The Torbay Catchment Group has recently joined, alongside the Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee, Oyster Harbour Catchment Group, South Coast NRM, ‘the Ripple Effect’, a Grower Group Alliance (GGA) program funding improvements to farm dams & researching the results. Dams are essential infrastructure for many farming operations, including for livestock and irrigation. Enhancing a farm dam however, through the installation of stock exclusion fencing and revegetating the surrounding area, can lead to improvements in water quality and provide habitat for a wide variety of native wildlife.

Want to know more about enhanced dams and the many beneficial impacts they can have? Then follow this link – https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/on-the-farm/farm-dams/

Sustainable Farms researchers have surveyed 57 farms in NSW and Victoria, with the study continuing for a further two years, however initial results show:

  • Enhanced dams have lower levels of nitrogen and lower turbidity, factors which can contribute to algal outbreaks, reduced palatability and animal health issues.
  • Enhanced dams have significantly lower coli counts and fewer thermotolerant (faecal) coliforms. 65% of unfenced dams had coliform counts that exceeded guidelines for water quality for stock.
  • Enhanced dams support more water bug species and greater numbers of individual water bugs than unfenced dams. The presence of water bugs, and of certain less tolerant species, in enhanced dams is a good sign of high-water quality.

Additionally, enhanced dams can play a significant role in promoting native biodiversity. Some native animals, particularly water birds, will use almost any damn in the landscape regardless of its condition. However, there are many other species that are rarely observed on traditional dams but can be found on healthy, enhanced dams. For example, in Eastern Australia, platypus are generally only found in streams and rarely in dams, but they have been observed by Sustainable Farms researchers using enhanced dams. In many agricultural landscapes, natural, healthy wetlands are extremely rare. But there are many farm dams, and when these dams are carefully managed, they can play a similar role to natural wetlands – helping restore biodiversity by providing much needed wetland habitats for native wildlife.

There are a number of other benefits that come from fenced, enhanced dams:

  • By supporting more wildlife, healthy dams support increased nutrient cycling, pollination and other ecosystem services.
  • Vegetation around a dam captures sediment from inflow, so the need to muck out dams may be reduced in the long term.
  • Farmers with enhanced dams generally saw better water retention in these dams during the 2018-2019 drought. The presence of fringing vegetation shelters the dam surface, reducing evaporation from wind.
  • Enhanced dams can become an oasis on the farm – a place to visit and enjoy lush vegetation and wildlife even during times of drought.
  • Farm dams in poor condition can release large amounts of greenhouse gases. Early research is beginning to show that revegetating dams can reduce emissions. Researchers from Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab are working with Sustainable Farms researchers to investigate this further.

Read more about the Sustainable Farms dams study here: https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/about-us/our-research/#farm-dams-study

You can find the in-depth technical guide – with details on constructing a sustainable farm dam – here: https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/docs/kb/farm-dams-technical-guide/farm-dams/

The Torbay Catchment already has a number of excellent examples of sustainable enhanced farm dams that have been established for several years – protected from overgrazing and with native plants taking on the job of water filtration and creating wildlife habitat. With the results being dams with cleaner, and clearer, water, that are capturing carbon rather than emitting nitrous oxide and methane.

If you want to transform your not-so-pristine muddy dam into a clear and idyllic water oasis, singing out with native frog and bird calls, while also treating your cattle or sheep to drinks of cleaner and healthier water from troughs or a hardened access point, then this program is perfect for you! Local farmers now have the chance to apply for funding to fence one of their dams and plant a diverse range of specially selected natives around farm dams, while we run a monitoring program to document changes before, during and after livestock are prevented from ‘excreting’ where they drink.

TCG will carry out monthly water quality measurements, seasonal biodiversity assessments and greenhouse gas emissions monitoring on selected dams to observe any changes and fluctuations over time. Farmers involved in the program whose dams are monitored will receive all data collected from the dams and analysed by experts at universities in the program.

How it works – complete our EOI for a chance to secure funding to fence and revegetate your dam. There are limited funding opportunities available. We will shortlist applicants based on your responses and contact you to arrange a site visit, if we think your dam would meet our funding criteria.

Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) at https://forms.office.com/r/14rurrv7v2