Tasmanian Government Media Release - 26 May 2008
A project to revolutionise water management in Tasmania moves to the implementation phase, with commercial water-users in four catchments installing approved meters over the coming three months. The system would be efficient, timely, accurate and transparent - providing excellent water management information to both irrigators and DPIW. Ultimately, all major users extracting water from Tasmanian waterways will be part of the new system, which uses wireless telemetry to provide near real-time water data to a central database.
Metering major water use is a commitment under the National Water Initiative (NWI). However, a joint $18.6 million project by Hydro Tasmania Consulting and the Department of Primary Industries and Water will piggy-back on the meter rollout program to trial the electronic gathering of water data. Letters are being sent to about 600 commercial water-users in the Rubicon, Forth-Wilmot, Huon and Inglis-Flowerdale catchments, advising that they need to install compliant meters to the off-take points from which they take water. This group represents a diverse range of water users and is outside drought-declared areas.The purchase and installation of approved meters will be the responsibility of the water-user.
The Tasmanian Water Use Management Project will take care of installing the Ajenti Telemetry System, which was developed locally by Hydro Tasmanian Consulting.Ajenti units placed near the extraction sites will collect information from the meters and send it at regular time intervals to a central database which can be accessed by DPIW and the licensed irrigator. The aim of the project is to assist water management. The meters are not associated with a move to volumetric charging.The Project is being assisted with a $7.8 million grant under the Australian Government's Water Smart Australia program.
