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Space tech secures future for clean waterways
Elizabeth Gracie
A network of space satellites will be used alongside intricate ground-based sensors scattered across the country to monitor the quality of Australia’s inland waterways, reservoirs and coastal environments as part of a year-long scoping study called AquaWatch Australia.
Developed by CSIRO and the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), the initiative hopes to provide real-time data from naturally occurring events such as toxic algal blooms and excess runoff from irrigation to support water managers in monitoring and managing water quality in order to better protect the health of Australia’s waterways.
By utilising the data gathered from space satellites, alongside existing ground-based sensors, AquaWatch will be able to build a comprehensive national monitoring system, filling the gaps of coverage for both systems of observation.
The use of purpose-built and designed observation satellites through the SmartSat CRC will also help deliver predictive analytics and forecast warnings to water managers in real-time.
SmartSat CEO Professor Andy Koronios said that the initial scoping phases will assess Australia’s current water monitoring strategies and identify new opportunities for further adoption of space technology to drive efficiencies, advancements and safeguard our precious water resources.
“As well as monitoring the health of our inland rivers, dams and waterways, the project aims to grow the industry and create new job opportunities across the environmental data services sector, primary industry and agriculture and support drought resilience efforts,” said Koronios.
“We think the project has great potential to deliver two-fold benefits of improving water quality management as well as creating new skills and job opportunities in Australia across a range of industries”.
The Aquawatch Australia initiative is also at the cornerstone of the SmartSat research portfolio, which focuses on developing space technologies to help solve some of Australia’s biggest challenges which in this case, is the maintenance of healthy waterways.
CSIRO’s Centre for Earth Observation Director Dr Alex Held said this early phase consultation hopes to engage collaborators from across industry, research and government in order to analyse the key components required to establish a fully integrated space infrastructure network as well as the domestic technical capacity to build it.
“We want to work directly with water agencies, community leaders and industry to better understand the challenges faced in water health monitoring,” said Held.
“This will help inform the development of future local advanced manufacturing opportunities, water modelling and Earth observation data analysis and applications”.
According to Held, the outcomes could also lead to a step-change in Australia’s national water quality information delivery which would support decision-makers in water agencies, local communities, water utilities and commercial water users to provide safe drinking water and manage such an important natural resource.
After the scoping study is complete for the AquaWatch Initiative, CSIRO and SmartSat expect to have a framework for the future development of the mission.
They will also explore the uses of AquaWatch for monitoring coastal wetlands, aquaculture farms, riparian vegetation and terrestrial biodiversity, mine sites, mangroves and coral reef environments.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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