Water Storage Evaporation | National Program for Sustainable Irrigation

A large proportion of irrigation research is understandably aimed at efficient use of water extracted from storages for food production but attention is also given to reducing losses that occur through evaporation.

We have gathered together all our evaporation research projects, reports, facts sheets and links to other relevant information below.

Projects

Channel Evaporation Mitigation

The project will develop the application of monolayers to reduce evaporation from irrigation channels.

Project
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Farm Dam Management

This proposal will develop and deliver integrated farm dam management information to allow irrigation businesses to optimise the use and returns from farm dams.

Project
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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The Significance of Night Time Evaporation from Irrigation Farm Dams

Evaporation is a significant loss component from irrigation dams, and although numerous evaporation reduction methodologies exist, their adoption is hindered since they are deemed uneconomical. Any cost/benefit analyses that are done are generally based on poor evaporation estimates due to the complexities involved in evaporation prediction.
One area of uncertainty is the significance of night time evaporation. Similarly, the role of windsheltering on evaporation can be significant but is (more)…

Project
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Publications & Videos

New technology to reduce water evaporation from large storages

This report describes laboratory work carried out to evaluate and further optimise the chemical and physical formulation of the proposed new ultra-thin film product. Three chemical systems were evaluated—EX1, EX2 and EX3.

Publication
Report
2012
Product code NPSI1712
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Chemical Covers

Storage dam evaporation control

Fact sheet about chemical evaporation covers for dams.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI211
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Continuous Plastic Covers

Storage dam evaporation control

A fact sheet about floating plastic covers to reduce dam evaporation.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI411
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Economic Evaluation

Storage dam evaporation control

Fact sheet about evaluating the economics of dam evaporation.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI311
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Evaporation & Seepage Monitoring

Pressure sensitive transducers (PSTs) can be used to precisely measure water depth and therefore accurately determine the seepage and evaporation losses from water storages.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI711
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Evaporation and Seepage

Moria Farming - Forest Hill

The National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) recently undertook seepage and evaporation measurements at water storages for a mixed horticulture farm at Forest Hill in the Lockyer Valley. This is a fact sheet about those measurements.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI1011
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Farm Dam Management

Case Study

This case study reports on the outcomes of two workshops run in the Mildura district for irrigators and consultants.

Publication
Case Study
2011
Product code NPSI1211
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Increasing the Resilience of Eastern Australia Irrigated Farm Businesses

Case Study

This case study looks at trialling retention of corn stubble as an inexpensive way to reduce soil water evaporation.

Publication
Case Study
2011
Product code NPSI1611
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Modular Covers

Storage dam evaporation control

A fact sheet about modular covers to reduce dam evaporation.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI511
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Monolayer Research

Storage dam evaporation control

A fact sheet about research into chemical monolayers to reduce dam evaporation.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI611
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Structural & Management Techniques

Storage dam evaporation control

A fact sheet about structural and management techniques to reduce water storage evaporation.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI811
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Suspended Structures

Storage dam evaporation control

Shade structures in general are suspended above the water surface using cables.

Publication
Fact Sheet
2011
Product code NPSI911
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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New Tools for Measuring Evaporation from Farm Dams

Research Bulletin 5

This bulletin describes the results of a modelling study of evaporation from farm dams and a ‘ready reckoner’ in the form of a spreadsheet that:

Calculates the cost of installing an evaporation reduction system
Calculates how much water is saved from evaporating.

Publication
Report
2006
Product code PK061214
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Economic Ready Reckoner for Evaporation Mitigation Systems Reference Manual

Final Report

The Ready Reckoner can be found here.

Publication
Report
2006
Product code ER061197
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Irrigation Update No.8 Newsletter of the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation

Vol 8 September 2006

In this issue

Evaporation also happens at night
Northern Australia Irrigation Futures
Decisions, decisions - new Irrigation Insights book available soon
New irrigation CD Available now: latest hydro-geophysic

Publication
Newsletter or Periodical
2006
Product code PN061211
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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The Significance of Night Time Evaporation from Irrigation Farm Dams

Summary Report

Work commissioned by NPSI and undertaken by Matthew Hipsey from the University of Western Australia shows that night time evaporation is significant.

