Data management contract awarded for SA irrigation scheme

The oldest irrigation scheme in Australia has selected a specialist power and water consulting firm to provide telemetry technology to help with data collection and management of more than 800 water meters across South Australia.

Entura has been selected to deliver the new technology for the Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT).

Founded in 1893, RIT is Australia’s oldest irrigation scheme. It supplies irrigation water pumped from the Murray River to over 550 farming properties, covering more than 4,500 hectares of horticultural land.

The new system will improve customer experience and drive operational efficiencies, removing the need for contractors to manually read the meters.

“We recognise the importance of good irrigation delivery and on‐farm practices through the use of efficient delivery infrastructure systems and efficient water use, monitoring and management techniques,” RIT General Manager Barry Schier said.

“The new telemetry system provided by Entura will capture water use data from individual mag flow water meters utilising RS232 protocol throughout our scheme and integrate that data with our existing billing and water orderings systems.

“Our customers will be able to access information concerning their daily water use and remaining water allocation via the internet, giving them greater oversight of their water use patterns and providing more flexibility for water trading.”

After Entura deliver the system, RIT will take ownership of the entire system so that it can operate and maintain it with little or no external assistance.

Entura will provide knowledge and capability development through its training division, the Entura clean energy and water institute.

Financial support for the RIT project was provided via a grant received under round two of the Irrigation Industry Improvement Program (3IP) which forms part of the South Australian River Murray Sustainability (SARMS) Program funded by the Australian Government and administered by Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA).

“We’re pleased to be partnering with RIT to deliver a data collection and management system that will allow them to just concentrate on the data itself, and use it to manage risks and get the best out of their operations,” Entura Business Development Manager, Water Alan Barrett said.

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