NZ Irrigation code ‘world class’ - Anderton

September 11, 2007

Irrigation New Zealand

News Release

Embargoed until 6pm - September 11, 2007

NZ Irrigation code ‘world class’ - Anderton

In a significant milestone in the advancement of irrigated agriculture Irrigation New Zealand (INZ) today launched a Code of Practice and Design Standards aimed at improving water efficiency and sustainability.

Launched by the Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton in Wellington (on September 11) the Code of Practice is a guide to the New Zealand irrigation industry of acceptable levels of irrigation design that will improve the efficiency of irrigation systems in New Zealand.

The key outcomes of the industry adopting the design code of practice will be to the benefit of both rural and urban economies, environments and communities.

Through improved design practices irrigation systems will exhibit improved water resource management, better use of energy sources and more efficient capital and labour cost expenditure.

Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton said the government was working on a sustainable water programme and one priority on the ‘To Do’ list has been the need to improve the capability of irrigators to better manage water resources.

“This Code of Practice is world class and specifically tailored for New Zealand,” Anderton said.

“The Code of Practice will help irrigators to achieve more efficient use of water, meet the standards of quality the country expects, and improve productivity.

”The especially pleasing feature of this Code is that it has been driven by the industry. I welcome this Code of Practice and congratulate Irrigation New Zealand,” Anderton said.

INZ chairman Graeme Sutton said the industry recognised that if irrigation water users were to improve their efficiency of water use to meet societal expectations it was imperative it had the right tools.

“The starting point was obviously to get the system design right and capable of achieving key performance standards,” Sutton said.

“Irrigation New Zealand recognised the need for improvements to irrigation system design to realise our objective of making ‘best practice, common practice’. We were aware that some sub standard design practices were out there and we wanted to lift the performance of the whole design process,” Sutton said.

Sutton acknowledged the support given by the Sustainable Farming Fund and many regional councils around the country.

“Without this support and encouragement we would not be here,” he said.

Over a five year period the code has been developed by irrigation designers, irrigators, owners and operators.

It provides the minimum standard to be attained to meet Irrigation NZ’s aim to improve the efficiency and sustainability of use of water, energy, labour and capital in irrigation systems in New Zealand, INZ chief executive Dr Terry Heiler said.

This was in keeping with INZ’s leadership position promoting best practice in the New Zealand irrigation industry in the area of water management, water efficiency, the environmental impacts and intensified land use.

“These issues are of equal importance to modern day farming enterprises and other environmental interests,” Heiler said.

The Code describes the procedures that irrigation designers must follow to meet the required performance standards.
In parallel to the Design Code of Practice, a Code of Practice for on-farm irrigation evaluation has been developed to provide guidelines for irrigators and others undertaking evaluations of irrigation systems in the field.
The main aim of the guideline is to encourage the adoption of standardised evaluation practices that were cost-effective, recommendation driven and encouraged more efficient use of irrigation resources.
Its adoption and implementation were voluntary.

To build on the Code of Practice the development of a NZQA registered certification programme is well underway with the NZ Certificate of Irrigation Design planned for registration in 2008.

Also attached:
Irrigation NZ Code of Practice and Design Standards briefing summary
Chairman’s speech to the launch

ENDS

Irrigation Code of Practice
and Irrigation Design Standards

Irrigation New Zealand

Irrigation Code of Practice
and
Design Standards
for
Irrigated Agriculture in New Zealand

Briefing summary

September 2007

INTRODUCTION

Background
Rapid irrigation development has taken place in New Zealand, particularly towards the end of the 20th century, with increasing levels of investment in irrigation systems and irrigation research being made. In general, irrigation has been highly successful and has driven agricultural expansion in the drier areas, improving and sustaining the general well-being of rural communities – something that would not have been possible without irrigation. However, some irrigation systems have under-performed in economic terms, and independent irrigation audits have highlighted shortcomings in irrigation system design and management. Reasons for this include:
- Unrealistic expectations by the owners at the system appraisal stage
- Capital cost over-runs;
- Substandard design and installation;
- Poor irrigation system management and service provisions;
- Poor understanding of client priorities and needs.

In addition, water regulators (Regional Councils), government agencies, the agricultural community and the general public have become more aware of potential adverse effects of irrigation on water quantity and quality. Increasing pressure is being placed on irrigation owners to lift the level of economic and environmental performance.

Where failures of irrigation systems occur, the cost can be high, with significant production and economic consequences of failure. Environmental failures of irrigation systems could also have very detrimental effects on the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. Poor environmental performance could lead to loss of water supply. Failure to demonstrate environmental responsibility could lead to loss of local and international markets for produce.

