Collaboration brings hope to river basin stewards

By its very nature, river management requires deep levels of collaboration. So it was heartening to see the confluence of ‘water minds’ at One Basin CRC’s annual event in Mildura generating some serendipitous catchups alongside the more formal discussions between the hydrologists, engineers, farmers and irrigators involved in the centre’s growing pool of research projects. 

There was an assistant director from the Murray Darling Basin Authority reconnecting with an Iranian PhD student, a conversation that helped him pivot his study of irrigation forecasting to focus on broader horticultural crops. There was a University of Adelaide researcher, sharing the story of his launch of a miniature desalination plant at a local almond orchard with the CRC hub manager, who’d helped him connect with the project’s hosts. And there were managers of two major irrigation companies putting aside corporate rivalries to map the outline of a new project to decarbonise their energy-hungry operations. 

The sense of unity was summed up powerfully by Ngemba leader Uncle Feli McHughes, who after seeing his people locked out of decades of water management decisions, still shows an incredible positivity for his life’s work protecting the upper reaches of the Darling River. 

At a dinner panel, there was total silence in the room as the usually jovial McHughes told the gathered farmers, water managers and ecologists: “I’m proud to say that the One Basin CRC is listening to its First Nations people. This is not about scientists versus irrigators, or farmers versus Aboriginal people. Irrigators worry about their children and their grandchildren, too.” 

It’s the uniquely collaborative, common-good approach of the CRC’s research model, which links 88 organisations across agriculture, academia, hydrology and technology, that promises some new hope in tackling the lifechanging challenges facing these water-scarce regions – and partners who can bring the greatest expertise to their resolution. 

The other critical factor in the CRC’s model is that, while its research projects are guided by some of Australia’s leading water scientists, they’re hosted at four regional hubs – at Loxton and Mildura in the southern basin, Griffith in the centre, and Goondiwindi in the north – where they bring together passionate teams of local farmers, irrigators, water authorities, landcare groups and ecologists united by their shared concern for the basin’s future. 

Early in 2023, shortly after One Basin CRC was established, it held a series of workshops where partners defined 24 research areas to address four major challenges: responding to climate change, improving water supplies, promoting agricultural technologies and linking communities. Since mid-2023, a series of research projects has been designed and launched by partners who’ve committed both funds and in-kind contributions to projects they want to support. 

Initially, 10 projects were launched to generate foundational data and some quick wins, including a citizen science project on fish monitoring, integrated irrigation modelling and a desalination plant to treat groundwater for farming. Following these, a further nine Round 1 projects have been launched this year, as well as seven research projects led by PhD students at the regional hubs. Later this year, eight Round 2 projects will get off the ground. 

It's a trust-based system, led by the partners themselves, and critically driven by their in-kind contributions, which may include a seconded staff member, a vehicle, a building or a piece of technology. Either way, it’s a tangible investment that buys genuine commitment to outcomes. 

Deep co-design 

Peter Hayes, who chaired the Irrigation Futures CRC in 2002-10 and now sits on One Basin’s board, believes this “deep and genuine” co-design is more likely to generate meaningful research results that will outlive the CRC’s 10-year lifespan.

“I think integrating the partners in project design from the start, and all the time and effort they’re putting in appear to be developing greater confidence on all sides, with confidence being such a crucial element in the contested space we’re operating in,” Hayes said.  

As well as delivering practical outcomes – in irrigation systems, on-farm sensors, demonstrations of alternative water sources and evaporation controls – Hayes believes the CRC’s research will increasingly buy it a seat at the policy table and a voice guiding basin-wide management strategies. 

“We’re seeing strong buy-in from a diverse array of interested partners and collaborators, driven by a collective awareness of climate change and resource allocation pressures, as well as lived experiences of imperfections and inequities in the past,” he said.  

One of those collaborators is the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), which together with its six partner universities and agtech developer Sensand, support and inform the CRC’s work as Tier 1 partners. Andrew McConville, MDBA’s CEO, is keen for the two organisations to collaborate in an MDBA-run academy to further freshwater science and learning, career development and succession planning. 

“We’re committed to this idea of an academy to bring together professional learning, knowledge exchange and leadership skills, which will offer specialised units to new scientists as well as mid-career placements, and we see a great opportunity for collaboration between the CRC and MDBA,” McConville said.  

“I believe the CRC can help us in key areas to bring together institutions, academics and business-focused people to deliver outcomes that will be good for the MDBA, the CRC, and the whole basin.” 

