Farmers and dam owners across Queensland have been urged to visit a new website to help them combat the devastating effects of the drought.
Created by a partnership between the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and the University of Southern Queensland as part of the Department’s Natural Resources Investment Program, the website, EvapAdvisor, is aimed at helping farmers reduce water losses due to evaporation.
Minister for Resources, Scott Stewart said dams played a key role in the approach to water management with more than 243,000 across Queensland.
“While some much-needed rain has filled many dams across Queensland, now is the time for dam owners to make sure they are looking at all options into preserving as much water as possible,” Mr Stewart said.
“EvapAdvisor is a free tool that gives farmers access to the latest rainfall and evaporation data from the Bureau of Meteorology to help determine if water storage covers makes economic sense.”
He said evaporation could result in the loss of significant amounts of water, as high as 3,000 millimetres a year in Queensland, and with changes in Queensland’s climate this number was expected to rise.
“While we can’t make it rain, it is important that we do everything we can to help dam owners conserve water,” Mr Stewart said.
He said the Department had been working closely with leading scientists from the University of Southern Queensland to make sure dam owners had the right data to make an informed decision.
Dam owners and other farmers can visit the EvapAdvisor site at this PS News link.
