Ord River
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The Ord River is a river in northern Western Australia. The river runs for 320 km. It was named in honor of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880.
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[edit] Ord River Irrigation Scheme
The Ord River Irrigation Scheme (ORIS) was constructed on the river in 1963 and opened on June 30, 1972 by Prime Minister William McMahon. The scheme created Lake Argyle, which is Australia's largest dam, covering an area of 741 km2.
ORIS provides water for irrigation to over 117 km2 of farmland and there are plans to extend the scheme to allow irrigation of 440 km2 in the future. The dam also generates power for the local community of Kununurra.
[edit] Power generation
The Ord River Dam Hydro Scheme is a privately funded, owned and operated power system in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It consists of a new 36 MW hydro electric power station at Lake Argyle interconnected, by lengthy 132 kV transmission lines, with existing diesel fuelled power systems at the Argyle Diamond Mine and the Kununurra township.
Sinclair Knight Merz played a key role in the development of the scheme from its initial feasibility studies through to final commissioning. The firm was responsible for initial scheme concepts, power system stability, general concepts, the design of penstocks and bifurcations, specification and selection of generation plant, powerhouse layout, definition of piping, instrumentation and control items, the switchyard and transmission system, and supervision of installation and commissioning.
[edit] Environmental effects of ORIS
Construction of ORIS has limited the flow of the river to the sea, and has created environmental problems. Water is no longer clearing the mouth of the river and so the Ord River is suffering a similar fate to the Murray. Salinity and erosion are also becoming an issue in the area, due to the rising of the water table in the area.
The ORIS provides irrigation to over 117 km2 of farmland and there are plans to extend this to 440 km2 in the future. Like so many other experiments in tropical agriculture the scheme initially failed because of difficulties growing crops and attack from pests. Today the irrigated areas successfully produce a variety of fruits and vegetables, with the most successful being sugar cane, bananas and melons.
[edit] Logistics of the ORIS
Sugar from the ORIS is trucked to Wyndham where it is exported to a Korean-owned food manufacturing plant in Surabaya, Indonesia. Fruit and vegetables are sold to domestic markets and are trucked to all capital cities.
Contrary to some claims made by rail operators, the ORIS does not use the Katherine Intermodal Terminal to move its produce to market.
[edit] References
- ABC. The Seven Engineering Wonders - the Ord River Irrigation Scheme, 22 April, 2005
- Ord Development Council. Conference (1991 : Kununurra, W.A) 50 years of Ord irrigation : review & future perspectives : conference proceedings, Kununurra, Western Australia, 1-3 November, 1991 / sponsored by Minister for North West Agriculture, Water Resources, Ord Development Council. Kununurra : Ord Development Council, 1991.
