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    Modelling a small-scale rainwater harvesting system for irrigation using SWAT : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Masters in Agricultural Science at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Liu, Jiajia
    In many regions, the water available for allocation to irrigation has reached its limit and that there is a need to identify alternative sources. Large scale irrigation schemes are available for farmers to buy in in certain part of the country. However, not all farmers will have access to water from large scale irrigation schemes and this has led some hill country farmers to consider the potential to construct their own, relatively small, dams on their properties to capture and store water for irrigation. The major challenge to estimating the potential benefits of water storage for irrigation is reliably simulating the likely volume of water that can be captured. This thesis models the rainwater harvesting potential of a hill country farm in the Wairarapa region (Riverside Farm). Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been selected to model the water harvesting potential due its ability to separate runoff, lateral flow, and the ground water contribution to the harvestable water according to the local topographic, soil and land use properties. This allows the modeller to consider a wide range of scenarios. A SWAT model was set up for the water harvesting catchment (WHC) on the case study farm. The WHC is ungauged, however it is nested within a larger catchment called the Calibration and Validation Catchment (CVC). CVC is gauged and therefore flow data can be obtained. Improved parameters obtained through CVC calibration is transferred to the WHC, this process of donating calibrated parameters to a hydrologically similar ungauged catchment is called parameter regionalization. The model suggests that the storage scheme can meet the average irrigation demand of 43 ha of land 90% of the time. The predicted water harvesting potential decreases with regionalized parameters when compared to the default settings which suggests that there is a risk that some modelling may overestimate the volume of water that can be captured. The economic impact of irrigation was also assessed in this study. The cost of one extra kilogram of pasture dry matter production is estimated to be between 39-44 cents/kg. Nitrogen fertilizer application can increase pasture yield but it is not a perfect substitution to irrigation because nitrogen fertilizer is not to be applied during drought. However, purchasing supplement feed from outside the farm might be a cheaper alternative to building a small-scale dam.
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    The economic evaluation of irrigation with particular reference to water harvesting systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Agricultural Economics and Farm Management at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1977) Sorrenson, William Jack
    1.1 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study is concerned with economic evaluations of irrigation systems, particularly those based on water harvesting. While problems associated with the development of irrigation projects and allocation of irrigation water are usually diverse and complex, it is well recognised that these problems can be usefully studied within the framework of economic theory. This is well illustrated by the widespread adoption of cost-benefit analysis since the 1950's in New Zealand (N.Z.) and many other countries, in evaluating public investment in irrigation and other water resource development projects. The continuing expansion of irrigation and increasing competition for water between urban, industrial and rural users, indicate that economists should play an important role in evaluating irrigation systems. Economic investigations of water harvesting irrigation systems are of particular importance in this context since water harvesting may provide the only, or cheapest, source of water to an area, and also because water that may otherwise be lost, primarily to the sea, is harvested and utilised.
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    Art and the greater good : ecology and the leisure economy : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Wallis, Samantha
    Art and the Greater Good: Ecology and the Leisure Economy is a research project concerned with exploring how one could alternatively address the environmental issues of our day through site-specific art. Central to this investigation has been attending to the ways historical and contemporary accounts of environment politics, site specificity, land and environmental art could resonate within a more modest artistic gesture. The resulting work Would you go on without me? reflects the possibility of this by its position in an indeterminate zone; that draws together the demotic, gardening, rainwater harvesting, play and ecology into the manifold of environmental art.