3 – 10 October, 2022 | Adelaide, Australia

The 24th ICID International Congress and Irrigation Australia Conference & Exhibition in Adelaide, South Australia is centred around the theme of ‘Innovation and Research in Agricultural Water Management to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals’. The event brings together irrigation and drainage professionals and the broad range of other stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience in sustainable agriculture water management focusing on irrigation management.  

For more information or to register, visit the event website. 

AWP at ICID Conference

Building Resilient Irrigation Water Management from farm to basin scale: An effective response to achieving SDGs 

Tuesday 4 October | 14:00 – 18:00 ACDT  

With agriculture using 70% of globally withdrawn water resources and more than 90% in some agrarian economies, water management in agriculture sits at the center of many challenges in sustainable development.  

The session will bring together lessons from technical, social, and institutional innovations tested in the field by water managers across different sectors and irrigators, government, researchers, and donors to build climate resilience through water management with irrigation infrastructure and communities’ behaviours.  

Katharine Cross from AWP will speak on the topic of ‘Leaving no-one behind when adapting irrigation to climate change: gender and social inclusion approaches’. 

Speakers include: 

• Alok Sikka – Country Representative for India, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 
• Lisa Maria-Rebelo – Principal Researcher (Earth Observation for Sustainable Development), IWMI 
• S K Chaudhari – Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), Indian Council of Agricultural Research 
• Mohsin Hafeez/Alok Sikka – Country Representatives for Pakistan and India, IWMI 
• Katharine Cross – Strategy and Partnerships Lead, Australian Water Partnership 
• Ijsbrand H. de Jong – Lead Water Resource Management Specialist, World Bank 
• Simon Langan – Director of Digital Innovation and Country Manager, Sri Lanka, IWMI 
• Junko Sagara – Water Resources Specialist, Asian Development Bank 
• Ashish Deogade/Sanjay Belsare – Water Resources Department Government of Maharashtra, India

Panellists include: 

• Erik Schmidt – Irrigation Australia
• S.K. Chaudhari – Indian Council of Agricultural Research 
•  Ijsbrand H. de Jong – World Bank 
• Paul Pavelic – IWMI 

 For more information or to register the event website. 

Women Working in Water Forum 

Thursday 6 October  | 8:30 – 10:30am ACDT

The forum will highlight the important role that women have working in the water sector and recognise the significant contribution that women make to the irrigation industry both in Australia and globally. It will also encourage the next generation of young professionals to consider the irrigation industry as a great career opportunity, and help address the gender inequality that exists in our industry 

The forum will kick-off with a panel moderated by AWP Partner, Karlene Maywald, with Maywald Consultants Pty Ltd. Panel Members include: 

• Rosalie Auricht – CEO, Renmark Irrigation Trust 
• Vanessa Winning – CEO, Irrigation New Zealand 
• Valentina Tripp – CEO, Davey Water Products 
• Corrine Cheeseman – CEO, Australian Water Association (AWA) 
• Prof Andrew Campbell – CEO, ACIAR 
• Denise Mullikin – Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Hunter Industries 

The panel will be followed by a World Café discussion targeted at young irrigation professionals, both local and international delegates to hear, explore and share experiences in an informal setting for participants. The panelists, including Louise Whiting, Senior Water Management Specialist at FAO, and Katharine Cross, Strategy and Partnerships Lead with AWP, will host the table discussions. 

For more information or to register the event website. 

Selected sessions with AWP Partners 

Integrating Fish into Irrigation – Special Event by IACID  

Tuesday 4 October 2022  | 14:00-17:00 ACDT

Coordinated by various AWP Partners including: 

• Prof Lee Baumgartner – Interim Director, Gulbali Institute Charles Sturt University 
• Louise Whiting – FAO Water Program, Regional Asia Pacific 
• Prof Ann Fleming – Research Program Manager, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research 

Convened in recognition of the increasingly diverse demands for water from irrigation systems, the session focuses on the need to develop more holistic use of land and water resources in conventional irrigation management. This session introduces how fisheries and aquaculture already co-exist with irrigation; exploring potential opportunities to improve systems to increase such services by showcasing existing initiatives. 

Find more information on this special session here.   

International workshop on Modernising irrigation and drainage service 

Thursday 6 October 2022 | 2:00 PM-3:45 PM ACDT  

Rob Rendell with AWP Partner, RM Consulting Group, will be presenting on ‘Modernising a pressurised pipeline supply system for high value agriculture in Asia’. The paper includes lessons from the WEIDAP (Water Efficiency Improvement in Drought affected Provinces) project which the Government of Vietnam is implementing through an investment project worth $120 million, to modernise irrigation water management in five drought-affected provinces with support from the Asian Development Bank. AWP is providing support through relevant Australian expertise on pressurised irrigation system design, water charging, and water resources planning.