Because there are no performance standards of codes of practice for irrigation system design in New Zealand, Irrigation New Zealand, as part of its charter to promote economically and environmentally sustainable irrigation, has taken a proactive step and initiated the development of irrigation system design performance standards and a code of practice. Development of the code has been financially supported by MAF Sustainable Farming Fund (Grant 02-079).

Purpose of Standards
Irrigation New Zealand’s aim is to improve the efficiency and sustainability of use of water, energy, labour and capital in irrigation systems in New Zealand. To meet this aim with respect to irrigation design and a code of practice, four key developments have to be completed as follows:

1. Key performance indicators (KPI’s) for irrigation systems and minimum acceptable standards for the KPI’s.
2. An Irrigation Design Code of practice, that, with the KPI’s, describes the minimum acceptable design practices for the irrigation industry.
3. An industry recognised designer certification programme.
4. NZQA recognised unit standards for the training of irrigation designers to the standard required to achieve the standing of Certified Irrigation Designer.

An irrigation system design that is completed in compliance with the Irrigation Design Code of Practice will, among other things:
- Explicitly state what KPI values will be achieved using this design, if the specified equipment is installed correctly.
- Give sufficient details on what to measure and where, throughout the irrigation system, for the purchaser or a third party to verify that the system is delivering the KPI values designed for – and paid for.

Context of Design Code of Practice
The Irrigation Design Code of Practice describes the procedures that irrigation designers must follow to meet the required performance standards.
It uses the KPI’s to focus the design process of planning, design, implementation and operation of an irrigation system on outcomes that will meet a specified level of performance.
The irrigation design plan will specify the level of performance expected for a design, expressed in terms of the KPI’s.
To determine whether the performance standards have been met, an evaluation process will be required, to compare the specified design performance standards with the values actually achieved in the field. This evaluation process will measure outputs to enable the actual KPI’s to be calculated.
Without tools to assess actual system performance irrigators and other stakeholders are not able to determine or benchmark performance.
In parallel to the Design Code of Practice, a Code of Practice for On-Farm Irrigation Evaluation (Bloomer etc) has been developed to provide guidelines for irrigators and others undertaking evaluations of irrigation systems in the field. It makes recommendations for planning and conducting evaluations and reporting on the performance of irrigation systems and their management.
The Evaluation Code has been developed with reference to the NZ Code of Practice for Irrigation Design, international practices and standards. The main aim of the guidelines is to encourage adoption of standardised evaluation practices that are cost-effective, recommendation driven and encourage more efficient use of irrigation resources. Its focus is on water application efficiency, but other key performance indicators are addressed.

Legal Status of Code of Practice

The Code of Practice does not, at this time, carry any legal status. Its development has been led by Irrigation New Zealand Inc, with input and support from irrigation experts and the irrigation industry. Its adoption and implementation are voluntary. It recognises the need for designers to interpret the guidelines according to individual requirements, provided these decisions comply with legal requirements, regulations and industry standards. These decisions should also comply with principles of preserving natural resources.

Technical Standards and Guidelines

Standards and guidelines from other Codes of Practice that are referenced within the Code are overseen by the relevant issuing authority.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has responsibility for the International Standards published under their name.

Certification
A certified irrigation design programme will be made available to irrigation designers in New Zealand. This NZQA registered programme will enable designers to attend irrigation design courses and formally recognise those that meet the unit standards with the industry recognised title “Certified Irrigation designer”. The design programme will help irrigation designers to comply with the Irrigation Design Code of Practice by providing them with the understanding and tools required to achieve the required standards.

What is not in the Code

This code applies only to the design of irrigation systems. It does not cover irrigation equipment manufacturing or quality standards. Those activities should be guided by the relevant existing standards.

How should the Code of Practice be used
The document includes what designers must aim to achieve, why must they achieve it, when and where should it be achieved, and how can they make it happen. Specific technical data is provided to help in this respect.

Initially, the key performance indicators are listed, so that designers are very clear about what is required and what will be measured once the design is installed and operating. Some of the indicators relate directly to design, others to a combination of design and operation.

The Codes of Practice section includes the design process section, provides general design approaches and what should and shouldn’t be done.

The Design Standards section is grouped into relevant sections to make it easy for designers to look up a specific standard without going through the whole document. The standards are specific standards such as “mainline velocities should not exceed 1.5 m/s in closed systems and 2.0 m/s in open systems”, for example.

The Design Performance section lists the outputs expected for the design so that:

- Designers have a structured output on which to base their designs
- Purchasers know what performance their system is supposed to deliver and
- The relevant indicators can be calculated during a design evaluation.

Basically, designers follow, in general terms, the design process (most will have their own procedures), using the standards to help them design the system, and have clear instructions on outputs.

It is important that where the design standards are not met, the purchasers have been informed that is the case and given the reasons why.

As far as possible, the expected standards are real, achievable and measurable or assessable limits.

