Rubicon Water: Longstanding collaboration works to automate some of the world’s largest irrigation systems

The need

Amidst a growing global population and the escalating impacts of climate change, there is an urgent call for sustainable water management in agriculture. Irrigation, crucial for food security, currently consumes 70% of the world's available freshwater resources, with the majority drawn from surface water sources. On average, approximately only half of the water released for irrigation is used by the crop  (FAO AQUASTAT, 2012), meaning enormous potential for global water conservation with the other half.

Rubicon Water was established in 1995 with a focus to sustainably increase global food and fibre production by improving the management of irrigation water in gravity canal systems – the major source of water loss within the irrigation industry.

The technology automates traditional manually-operated canal networks to provide an on-demand supply for irrigators, while at the same time transforming these networks from a typical 50-60% distribution efficiency to over 90%.

Projections towards the year 2050 state that agriculture will need to produce 56% more food and fibre to feed the world’s population (WRI, 2018). Therefore, enhancing irrigation efficiency to improve both water productivity and food production is critical.

The partnership

In the late 1990s, Rubicon approached Professor Iven Mareels, an international expert in control theory, who had recently joined the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) at the University of Melbourne, to collaborate on the development of modelling and control algorithms to progress the automation of canal networks.

With access to real world data, a team of academics, students, and engineers from Rubicon worked together to develop tailored control algorithms—crucial for coordinating precision-engineered hardware, water management software, and sophisticated communication technology—bringing the desired objectives within reach. This control engineering work has continued across two decades, with Professor Erik Weyer and Professor Michael Cantoni in EEE taking the lead since 2003, securing five ARC linkage grants in the process.

The progress

Rubicon’s first large-scale implementation was in Northern Victoria, Australia. With initial pilots commencing in 2003, the project now conserves over 430 million cubic meters of water per year, with over 15,000 interconnected solar-powered gates accurately measuring and controlling water flow to growers located across 400,000 hectares.

“Irrigated agriculture covers approximately 2.5 million hectares of land across Australia, predominately located within the Murray Darling Basin” says Rubicon Water’s CEO, Bruce Rodgerson. “However, Australia represents less than 1% of the world’s irrigated land, presenting enormous potential for our technology in international markets such as the United States, Europe, Central Asia and India.”

Rubicon recently delivered one of the largest automation projects of its type across the world in India on the Narayanpur Left Bank Canal, where farmers located at the end of the system are reporting receipt of water for the first time in decades. To date, they have produced over 35,000 control and measurement devices in more than 20 countries, with approximately 70 per cent of Rubicon’s revenue now generated internationally.

In September 2021 Rubicon made its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:RWL) to support its global expansion strategy and accelerate growth throughout key identified markets.

The outcome

Today, the control algorithms developed from the partnership are operating in large-scale irrigation networks used to efficiently distribute billions of litres of water every year. Recently, Rubicon expanded its collaboration to include a team of researchers from the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, led by Professor Andrew Western, using weather and satellite data to determine soil moisture.

In addition to the technological breakthroughs, Rubicon and the University have filed over 70 joint patents. With the support of six Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grants and other Federal Government grants, the partnership activities have been added to course content components for students in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, leading to multiple career opportunities. Rubicon has gone on to employ a number of researchers engaged in this work who continue to be employed by the company today.

People

University of Melbourne

• Professor Erik Weyer, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Professor Michael Cantoni, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Professor Andrew Western, Head of Infrastructure Engineering
• Professor Dongryeol Ryu, Infrastructure Engineering
• Professor Iven Mareels, formerly of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Rubicon Water

• Matt Ryan, General Manager – Technical Services
• Dr. Adair Lang, Innovation Manager
• Dr. Yuping Li, Senior Control Engineer