# WILL CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMING CHANGE THE WAY AGRICULTURE MANAGES WATER FLOWS AND STORAGE IN THE



## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 6, 2017)

The answer may be “Yes”, that is if science can change the lessons taught in the past, can adapt to the answers needed of the future.

I was prompted to consider the changes needed by a discussion on another site to which I contributed and the subsequent contact s by people who were interested in our solution to the repair of our creek system.

 Let’s assume you are a student and you are being ‘taught’ the systems that were developed by science based on past experiences and as a student you challenged the outcomes that were being put forward ‘as fact’ as the solutions of the future. The teacher (I suspect) will defend the teachings generally because he/she was ‘taught’ these principles when he/she was in training. So the question is “how does academia adopt new ideas?”It is by adopting new research. Research is driven by funding. Funding is driven by a perceived ‘profit ‘from the result.

The management of water flows/storage is a result of identifying the problem in each individual case, analyzing the cause , developing a solution and proving the results work in practice .Generally speaking it’s my view that the problems are attacked in the wrong way because they think the problem can be fixed at that point, when in fact the cause may be a lot further up the catchment  and unless the causes are addressed then the cost and success is at risk and the costs can escalate by a factor of many ‘0000 of $,because of the need to continually repair previous work undertaken

Let’s assume you have a drainage line which in normal times is almost a dry creek bed and every time a decent fall of rain comes it turns into a ‘raging river’, damaging the creek bed even further and carrying soil from the stream banks and debris from up stream.

The first thing that needs to be established is ‘what % of the volume is generated on the land the farmer occupies?’If the total volume is generated on the farmers own land (which is what we faced) then the answer lies in the most upper reaches of the catchment and that’s where the solution begins, by increasing penetration at point of impact and identifying the flow lines down the slope and create ‘smaller structures’ to slow the movement of water towards the creek proper. The next need is to look at the points of entry to the creek by water flows  and build structures that will result in a ‘pond of still water ’ before the speeding water flow enters the creek proper. The whole basis of the solution is not to manage the ‘flow’ however large .but to reduce the ‘speed of the flow’ however large.

Should the volume exceed 60% from upstream of the problem then the causes be investigated in the upper catchment and solutions be developed down the creek until you reach the main problem. I heard of a mining chap in WA who spent $1M to install an underground concrete weir to achieve what we have, on a river to guarantee water supplies to his cattle operation.

As a point of interest, I am not a engineer, environmental academic or a agricultural graduate, but simply an ’old sheep farmer’ who had a problem and set about developing a solution…T.O.R.


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## Pastor Dave (Mar 6, 2017)

I think with the condition of water ways and pollution, anything that helps the original plan get back to how it used to work is a plus. We all see that in many locations water is more valuable than petroleum. All lifeforms will need to drink water and we need to preserve it. 
I can still remember my grandfather sarcastically saying something abt bottled water and not believing folks would be willing to pay for it. He was a farmer that had cattle and a creek, and not to mention dug a pond in his lifetime. He had a well, but I imagine he paid county taxes in water drainage, etc. We pay for water in many ways we don't even realize. 
Good topic of discussion, T. O. R.


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## Latestarter (Mar 7, 2017)

My short answer would be a "yes" followed by a disclaimer to the effect of; "or we're going to be in one heck of a lot of trouble". Agriculture is obviously done differently now dependent on the existing climate st the agricultural site. You can't do the same agriculture in Maine as you can in south Texas... Water is but one of the issues, though I agree a very major one.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 9, 2017)

G'day,To my mind the planning needs to start 'now' because in 100 years the division of water resources will be very different due to the need to supply water to the ever increasing populations in the city's. IMO the world has a population almost twice as big as the world can sustain now and because the world economic model is built on more and more consumers, consuming more and more 'stuff'.Agriculture will need to conserve more and more instead of it disappearing down the creek with every 'downpour' and at some point drawing down aquifers is unsustainable due to the lack of recharge, due to run-off ...T.O.R.


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