"THE worst time to plan for a drought is when you are already in it."
That is according to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development senior principal research scientist Richard George, who is leading Western Australia's WaterSmart Farms project.
The collaborative initiative is made up of three interlinking projects with the aim of assisting landholders to improve farm water supplies.
Dr George said desalination was the focal point of WaterSmart Farms by better understanding systems that have been installed in recent years.
So can any farmer adopt desalination?
Dr George said, "generally the answer is yes".
"Anyone can desalinate, but you first need a secure water supply (best less than 16,000 to 18,000 parts per million or milligrams per litre) and then a productive and reliable bore," Dr George said.
"The third step is making sure rejected water that comes out of the desalination unit has a safe place to go that does not cause any degradation downstream.
"Once they pass those three steps, then they are in the market for a desalination unit."
Dr George said desalination provided a unique opportunity to convert brackish or saline water into a supply suitable for different applications such as livestock, spraying and gardens.
He said it could also be a way of diversifying Wheatbelt businesses by making sure more water was available.
In the first component of the project, which is supported by Murdoch University, an inventory of recently installed desalination units is being undertaken to provide a better understanding of how units are working, what water is being used for and its costs of production.
Dr George said installing monitoring systems on some units - to track power and production efficiency - could help farmers.
"We are also working with the suppliers to make sure we understand what limitations they face and so the suppliers can understand what farmers are asking for," he said.
There has been significant interest in desalinisation units in the Wheatbelt, with more than 25 applications for a Notice of Intent to the Soil and Land Conservation Commissioner to install a commercial desalinisation plant in the past two years.
In the second component of WaterSmart Farms, DPIRD and Murdoch University are working with the Water Corporation to install at least four purpose-built desalination units in different areas of the Wheatbelt.
These units will test units more saline groundwater and how their efficiency changes with differing power options.
"We have drilled thousands of holes across the Wheatbelt for salinity monitoring in the past 30 years," Dr George said.
"We have a pretty good idea about what landscapes to target for bores, but selecting the exact site requires better geological and geophysical tools than we presently have."
For this reason, the third component of WaterSmart Farms is partnering with Curtin University, Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety and the Grower Group Alliance and involves a targeted groundwater exploration program to identify suitable supplies for desalination units.
"We will also be working with Wheatbelt drillers to test our targeting systems and increase the reliability of finding water," Dr George said.
"This project will undertake a limited amount of deep drilling program, to depths of more than 100 metres, to identify groundwater supplies in fracture bedrock that may have higher yields.
"Its something that has not been researched in the Wheatbelt before.
"As part of this work, we will be releasing a geological app to identify drill targets and in the longer term, provide guidance on the best sites for securing groundwater."
WaterSmart Farms will focus on areas across the Wheatbelt and Great Southern, targeting areas that were most affected during the past few years by water deficiencies.
"In delivering the project, we will test how possible it is for farmers get off the grid and become more self-reliant," Dr George said.
"Given desalination works as expected, it may be the bridge that gets wheatbelt farmers over that deficiency hurdle and allows them to tailor the water quality required."
He said that one of the early learnings from the early adopters of desalination was that farmers were "getting smart" in producing what they deemed fit for purpose.
"They might take the lower salinity water home for the house and their garden, but they will blend it up to say 3000 milligrams per litre for their sheep and pigs," Dr George said.
"If you can get one litre of desalination and one litre of source water from your bore and put them together, then you have two litres of water at a lower price."
Dr George said if the project team and industry could get the cost and technology right, reliable bores and the rejected water managed appropriately, there was no reason as to why more businesses in the Wheatbelt couldn't have a desalination unit in the future.
Anyone with a desalination unit, who is interested in taking part should contact Richard George via email richard.george@dpird.com.au or phone 9780 6296.
