It is now just over a month until the 2022/23 irrigation season ends and the winter maintenance period begins.
The winter maintenance period is the three-month spell in between irrigation seasons where we can adjust channel levels to complete various maintenance activities such as weeding, desilting, and channel repairs.
How we use these three months has a significant impact on the irrigation season that follows. Subsequently we are always looking to innovate to help us maximise our productivity during this time.
One example is our use of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology via a plane flying over parts of our channel network to detect areas where silt has built up.
LiDAR provides a digital model of our channels, which we can then compare to the original design profiles. It enables us to see which parts of our channel network we need to prioritise for desilting before we have even begun to lower water levels.
We also use extensive data that we collect throughout the season to determine where weeds are interrupting flows.
In recent years, we have done extensive trials with the herbicide Payload, due to its promising attributes in both treating aquatic weeds and having minimal impact on the broader environment.
During the 2022 winter maintenance period, we used it on more than 200km of channel. The effect it has had on these parts of our channel network in the following irrigation season has been highly encouraging, and we have a similarly extensive weeding program for the 2023 winter maintenance period.
In addition to maintaining our channels, the winter period provides us with a chance to repair and replace damaged or weathered assets.
When an asset reaches the end of its lifespan, it is referred to as an “asset failure”. Avoiding asset failure saves costs and minimises disturbance to customers.
Where possible, we subsequently look to replace assets before failure. Often, the best time to do this is during the winter maintenance period, when many of the assets normally below the waterline can be made accessible by dropping water levels.
We collect extensive data to help give us foresee when certain assets are likely to fail, enabling us to proactively replace these assets. This data can also reveal opportunities to improve an assets lifespan.
One such opportunity we identified was reducing the movement of our flume gates.
Flume gates allow us to remotely control channel levels. There are more than 5000 of them throughout our channel network.
However, they do include various components that have limited lifespans. The lifespans of these components vary depending on how much the gate moves.
During the irrigation season, we have successfully trialled a new algorithm to dictate when the flume gates move.
Reducing the movements of the gates without compromising our ability to control channel levels across 5000 of our most crucial assets has the potential to create significant savings.
We are also improving asset lifespan by replacing the existing lead acid batteries in many of our automated assets with lithium batteries.
Lithium batteries last more than twice as long as their lead acid counterparts, and, in recent years, have become far more reliable and cost-effective.
These innovations allow me to be confident that this winter maintenance program will be our most substantive yet, and will hold customers in good stead ahead of the next irrigation season.