The Macquarie River Screening Program assists irrigators to improve the sustainability of their water diversions by installing modern fish protection screens on water pumps.
AWMA was the lead contractor for the Macquarie River Fish Screening Program, a critical initiative aimed at protecting native fish species whilst ensuring the cost-effective and efficient operation of irrigation pumps along the Macquarie River, NSW.
This project leveraged AWMA’s capacity to design, manufacture and install fish protection screens, retrieval systems and associated equipment across various river pump sites.
This project includes 15 intake screen solutions on 20 pumps across 7 sites between Dubbo and the Macquarie Marshes.
The program will:
• Protect over 566,000 native fish every year (as reported by OzFish Unlimited).
• Screen an additional 1,797 ML/d of river flows.
• Generate over $31 million per year of public benefits.
Our food and fibre industries are dependent on reliable access to water to remain sustainable, productive and profitable.
Teams collaborated with asset owners at each site, customising solutions to meet their specific needs, with a minimal environmental footprint. Retrofitting screens and retrieval systems to existing inclined axial pump systems involved the design of multiple configurations. Notably, a 17-tonne triple trough retrieval system with a T-Screen was installed to service three pumps for a combined flow rate of 200ML/d.
Self-cleaning intake screens protect fish and other aquatic life whilst also offering asset owners:
- Reliable water delivery
- Reduced maintenance and labour costs
- Lower energy consumption
- Water savings, and
- Ease of inspection
This project benefits from years of collaboration with industry partners to deliver water extraction solutions that will provide irrigators with substantial operational benefits as well as achieve sustainable environmental outcomes.
Note: Statistics provided by Fish Screens Australia