This report details the results of the study and will assist in improving the accuracy.

Publication
Report
2006
Product code ER061198
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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The Significance of Night Time Evaporation from Irrigation Farm Dams Across Australia

Final Report

This report documents the numerical analysis performed for the Land and Water Australia (LWA) National Program for Sustainable Irrigation project "The significance of night time evaporation from irrigation farm dams” under contract UWA45.
The objective of the present study is to further develop the numerical model DYRESM to make it applicable to irrigation farm dams and to subsequently apply it to gain (more)…

Publication
Final Report
2006
Product code ER061199
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Understanding Evaporation

NPSI Fact Sheet

Right now, it is very difficult to accurately measure the water losses from evaporation on farm dams but a recent scoping study funded by the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation estimated the loss is as high as 7,000 gigalitres per year from Queensland’s section of the Murray-Darling Basin alone.
Given that water extracted from our waterways for all purposes is around 20,000 gigalitres per annum in the whole of Australia, the potential savings from addressing evaporation losses (more)…

Publication
Fact Sheet
2006
Product code PF061136
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Controlling evaporation losses from farm dams

National Program for Sustainable Irrigation Fact sheet 2005/4

As much as 40% of water stored in a farm dam can be lost through evaporation, depending on the depth of the dam and its surface area. Dam design can significantly decrease evaporation by reducing the surface area to volume ratio (deeper, narrower dams) and planting windbreaks to provide shade and reduce wind turbulence.
Over the years, a number of commercial products have also been developed to minimise water losses, including floating plastic covers and chemical products that change the (more)…

Publication
Fact Sheet
2005
Product code PF050873
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Reduction of evaporation from farm dams

Scoping Study

Evaporation reduction from farm dams in Australia is regarded as one of the few areas where there are real water savings to be made. At this stage, there are a number of commercial evaporation reduction systems available that use either a hard or polymer cover.
Currently these systems are deemed to be viable (M. Durack pers. comm., 2004) for high value crops such as table grapes but are generally not financially viable for lower value crops such as sorghum or cotton. The Department of (more)…

Publication
Report
2005
Product code ER050936
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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News

Action in the delivery system

National Program for Sustainable Irrigation partner Goulburn-Murray Water is making a major contribution to the evaluation of thin films, or monolayers, which can spread over water surfaces to reduce evaporation.

News
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Curtailing evaporation in major storages

The National Program for Sustainable Irrigation has had an active interest in evaporation as a researchable issue for more than 10 years, looking at the big picture as well as farm-based practices to reduce evaporative loss. It was a sponsor of an international workshop at the Gold Coast in 2009, for example, to address priorities and foster the exchange of knowledge.

News
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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Don’t let water saving potential evaporate

Evaporation accounts for the biggest water losses in the nation, which means the potential shown from recent evaporation research and development, involving on-farm and major storage trials, should continue to be explored.

News
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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New tecnology to reduce evaporation

A new Waterlines report from the National Water commision on New technology to reduce evaporation from large water storages is now available.

News
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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On-property technologies reduce evaporation

Farm dam management has been a particular interest of the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation, with much of the work undertaken by Deb Atkins of Industry Investment NSW in a collaborative project as part of the former CRC for Irrigation Futures.

News
National Program for Sustainable Irrigation
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More evaporation information

Dam Evaporation Mitigation publictions from Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures.
Rural Water Note - Reducing Farm Dam Evaporation (PDF) from Department of Water Government of Western Australia
Application Equipment Report (PDF) from Goulburn Murray Water
Farm Dam Management Resource Kit from National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture
ReadyRecknor evaporation mitigation calculator from National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture

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