A collaboration by Lincoln Ventures and research partners is directed at key questions about the long-term effects of agricultural land use on groundwater quality in the underlying aquifers. The aim is to help inform decisions about the future of land-use and water resource planning at a national level.
The AquiferSim model of nitrate transport in groundwater was unveiled recently to a meeting of the End-user Advisory Group within the research programme: Integrated Research for Aquifer Protection (IRAP), whose members are Lincoln Ventures Ltd, Landcare Research, Environment Canterbury, Crop & Food, AgResearch, Dexcel and ESR.
AquiferSim, is a regional-scale model of nitrate transport in groundwater, with a fast computational engine developed by Lincoln Ventures, linked to a GIS user interface developed by Landcare Research.
AquiferSim works in tandem with another model under development by Lincoln Ventures, called FarmSim, which predicts the effect of different agricultural land uses at the root zone level, while AquiferSim looks at the cumulative effect on the groundwater as a whole.
AquiferSim is intended to assist regional councils to answer two main questions:
1. What is the long-term effect of a land-use change (such as a conversion from sheep to dairy) on groundwater in various parts of a region?
2. How long will it take to achieve this long-term effect?
Key contacts
Related links
IIntegrated Research for Aquifer Protection (IRAP)
Lincoln Ventures Ltd | PO Box 133, Lincoln | Christchurch 7640
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