The software, HotSpots, was created by Noel Merrick, deputy director of the National Centre for Groundwater Management at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and is designed to apply to small-scale areas of land over individual aquifers. The individual areas examined by the software would total around 100 square kilometres, or roughly 10-20 average-size farms. Currently all farms in an aquifer - which can cover thousands of square kilometres - are treated the same in terms of access to water that can be bored from the aquifer.
"The Carr [Government] philosophy says treat everyone as if they had the same level of access," Merrick told ZDNet Australia . However, even though two farms may be on the same aquifer, some may be better endowed with groundwater than others. Reasons for this include the permeability of the farms soil and how close it is to rivers and neighbouring farms. "In a valley some farms will be better off just by the position of their property."
HotSpots allows the user to decide the level of groundwater they wish to maintain, and will then calculate how much pumping of groundwater is allowed before the water levels in the aquifer fall below that point.
"It really guarantees sustainability in advance, which is not the way things are being done now," said Merrick.
HotSpots is based on an analytical model that simulates three layers: an upper aquifer, a lower aquifer, and an intervening aquitard (a layer of mostly water-impermeable soil, such as clay). According to Merrick this situation occurs more often than not. The software also takes into account some rainfall infiltration, interactions of streams with the upper aquifer and neighbouring bore pumps.
"It's much more complete, much closer to reality than other analytical models that are around," said Merrick.
Water, and particularly how much farmers are allowed to use, has been a contentious issue between farmers, environmentalists and the government. Environmentalists should be happy with HotSpots because it puts the interests of the ecology as one of the constraints, according to Merrick.
He said several farming communities have seen the program and are very supportive of it. "They can understand managing the aquifer according to the water level," said Merrick. "At the moment there is a certain amount of water available for a valley. Farmers can't see where [the figure] came from, and are suspicious."
Merrick said that when the program is actually implemented it will result in a reduction of water availability for some - not all - farmers, and he expects their position to change at that time.
"Farmers right in the hotspot where water levels are going down need to be restricted," said Merrick. He envisions that farmers will still receive the same rights to water across the aquifer, but some will not be able to utilise all of their allocation because of their farm being located in a hotspot. These farmers should be able to trade or sell the difference between the allocation they receive and what they can use to farmers whose land has access to more water.
The HotSpots software is currently in the public domain, and Merrick hopes to generate revenue via training programs, or get funding to produce a proper manual and new additions to the software.
"It was done under contract, but the budget was nowhere near enough to complete the project, it was around a quarter of what was required," said Merrick. "I can't do more enhancements unless I get the funding."
