Agriculture

With planning underway for the staged development of up to 15 coal seam gas (CSG) wells in two Extended Production Test areas, the client sought an economically and environmentally sustainable option to manage the production of up to 1.8ML of highly saline and sodic CSG water per day.  

Rather than investing in expensive reverse osmosis or disposal pathways, a beneficial reuse option involving agricultural irrigation trials was proposed. To ensure success, the proposal required in-depth feasibility, design, and regulatory compliance support to assess viability and satisfy a Water Management Strategy and Environmental Authority conditions. 

With the population of the Caboolture River catchment expected to increase by over 100,000 people in the next 20–25 years, Unitywater faced a growing challenge: how to sustainably manage the effluent produced by the South Caboolture Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Although effluent is A-grade and suitable for a range of non-potable uses, without intervention, the increased nutrient loading could threaten the health of the Caboolture River and downstream waterways. 

To address this, Unitywater launched the Wamuran Irrigation Scheme (WIS)—a circular economy initiative to beneficially reuse treated effluent in agriculture. Verterra was appointed to provide deep expertise in agronomy, irrigation, land capability, and environmental planning to help guide the project’s success. 

Northern Australia is considered a high-potential region for expanding irrigated agriculture due to the availability of rainfall and relatively undeveloped land. However, increasing land under irrigation can elevate the risk of sediment, nutrient, and pesticide runoff—particularly into sensitive waterways that feed into the Great Barrier Reef.  In this case study, Verterra demonstrates how a thorough understanding of environmental risk is the first step to designing irrigation schemes with minimal off-site impact.

Verterra is providing an ongoing operational service for managing beneficial reuse of 37,000t/year of biosolids, including transport logistics, crop nutrition, data management and regulatory compliance.

The project focussed specifically on improving water quality from cane and banana farms in the Tully and Johnstone River Catchments.

Verterra’s largest project to date, providing a novel solution to water quality improvement that combines grazing improvement with ecosystem service market opportunities such as carbon farming and reef credits administered through 3rd parties.

Objectives of this project include delivery of a South Yaamba Reef Water Quality Precinct Plan to provide support to the South Yaamba area and to selected landholders in the broader Fitzroy Food Bowl who are progressing irrigation developments on their land to achieve reef water quality outcomes (reduce sediment, pesticide, and nutrient export).

As part of the Rookwood Weir water release tendering process, Verterra worked closely with 10 landholders to prepare Agriculture Development plans and Business plans to assist landholders evaluate their development options and enable them to bid for new water allocations.