Integrated Research for Aquifer Protection (IRAP)
Landcare Research has also been collaborating with ECan on the Integrated Research for Aquifer Protection (IRAP) project, seeking to understand the big picture of water quality from the plant to the aquifer.
The IRAP group is looking at how nitrates from different land uses move through to groundwater. They aim to develop computer tools to manage leaching at paddock, farm, catchment and regional scales throughout New Zealand.
As part of the project a Landcare Research scientist, Linda Lilburne, has been seconded to ECan to work on the AquiferSim model. Linda’s focus is contaminant transport from the soil through to groundwater and groundwater-fed streams.
‘I’m looking at how ECan can use AquiferSim to aid policy development related to cumulative effects. It’s all very well to take a single property and assess it for nitrate, but we need to look at the wider picture with all of the farms,’ she says.
The secondment is proving highly productive, says Dr Jenkins.
‘Linda has contributed to the Canterbury Water Management Strategy assessment of the effects of possible future land use intensification associated with irrigated agriculture. This work has identified that improved nitrate management is needed not only for any new development but also for current operations.
‘The ability to have a Landcare Research scientist working with our staff has been incredibly important in framing what we have to do with the future of water management. Quite simply, that’s because we have to look at water availability and land use practices if we’re going to have sustainable agriculture in Canterbury.
‘We need to get the best information available and that comes from a range of sources including Landcare Research and there’s no question that the work we’re doing together is absolutely fundamental. Land use issues are fundamental, so too is catchment management. Increasingly invaluable input into the work ECan is doing is some of the more subtle work being explored by Landcare Research such as economic analysis and future land-use scenarios.’