Thursday, July 13, 2006

Isisford pilots State trial

By Liz Brooker
news@longreachleader.com.au

ONE-and-a-half metre wide and unnervingly spacecraft-like, high-tech plastic modules are soon to land on water reservoirs around the Isisford Shire.

After signing up for a $75,000 project aiming to minimise the loss of water from the Yaraka dam, the town’s shire council has been approached to pilot a test program on their main water basin at Isisford.

Within the next two months Yaraka’s water supply will be covered by a raft of hexagonal, uniquely-designed AquaArmour modules in an effort to reduce the rate of evaporation from the dam.

The 1.5 metre-wide units, made from high-density polyethylene, are lighter than water and will float on 80 per cent of the reservoir’s surface for the next 20 years.

Council chief executive officer Robert Bauer estimates the Yaraka dam’s water level drops up to three metres each year as 7.6 millimetres of water evaporates from its surface each day.

The amount of water saved, up to 16 million litres each year, is desperately needed to service the small community of 20 people.

"This is the first attempt by a Queensland council to use this kind of technology to stop the problem," Mr Bauer said.

"Isisford Shire is still suffering the effects of drought, so water evaporation is a real issue, especially as more people move to the region.
"Assuming the dam is at its capacity, this saving will extend the dam’s ability to supply water to the town from 18 months to about 27."

With extensive large scale trials yet to occur in Australia, manufacturing company Water Innovations has offered the shire a chance to become the national blueprint.

Mr Bauer has been working both with the company and the western unit of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) who wish to study the effects of the modules on wildlife, waterborne organisms and native vegetation.

"The CSIRO want to get involved and do an in-depth analysis using the Isisford dam as a pilot project.

"People have been putting covers on their pools for years but finding something that is suitable for a water supply has been hard.
"Obviously, if there is a better way we can do something to save water, we should be doing it."

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