Like One Basin CEO Mike Stewardson, Andrew McConville is employing an inclusive and collaborative approach that seeks to unify partners who may have been historically divided.  

“So much of government is not geared to really listening before decisions are made, but that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said. “The Murray-Darling Basin is a massive integrated ecosystem, and its complex challenges call for a humility of purpose and a commitment to listening to others. It’s about being prepared to say, ‘I don’t know the answer – let’s find out together’.” 

Brett Jones, CEO of Murrumbidgee Irrigation, is typical of the private sector partners who are in it for the long haul. Murrumbidgee Irrigation not only hosts the CRC hub at Griffith, but plays an active role in two projects on irrigation modelling and a Round 1 project on how water deliveries affect multiple users, and has just been approved to partner a Round 2 project looking at the decarbonisation of irrigation operations. 

“We’re staring down the barrel of some huge [water] buyback targets at the moment, which could put us and other irrigators out of business,” Jones said.  
 
“But I have hope that the kind of research being done by the CRC can help us get the Basin Plan away from politics and back to a strong scientific footing. This is why the CRC is so important – to help us find out how we farm, how we irrigate, where we’re putting water back into the environment and the impact it’s having. 

“The CRC is the last hope to build some unity between the all the stakeholders based on sound science.” 

The power of technology 

Murrumbidgee Irrigation currently serves about 3,500 landholders, ranging from small market gardens to large cotton and rice farms, managing a delicate balance between its customers’ water licences, sales and changing entitlements. While many of these allowances have dropped in recent years, Jones sees the possibilities of water-monitoring and delivery technologies holding huge potential for farmers and irrigators to squeeze more from the precious river water they’re permitted. 

“Tech is dramatically increasing productivity and the critical dollars per megalitre farmers are getting,” he said.  

“Farmers can analyse yields in areas down to a square metre, and irrigators can look from pool to pool and monitor for seepage losses, overtopping, leaks and blockages in real time. There are great opportunities to integrate our system with individual farmers’ systems to help them optimise the flow rate to different parts of their fields, exploiting the consistency of levels in our pools and automated gate systems to ensure a consistent flow rate and avoid issues of overwatering or erosion – or faster watering for broadacre crops that need higher flow rates.” 

Jane O’Dwyer, CEO of Cooperative Research Australia, the membership organisation uniting Australia’s 26 CRCs, sees the “profound challenges” of the Murray-Darling Basin as a strong unifying foundation for One Basin CRC’s work. 

“The depth of scholarship and the diversity of participation in this CRC gives me confidence in their ability to deliver significant outcomes,” she said. “One Basin’s structure has been refined over a number of years by people well versed in the CRC methodology. Also the model of regional hubs gives the communities real ownership and regular connection to their work, which is so vital. 

“The notion of co-design is absolutely embedded in One Basin’s DNA, which I think is critical with the complexity of the challenges they’re working on and the huge number of stakeholders involved. I have confidence they can make a difference. It’s early days, and they’re working on some very gnarly problems, but I think they’re well set up for success.” 

While the CRC program has had some major successes since its inception in 1990 – from the cochlear implant and mineral exploration technologies, to a national policy framework on autism – seasoned basin watchers agree that bringing together industry and research expertise is only half the battle. 

“Many of One Basin CRC’s initial projects are really exciting, and they’re being driven by some brilliant people, but much of this work will be in vain unless it results in practical long-term outcomes,” said Peter O’Donnell, CEO of Southern Cross Farms and a member of the CRC’s Mildura Regional Advisory Committee.  

“I don’t want to hear that this or that project has been finished and has delivered this data. I want to hear that outcomes X, Y and Z have been achieved and they are sustainable. 

“If there’s no sustainability built into our process over the next seven years, that will be it. We need to move really quickly on these things.” 

CRC Board member Leigh Vial, who grew rice for 30 years near the industry’s birthplace in Swan Hill, said that – like the health of the entire basin – the CRC’s success will come down to the balance between agriculture, culture, and the environment.  

“Water used to just come with the farm, but these days it has a market and a value of its own,” Dr Vial said. “It’s no longer about arbitrary moral judgments about water use; it’s about whether you can make a viable irrigated farm business after cultural and environmental needs are met. 

“I was motivated to join the CRC because change is upon us and this CRC is an important spoke in the wheel if we’re to keep thriving – not just coping. It’s ‘creative destruction’, if you like. Old systems are being torn down, but new systems are emerging all the time – and the CRC has a vital role to play in this.”