Autonomous boat on the job for water regulator

Extremely accurate dam volume measurement now possible

Water users can be even more confident in the ability of the state’s water regulator to enforce the law effectively now it has added more technology to its toolkit.

Accurately assessing how much water farmers have taken or stored is critical to the work of the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR).

After adding a drone fleet and satellites to its technology suite in 2020, NRAR has now acquired an autonomous boat capable of acoustically profiling dams to measure the volume of water storages. As well as a set of ultrasonic flow meters that measure water flow in closed pipes.

NRAR’s Director of Regulatory Innovation Margaret Sexton said the new tools will complement the use of satellite imagery, aerial photography, metering equipment and topographic tools to measure water and find non-compliance.

“These new tools will significantly increase the accuracy of our measurement, establishing even greater confidence in our application of the law,” Ms Sexton said.

“The autonomous boat takes thousands of depth readings to determine the exact size and shape of a dam to accurately calculate volume.

“This state-of-the-art survey equipment is the most accurate way to measure dam volumes and it comes with enough batteries to survey storages of any size. It is capable of accurately measuring flow in open channels, as found on cotton farms and other large irrigation operations.”

NRAR can also estimate dam volumes using desktop estimation methods as well as consumer-grade fish finders to measure spot depths in storages.

“These new tools are all part of NRAR’s technology toolkit that is making it easier to find those who are non-compliant with the state’s water laws,” explained Ms Sexton.

NRAR and its technology recently featured in an episode of the ABC’s Landline. Create an iView account or sign in to view the whole episode.

To find out more about the technology NRAR uses visit nrar.nsw.gov.au/technology