Rural Water Use Efficiency - Phase 4 (RWUE4)
RWUE4 program
RWUE4 is a partnership between the Queensland government and major rural industries, where the government supports industry groups to provide services to irrigators to improve on-farm irrigation management practices and efficient use of water and energy.
Funding of $4.5million over four years from July 2009 has been provided from the ClimateQ: toward a greener Queensland strategy. The program is being delivered statewide except in the south-east Queensland region which has a complementary program called South East Queensland Irrigation Futures.
RWUE4 involves the following industry groups:
- Queensland Cane Growers Organisation
- Queensland Dairyfarmers' Organisation
- Cotton Catchment Communities CRC
- Growcom
- Queensland Turf Producers Association
- Flower Association of Queensland
- Nursery and Garden Industry Queensland
For the latter three industries the focus of RWUE4 is on their production sectors.
What is the main aim?
The aim of RWUE4 is to help irrigators in each industry reduce their water use through efficient irrigation system design and management. RWUE4 also aims to assist irrigators reduce energy consumption which in turn will see their industry reduce its carbon footprint.
The program includes adoption and extension activities, on-farm trials and demonstrations as well as irrigation and pumping system assessments.
How will the program be delivered?
Each industry group will run the program via their respective industry-based programs which will provide services to irrigators including:
- providing information through workshops, field days, fact sheets and web tools on ways to improve water and energy efficiency
- conducting assessments on irrigation and pumping systems to determine their efficiency and to identify where water and energy savings can be made
- offering incentives to irrigators to encourage them to make system and practice changes
- advice on managing agricultural wastewater, including the management of nutrients applied through irrigation.
You can find further information in the RWUE brochure (PDF, 503K)*
or contact:
Rural Water Use Efficiency Initiative
Dave Schmiede
RWUE Program Manager
Tel: 07 3227 6680
Fax: 07 3406 2190
* Requires Adobe Reader
Last updated 8 September 2011