Modelling to bridge many boundaries: the Colorado and Murray-Darling River basins

Increasing pressure on shared water resources has often been a driver for the development and utilisation of water resource models (WRMs) to inform planning and management decisions. With an increasing emphasis on regional decision-making among competing actors as opposed to top-down and authoritative directives, the need for integrated knowledge and water diplomacy efforts across federal and international rivers provides a test bed for the ability of WRMs to operate within complex historical, social, environmental, institutional and political contexts. This paper draws on theories of sustainability science to examine the role of WRMs to inform transboundary water resource governance in large river basins. We survey designers and users of WRMs in the Colorado River Basin in North America and the Murray-Darling Basin in southeastern Australia. Water governance in such federal rivers challenges inter-governmental and multi-level coordination and we explore these dynamics through the application of WRMs. The development pathways of WRMs are found to influence their uptake and acceptance as decision support tools. Furthermore, we find evidence that WRMs are used as boundary objects and perform the functions of ‘boundary work’ between scientists, decision-makers and stakeholders in the midst of regional environmental changes

A Simple Soil Moisture Simulation Model to Address Irrigation Water Management Issues

A simple soil moisture simulation model to use in irrigation water management issues was developed. The model employs traditional water budgeting approach, and includes mechanisms for simulating soil moisture movement, root growth and crop evapotranspiration. The model requires only a few readily available input parameters. This model was evaluated through a case study conducted at a farm in the Goulburn Irrigation Area in Victoria (Australia). The soil moisture simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness of model and revealed that the developed model was quite successful to account for the variability of evaporative demand of tested perennial pasture and the amount of rainfall received during the irrigation period. The qualitative and quantitative procedures used in model\'s evaluation supported its use to deal with agricultural water management issues for yielding significant water savings

Disseminated tuberculosis following BCG vaccination

Disseminated tuberculosis is rare in infants. The more common presentations of tuberculosis (TB) in infancy include pulmonary and meningeal involvement. Disseminated TB following BCG vaccination is eve