Ms ANDERSON - 2006-10-18
The Water Reuse in the Alice project seems to be an innovative approach to expand commercial horticulture on land at your department’s Arid Zone Research Institute. Can you advise how this proposal will expand horticulture in Central Australia, as well as eliminating overflow to Ilparpa Swamp?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell, who has a great interest in this question. Recently, I visited Alice Springs for the Meat Profit Day. I had a wonderful opportunity to have a look around Alice Springs over the couple of days that I was there. I met with a number of horticulturalists and visited the government’s Arid Zone Research Institute. I must admit the visit was a real eye opener; there are some amazing developments happening in Alice Springs.
One of the places I did visit, and the members from Alice Springs will know it, was Moe’s lettuce farm, Territory Lettuce. Many people in Darwin would not realise it but, every time you open up a packet of lettuce, or buy a lettuce or some herbs from a supermarket, Moe’s lettuce farm in Alice Springs grew that lettuce. To think that vegetables and salads are coming from the middle of Australia into our supermarkets is quite an achievement. It was quite an astounding success with his hydroponics set-up.
Another place I visited was Rocky Hill Table Grapes, a horticultural block run by the Hayes family, in particular Ritchie Hayes, who is an absolute character of Central Australia. I am sure the members from Alice Springs know – they are all smiling so they know Ritchie - he is a real character. He grows off-season table grapes and melons. He is experimenting in other areas, and one of them is pomegranates. I understand there is a real market for pomegranates on the east coast. He is also experimenting with stone fruit, because he is always looking for crops that, obviously, sustain his property, but also support the horticultural industry in the Northern Territory.
I visited the AZRI centre where they are running the Water Reuse in the Alice Project. It is a joint initiative of the Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation and my department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines. Power and Water has invested $10.4m to upgrade the treatment processes to produce high quality water for reuse. A pipeline of approximately 6 km has been constructed to the water reuse sites at AZRI. Extensive studies from CSIRO and the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts indicate that the site is ideal for permeating water into the ancient paleochannel of the Todd River. That will then be recovered through the bore processes.
A dissolved air flotation plant and a soil aquifer treatment process will remove algae from that water. I understand algae contains all the nitrogen and phosphorus in the water thereby improving the suitability for irrigation of the water that is pumped from the bores. Use of the soil aquifer treatment pools will allow this water to be accumulated underground. However, it is desirable for the horticultural development to commence within 12 months of the delivery of water. It is anticipated that water will be delivered to AZRI in early 2007. As a result of that, an open, competitive expression of interest process was used to select a foundation horticultural developer for the site.
Extensive community consultation has also been carried out, particularly during the PER process. Consultation continues and a website has been established. A huge turnout at a recent open day at AZRI has proved that it is becoming a success there. Subsidiary horticultural developments will also allow involvement of local indigenous developers.
The Water Reuse Project in Alice Springs will deliver opportunities to expand our horticultural industry in Central Australia. It will also provide a demonstration site for water reuse in our arid environment, building on our reputation as a centre for Desert Knowledge.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell, who has a great interest in this question. Recently, I visited Alice Springs for the Meat Profit Day. I had a wonderful opportunity to have a look around Alice Springs over the couple of days that I was there. I met with a number of horticulturalists and visited the government’s Arid Zone Research Institute. I must admit the visit was a real eye opener; there are some amazing developments happening in Alice Springs.
One of the places I did visit, and the members from Alice Springs will know it, was Moe’s lettuce farm, Territory Lettuce. Many people in Darwin would not realise it but, every time you open up a packet of lettuce, or buy a lettuce or some herbs from a supermarket, Moe’s lettuce farm in Alice Springs grew that lettuce. To think that vegetables and salads are coming from the middle of Australia into our supermarkets is quite an achievement. It was quite an astounding success with his hydroponics set-up.
Another place I visited was Rocky Hill Table Grapes, a horticultural block run by the Hayes family, in particular Ritchie Hayes, who is an absolute character of Central Australia. I am sure the members from Alice Springs know – they are all smiling so they know Ritchie - he is a real character. He grows off-season table grapes and melons. He is experimenting in other areas, and one of them is pomegranates. I understand there is a real market for pomegranates on the east coast. He is also experimenting with stone fruit, because he is always looking for crops that, obviously, sustain his property, but also support the horticultural industry in the Northern Territory.
I visited the AZRI centre where they are running the Water Reuse in the Alice Project. It is a joint initiative of the Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation and my department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines. Power and Water has invested $10.4m to upgrade the treatment processes to produce high quality water for reuse. A pipeline of approximately 6 km has been constructed to the water reuse sites at AZRI. Extensive studies from CSIRO and the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts indicate that the site is ideal for permeating water into the ancient paleochannel of the Todd River. That will then be recovered through the bore processes.
A dissolved air flotation plant and a soil aquifer treatment process will remove algae from that water. I understand algae contains all the nitrogen and phosphorus in the water thereby improving the suitability for irrigation of the water that is pumped from the bores. Use of the soil aquifer treatment pools will allow this water to be accumulated underground. However, it is desirable for the horticultural development to commence within 12 months of the delivery of water. It is anticipated that water will be delivered to AZRI in early 2007. As a result of that, an open, competitive expression of interest process was used to select a foundation horticultural developer for the site.
Extensive community consultation has also been carried out, particularly during the PER process. Consultation continues and a website has been established. A huge turnout at a recent open day at AZRI has proved that it is becoming a success there. Subsidiary horticultural developments will also allow involvement of local indigenous developers.
The Water Reuse Project in Alice Springs will deliver opportunities to expand our horticultural industry in Central Australia. It will also provide a demonstration site for water reuse in our arid environment, building on our reputation as a centre for Desert Knowledge.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016