Each development of a Bradfield Scheme is different from others, and others are different from each other. Each one has been approached with different goals in mind, the plans are different, and so also they cannot be criticized as too … Read the rest

In addition to the agricultural and industrial benefits of large water diversion projects, there are many environmental benefits that could help to popularise these large water diversions by contributing to renewable energy, CO2 sequestering, countering land degradation, and enhancing habitat.… Read the rest

The South–North Water Transfer Project, a multi-decade infrastructure mega-project in the People’s Republic of China, ultimately aims to channel 44,800 GL of fresh water annually from the Yangtze River in southern China to the more arid and industrialized north. … Read the rest

Let’s examine the statistical characteristics of a long open half-channel, considering the property of an intelligent system – i.e. responding appropriately to intermittent disturbances to maintain a constant or homeostatic environment.

We have all experienced the intermittency of rainfall, lasting … Read the rest

The breakthrough system developed by Leon Ashby for capturing and transferring flood flows in a Bradfield Scheme has a number of advantages over pipelines. The slide above is taken from Leon’s presentation and lists 3 benefits over a pipeline system. … Read the rest

The groundwater at Rome was notoriously unpalatable, and water from the Tiber was unsafe to drink. Aqua Appia, Rome’s first aqueduct (312 BC) was commissioned by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus as a publicly funded major project.

By the late … Read the rest

In Queensland, CSIRO have identified the Mitchell catchment (yellow area above) as the greatest potential to increase greenfield development opportunities in Northern Australia, and the coastal regions of the Fitzroy and Burdekin River catchments for enhancements. However, developments in these … Read the rest

Let’s look at similar water storage and distribution systems to the New Bradfield Scheme, in California.

California is 400 km wide and 1200 km long. It has a land area of 423,970 km² of which 36,421 km² is … Read the rest

The new Bradfield Scheme could provide 30 thousand km2 of new irrigated land in inland Queensland, more than doubling the land under irrigation, and catapulting Australia from 23rd place by irrigated land area (between Peru and Japan) to 8th place … Read the rest

Pause to think about why farmers dam water. Usually, it is to store intermittent or seasonally variable rain until the optimal growing season of the crop when water becomes limiting.

When it is most needed, the rainfall deficit coincides with … Read the rest

Local water storage doesn’t last through Australian droughts.

The South Burnett is located on top of Australia’s Great Dividing Range just two hours drive north-west of Brisbane, Australia and directly west of the Sunshine Coast. The South Burnett is  Queensland’s … Read the rest

Through control of the supply of water to certified producers including mines and farmers, the Bradfield Scheme can drive the environmental and humane animal husbandry outcomes that consumers seem to increasingly demand.

Sustainability branding is the process of creating, maintaining … Read the rest

Steel is made from iron ore, coal, water, and other trace elements. Shipping both ore and coal to a third location is an inefficient use of the world’s biggest bulk ships that return empty half the distance. Project “Iron … Read the rest

The experts say it can’t be done, but a close look at the elevations of the sources, storages and destinations for the Bradfield Scheme says otherwise.

The ideal gradient for an open gravity-fed irrigation channel is 1:5000 or 100m per … Read the rest

The flows in North Queensland Rivers can vary enormously, up to 1000GL per day on an annual average flow of a few GL per day. The design of an aqueduct to accommodate both regular flows and yet capture significant flood … Read the rest

Above is a schematic diagram of a gravity-fed mini-Bradfield Scheme transporting water from the coastal rivers via a levy/pipeline combination (blue) to the storage and distribution lakes on the Great Dividing Range (green).

The levy would accumulate water from the … Read the rest

Our nation would create a massive expansion for irrigation, providing a substantial increase in wealth and vital economic stimulus for far western towns including Augathella, Charleville, Cunnamulla and Bourke. Additionally this would also provide the vital water for Menindee Lakes

Fraser Anning and Leon Ashby will be flying around and showing contour maps of 3 proposed water diversion schemes

1 – Bradfield (Hells Gate to Muttaburra & Aramac) via Pentland

2 – Walsh, Tate, Einasleigh, Gilbert  Rivers diverted to Richmond… Read the rest

Low water delivery costs of major irrigation projects are critical to the potential return on investment for government and private sector investors. The fully pumped irrigation schemes would only be viable in circumstances of high prices or high-value products.

The … Read the rest

This nifty poster from Cotton Australia is annotated with the new and existing cotton production areas that would potentially benefit from the Bradfield Scheme.

In the Northern Murray-Darling Basin, cotton is grown mostly in the south in the Darling Downs, … Read the rest

The comparative internal rate of return for the scheme including the supply of North Queensland flood water to the Murray -Darling Basin is between 5-10%, based on capital expenditure of $12.75 billion dollars, and annual agricultural revenue between $2 and … Read the rest

It’s so much fun thinking about the New Bradfield Scheme, as it raises as many solutions as it does problems. Water, for a drought-prone nation like ours, is a precious resource. The Adani Coal Mine between Clermont and Charters Towers … Read the rest

A recent study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution journal provides support for better control over flood flows such as would be captured by the New Bradfield Scheme and redirected to storage dams inland. Flood flows carry debris, sediments, nutrients, … Read the rest

Estimates of river pollutant loads to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon indicate the Fitzroy and Burdekin catchments contribute at least 70 per cent of the anthropogenic total suspended solids load to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, with grazing lands (gully … Read the rest

The approval of the massive Adani (Carmichael Coal) Mine has been delayed by ongoing concerns with the groundwater plan. What if the mine did not have to use groundwater at all, but drew water from massive storages created nearby … Read the rest

The One Nation ‘hybrid’ Bradfield Scheme is a Clayton’s Bradfield Scheme – the Bradfield Scheme you are having when you are not having a Bradfield Scheme.

One Nation committed in January 2017 to a ‘hybrid’ Bradfield Scheme approach to water … Read the rest