Water Sustainability

Media Release – Water Sustainability
It’s our dam responsibility to save every last drop!

Installing and maintaining a reliable water sustainability programme whilst experiencing the effects of climate change, can be quite challenging.

We have a 170acre vineyard made up of very thirsty soil; sandy and shallow, rocky/gravelly granitic and free draining. Ideal for producing high quality grapes, but not so great for water management.

When we purchased the vineyard in 2004 there was a dam already installed, however we recorded that the 110 megalitre catchment dam lost 22 megalitres of water to evaporation and another 20 megalitres to ground seepage in 2006 alone.

Wanting to be better environmental citizens, we set about investigating ways that we could improve our water usage and be more self sufficient with regard to our water supply. There were two crucial elements that we needed to address; to harvest & retain more rainwater and to prevent seepage and evaporation.

After much research, we built a second dam adjacent to the original one. The second dam was 96m long, 85m wide and 11m deep. It was a 45 megalitre construction that was both lined and covered. We also constructed an overflow that went from the new dam to the original dam. In order to effectively manage the water retained in the new dam, we installed depth markers on the cover and meters on all inlets and outlets.

For a small family business this was a huge undertaking but it was crucial for our plans to revamp the vineyard. And it paid off, the new dam saved us a substantial amount of water, repaying construction costs in the first year. In addition to the water saving, the cover also maintains high water quality by reducing algae growth from sunlight, therefore increasing quality in the vineyard.

We continue to look at ways to improve our water management. Most recently, we installed an irrigation system that allows us to turn on/off the irrigation pipes from an app on our phones. This technology means we can control the amount of water being put on the vines down to a second, previously the water would be flowing as we drove from tap to tap to turn the pipes off. This again has had a beneficial impact on the vines and whilst saving water.

We are always looking for ways where we can make better farming decisions to improve the vineyard and lessen our footprint on the environment. Our goal is to be a responsible steward of the land; while focusing on high quality and economically viable grape growing, we also hope to reduce our Carbon footprint and protect the surrounding environment. We believe it doesn’t matter how small the step is that you make, as long as you continue to make them.