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INZ CHAIRMANS SPEECH NOTES FOR WELLINGTON LAUNCH
OF
IRRIGATION NZ CODE OF PRACTICE AND DESIGN STANDARDS

WELCOME

FIRSTLY, ON BEHALF OF IRRIGATION NZ, I WOULD LIKE TO EXYEND A GENERAL WELCOME AND THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING ALONG TO THIS LAUNCH

A SPECIAL WELCOME TO THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, HON JIM ANDERTON, WHO WILL BE SPEAKNG TO YOU THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL OFFICIALLY LAUNCH THE CODE OF PRACTICE AND DESIGN STANDARDS.

IT IS ALSO PLEASING TO SEE REPRESENTATIVES FROM A NUMBER OF GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS HERE, ESPECIALLY THOSE DEEPLY INVOLVED IN THE SUSTAINABLE WATER PROGRAMME OF ACTION. THIS CODE WILL BE HELPFUL TO THEM.

AND FINALLY, WELCOME TO INDUSTRY DESIGNERS, SUPPLIERS AND USERS – IT IS FOR YOU THAT THE CODE HAS BEEN PREPARED.

INTRODUCTION

IRRIGATION NZ INITIATED THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN CODE FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS:

FIRST, WE RECOGNIZED THAT IF IRRIGATION WATER USERS WERE TO IMPROVE THEIR EFFICIENCY OF WATER USE TO MEET SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS, WE HAD TO HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS. THE STARTING POINT WAS OBVOULSLY TO GET THE SYSTEM DESIGN RIGHT AND ABLE TO ACHIEVE KEY PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.

SECOND, WE RECOGNIZED THAT INTEREST IN NEW IRRIGATION SYSTEM INVESTMENTS WAS ON THE INCREASE, THAT THE INVESTMENT WAS NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT, AND ECONOMIC RETURNS SUBSTANTIAL – A GOOD REASON TO EGER THE INVESTMENT RIGHT.

FINALLY, WE WERE AWARE THAT SOME SUB STANDARD DESIGN PRACTICES WERE OUT THERE – AND WE WANTED TO LIFT THE PERFORMANCE OF THE WHOLE DESIGN PROCESS.

IRRIGATION NZ HAS RECOGNIZED THE NEED FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO IRRIGATION SYSTEM DESIGN, IF WE ARE TO REALIZE OUR OBJECTIVE OF MAKING “BEST PRACTICE”, “COMMON PRACTICE”.

THIS CODE IS A KEY TOOL IN REALIZING THIS OBJECTIVE.

THE CODE HAS BEEN PREPARED BY THE VERY BEST OF OUR IRRIGATION SPECIALISTS AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS OVER A 5 YEAR PERIOD. I COMMEND THEM FOR THEIR EFFORTS AND THE QUALITY OF THE FINAL PRODUCT.

I AM PLEASED TO RECOGNIZE THE SUPPORT GIVEN TO THIS WORK BY THE SUSTAINABLE FARMING FUND AND MANY REGIONAL COUNCILS AROUND NZ. WITHOUT THIS SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT WE WOULD NOT BE HERE.

THREE THINGS ARE NEEDED IF WE ARE TO MAKE BEST USE OF THIS NEW TOOL:

THE FIRST IS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF TRAINED AND ACCREDITED IRRIGATION SYSTEM DESIGNERS – AND WE HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH AGITO TO PRESENT MATERIAL TO NZQA WITH TRAINING PROVIDERS TO HAVE A SUITABLE QUALIFICATION PATHWAY AVAILABLE EARLY IN 2008.

SECONDLY, WE HAVE TO ATTRACT INDUSTRY DESIGNERS INTO THE TRAINING PROGRAMME – MAYBE WE NEED TO SEE THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN FASTER. AS A START, INZ WILL BE HOSTING FURTHER ROLL-OUTS OF THE CODE THROUGHOUT PROVINCIAL LOCATIONS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

FINALLY, THE PROSPECTIVE IRRIGATION INVESTORS NEED TO BE AWARE OF THE BENEFITS OF ADOPTING THE CODE PROVISIONS IN THEIR DEALINGS WITH COMMERCIAL SUPPLIERS – IRRIGATION NZ WILL TAKE ON THIS RESPONSIBILITY AND USE OUR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS TO TAKE THE MESSAGE TO THE IRRIGATION COMMUNITY.

YOU WILL HEAR MORE FROM THE MINISTER AND FROM THE TEAM THAT HAS DEVELOPED THE CODE – SO THAT WILL BE ENOUGH FROM ME.

PLEASE WELCOME MINISTER ANDERTON WHO WILL HONOUR US IN OFFICIALLY LAUNCHING THE NZ CODE OF PRACTICE AND IRRIGATION DESIGN STANDARDS..

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