -- 4.1.1 Catchment overview -- 4.1.2 Land use and soils -- 4.1.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.2 Option 2 – Lower King River -- 4.2.1 Catchment overview -- 4.2.2 Land use and soils -- 4.2.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.3 Option 3 – Stray Creek -- 4.3.1 Catchment overview -- 4.3.2 Land use -- 4.3.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.4 Option 4 – Fergusson River -- 4.4.1 Catchment overview -- 4.4.2 Land use -- 4.4.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.5 Option 5 – Roper Creek and Elsey Creek near Mataranka -- 4.5.1 Catchment overview -- 4.5.2 Land use -- 4.5.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.6 Option 6 – Swim Creek in Wildman River catchment -- 4.6.1 Catchment overview -- 4.6.2 Land use -- 4.6.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.7 Option 7 – Ti Tree -- 4.7.1 Catchment overview -- 4.7.2 Land use -- 4.7.3 MAR/CWU options -- 4.8 Summary --
5. Scheme concept development and costing -- 5.1 General Conjunctive Water Management Schemes Considered -- 5.1.1 Recharge Weirs -- 5.1.2 Infiltration Trench -- 5.1.3 Recharge Bores -- 5.2 Scheme Sites -- 5.2.1 King River (Upper) -- 5.2.2 King River (Lower) -- 5.2.3 Stray Creek -- 5.2.4 Fergusson River -- 5.2.5 Ti Tree (Allungra Creek) -- 6. Land use scenarios -- 6.1 Crop types -- 6.1.1 Mango -- 6.1.2 Asian Vegetable -- 6.1.3 Sandalwood -- 6.1.4 Melon -- 6.1.5 Fodder crops of pasture for beef production -- 6.2 Water demand -- 7. Economic analysis -- 7.1 Levelised cost -- 7.2 On farm net cash flow -- 7.3 Discussion of costs to supply and net on-farm benefits -- 8. Environmental effects -- 8.1 EPBC PMST reports -- 8.2 Results of EPBC PMST on MAR Sites -- 8.3 DENR database and NT Listings -- 8.4 Duplicate listings via the EPBC PMST and DENR -- 8.5 EPBC PMST and DENR Desktop results - King River and Roper Creek, near Leach Lagoon -- 8.5.1 EPBC PMST Listed Threatened Ecological Community -- 8.5.2 EPBC PMST Listed Threatened Species and Listed Migratory Species -- 8.5.3 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Fauna Species and Listed Migratory Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.5.4 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Flora Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.5.5 Northern Territory Sites of Conservation Significance (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.5.6 Weeds (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.6 EPBC PMST and DENR Desktop results - Stray Creek -- 8.6.1 EPBC Listed Threatened Species and Listed Migratory Species -- 8.6.2 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Fauna Species and Listed Migratory Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.6.3 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Flora Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.6.4 Northern Territory Sites of Conservation Significance (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.6.5 Northern Territory Conservation Areas (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.6.6 Weeds (DENR 2017) -- 8.7 EPBC PMST and DENR Desktop results - Fergusson River -- 8.7.1 EPBC Listed Threatened Species and Listed Migratory Species -- 8.7.2 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Fauna Species and Listed Migratory Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.7.3 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Flora Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.7.4 Northern Territory Sites of Conservation Significance (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.7.5 Weeds (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.8 EPBC PMST and DENR Desktop results - Ti Tree -- 8.8.1 EPBC Listed Threatened Species and Listed Migratory Species -- 8.8.2 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Fauna Species and Listed Migratory Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.8.3 Northern Territory Listed Threatened Flora Species (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.8.4 Northern Territory Sites of Conservation Significance (NT DENR 2017) -- 8.8.5 Weeds (DENR 2017) -- 8.9 Preliminary Conclusions for MAR Desktop Environmental Assessment -- 9. Other considerations -- 10. Preferred Sites for Stage 2 Assessment -- 10.1 Stray Creek -- 10.2 Lower King River -- 10.3 Fergusson River -- 10.4 Upper King River -- 10.5 Ti Tree -- 10.6 Other sites -- 10.6.1 Roper Creek and Elsey Creek near Mataranka -- 10.6.2 Swim Creek in Wildman Rive catchment -- 10.7 Recommendations -- 11. References -- 12. Acknowledgements,
Language
English,
Subject
Irrigated agriculture feasibitlity study,
Water supply, Agricultural -- Northern Territory,
Northern Territory,
Irrigation,
Water supply, Agricultural,
Irrigation -- Northern Territory,