Sand Spear Technology

Sand spear technology developed to draw water from the Gascoyne River bed for growers

It is hoped that newly designed water extraction technology will relieve pressure on aquifers in Western Australia's Gascoyne region and assist local growers.

The WA Department of Agriculture and Food has commissioned a new design of "sand spear" to capture water in the Gascoyne River bed sands, before it flows out to sea.

Sand spears are a form of engineered pump, sunk beneath the ground.

This new design has been produced with input from local growers, hydrologists and following research into similar technology in Israel.

Gascoyne Food Bowl project manager, Tony Della Bosca, said the project is a step towards drought-proofing the region.

"It's about resource management," he said.

"The sand in the river actually liquefies when the river is flowing, like now.

"What we're trying to do is access that water and stay away, when practical, from the aquifers to let them recharge.

"We can do that through [use of] sand spears."

One sand spear was recently installed in the Gascoyne River bed, with plans for a second spear to be installed this month.

"Depending on budget, we could install as many as 10," Mr Della Bosca said.

Growers in the region have previously made their own filters to extract water from sand using PVC screen.

But Mr Della Bosca said the new design will be more durable than homemade versions.

"With the help of those in the local industry, we've designed a spear we think is a much better system," he said.

"It's stainless steel and has four or five different spears going out from a central well.

"The well is under a vacuum, which puts pressure on the water to go out, up to the delivery pipe."

Mr Della Bosca said each sand spear could potentially deliver water at a rate of between 30 and 50 litres a second.

"The average bore delivers seven litres a second," he said.

"So, in a year like this, we could deliver more than 20 per cent of growers' allocated water, out of the sand."

Source: ABC

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Taxonomy

• Technology
• Aquifer
• Aquifer Recharge