Scoping Study - Reduction of Evaporation from Farm Dams

Evaporation reduction from farm dams in Australia is regarded as one of the few areas where there are real water savings to be made. At this stage, there are a number of commercial evaporation reduction systems available that use either a hard or polymer cover. Currently these systems are deemed to be viable (M. Durack pers. comm., 2004) for high value crops such as table grapes but are generally not financially viable for lower value crops such as sorghum or cotton. The Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland (NR&M) has invested $650,000 to test a number of evaporation systems. There is likely to be other private and public research occurring.

Citation: Watts, PJ (2005) "Scoping Study - Reduction of Evaporation from Farm Dams" Final Report to the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation. LWA ER050936 Feedlot Services Australia Pty Ltd, Toowoomba, Qld.

Weblink: npsi.gov.au/products/er050936

PDF: Watts_2005_Farm_Dam_Evaporation.pdf