Volumetric Conversions project – Field Irrigation Systems Trials (FIST) program for the field irrigation systems trials, supply, installation, monitoring and maintenance of equipment

The Field Irrigation System Trials (FIST) program is a component of the Volumetric Conversion Project, a project undertaking the conversion of approximately 2500 area based licenses in the South East of South Australia to volumetric licenses. The three year FIST program is aimed at collecting detailed information on the on-farm water balance from between 20 and 25 irrigated trial sites that are representative of the wide range of crops, irrigation methods and site conditions that exist on irrigation enterprises across the SE. The trials will involve the monitoring of a range of parameters including water extraction rates, soil moisture, water table and weather-related parameters linked to calculation of evapotranspiration. This tender is for the supply and installation of soil moisture monitoring equipment, the ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the supplied equipments and the optional supply and installation of weather and water table monitoring equipment. The project includes a short testing period followed by two full irrigation seasons of measurement, so tenders should consider capital purchase/ buy back and or leasing options. It is possible that further work will become available early in 2003 in an aligned project at Padthaway.