Professor Basant Maheshwari

• Biography
• Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
• Grants / Current Projects
• Awards and Recognition
• Publications
• Contact Details

Biography

I have worked on projects that build stakeholder engagement, form partnerships and result in changes to irrigation practice. One example of this is the ‘Irrigation Sustainability Challenge’ project in which I led an engagement of 17 councils, a number of peri-urban irrigators, botanic garden staff and other irrigators in Sydney and Melbourne to develop the sustainability assessment framework and indicators.

My work on the modelling the hydraulics of overland flow involved collection of over sixty sets of field data at four locations in Victoria and NSW over three years. The work led to development of a new methodology for the estimation of hydraulic resistance.

My work in the area of infiltration estimation has been a valuable research contribution of my career. I developed a 'volume balance' method that uses the speed of water advance and irrigation flow rate on the field surface to estimate indirectly the soil infiltration characteristics. The method has since been tested and used by researchers in Australia and overseas and subsequently has been modified and improved.

My recent research on irrigation efficiency on farms, sporting fields and around homes is having considerable impacts on policy and operational decisions in the urban water sector. For example, my findings from a project: ‘The Efficiency and Audit of Residential Irrigation Systems in the Sydney Area’ has assisted Sydney Water Corporation and the Irrigation Australia Limited in their water conservation strategies in Sydney region.

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Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

Water Resources Managment and Environmental Hydrology with a focus on multi-disciplinary approach to improving efficiency of irrigation and enhancing sustainability of water and land resources in both urban and rural landscapes.

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Grants / Current Projects

Total funding over the last five years: Over $2 millions. Some examples of recent projects are:

Title: Developing Best Practice Water Management Guidelines for Parks and Ovals in Sydney Metropolitan Area.
Funding: Sydney Water Corporation, 2009-10; $36,907.

Title: Developing practical stakeholder engagement and action on irrigation with effluent water in Western Sydney.
Funding: UWS Urban Sustainability Grant; 2008-2009; $24,778.

Title: Irrigation and Water Saving Potential of Magnetic Treated Water in Vegetable Crops.
Funding: Omni Environmental Group Pty Ltd; 2007-2008; $65,000.

Title Monitoring and Assessment of Irrigation Practices and Efficiency on Playing Fields; NSW Environmental Trust and Penrith City Council.
Funding: NSW Environmental Trust; 2007-2010; $170,925.

Title: System Harmonisation For Applied Research Planning (SHARP): South Creek Catchment, Sydney.
Funding: CRC for Irrigation Futures; 2006-2010; $447,000.

Title: Smart irrigation technologies for saving potable water on vegetable farms.
Funding: NSW Department of Utilities, Energy and Sustainability; 2006-2009; $160,164.

Title: Modelling the Hydrology of South Creek Catchment and Greater Western.
Funding: UWS Eminent Research Visitors Scheme; 2006-2010; $58,434.

Title: Challenging The Irrigation Industry (Urban & Rural) To Measure Its Sustainability.
Funding: CRC for Irrigation Futures; 2004-2005; $310,000.

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Awards and Recognition

•Expert panel member for the evaluation of proposals in Environment, (including climate change)" for EU Framework Program 7. European Union Research Directorate, Brussels.

•Recipient of ‘2005 Outcome Focus Award’; Co-operative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures; in recognition of my high quality research work, collaboration and success in securing external grant to the CRC.

•Recipient of the Second Prize for SWAG (Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture) Multimedia CD-ROM package; Australian Farm Software Competition; Education Programs Category; Royal Agricultural Society of NSW; Highly educational and innovative multimedia resource for the study of water management issues in agriculture; 1998.

•Editorial Board Member/Associate Editor of four international journals:
1. Journal of Agricultural Water Management (Elsevier Publishers, The Netherlands), 1997-2006;

2. Journal of Biosystems Engineering (Elsevier Publishers, The Netherlands, 1999 - to date;

3. Journal of Soils and Sediments (Ecomed Publishers, Germany) 2001-2007; and

4. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering (American Society of Civil Engineers, USA), 2000-2006.

• Joint Editor-in-Chief, e-Journal of Land and Water; www.sakia.org.

•Expert Panel Member, National Smart Approved Water Mark Scheme, Water Services Association of Australia (January 2004 to date).

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Publications

Scholarly Book

Maheshwari, B., (2006) The Efficiency and Audit of residential Irrigation Systems in the Sydney Metropolitan Area, Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures, 83p; ISBN 1 74108 132 7.

Maheshwari, B., and Connellan, G., (Editors), (2005) Role of Irrigation in Urban Water Conservation: Opportunities and Challenges, Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures, 79p; ISBN 1 74108 080 0; Impact: 81 downloads of this publication during July 2005 – May 2006 period from CRC IF web site.

Chapters in Scholarly Books (B1 category)

Singh, R., Simmons, B., Maheshwari, B., Nawarathna, B. and Malano, H., (2009) Reconciliation of future water demand and supply in Western Sydney, Australia. In: Water, Environment and Society, Vol. II – Statistical and Systems Analysis Techniques, S. K. Jain, V. P. Singh, V. Kumar, R. Kumar, R. D. Singh and K. D. Sharma (Editors), Allied Publishers, New Delhi, ISBN 978-81-8424-400-7, p. 843-851.

Schwecke, M., Simmons, B., Maheshwari, B., and Ramsay, G., (2008) Integrating alterative water sources in urbanised environments. In: Sustainable Irrigation Management, Technologies and Policies II, Y. Villacampa Esteve, C.A. Brebbia and D. Prats Rico, WIT Press, U.K., ISBN: 978-1-84564-116-0, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 112, 351-359.

Maheshwari, B. L., Sakadevan, K., and Bavor, J., (2004) Phosphorous and nitrogen availability in agricultural soil irrigated with recycled water. In: Waste Management, A.L. Juhasz, R. Niadu and G. Magesan (Editors), Science Publishers, Inc., Enfield, USA, p.219-232.

Maheshwari, B. L., and Simmons, B., (2003) Issues, challenges and opportunities for water reuse and management in Sydney, Australia. In: ‘Water and Wastewater: Perspectives of Developing Countries’, R. Devi and N. Ashan (Editors), Water and Environmental Management Series, IWA Publishing, International Water Association, London, U.K., p.73-80.

Maheshwari, B.L., and Simmons, B., (2003) Impact of Urbanisation on Availability of Irrigation Water in Australia – A case study of the Hawkesbury – Nepean Catchment. In: Water for a Sustainable World – Limited Supplies and Expanding Demand, U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, Denver, USA, p.509-519.

Maheshwari, B.L., Cornish, P., and Simmons, B., (2003) Water in urban and peri-urban landscapes – Australian perspectives. In: Watershed Management, V. P. Singh and R. N. Yadava, Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, p.279-291.

Articles in Scholarly Refereed Journals

Burgin, S., Williamson, D., and Maheshwari, B., (2009) Natural spaces in urban landscapes – how do they influence stewardship attitudes and actions of university students? International Journal of Environmental Studies (Taylor and Francis Group, London), In press.

Pinto, U., and Maheshwari, B., (2009) Reuse of Greywater for irrigation round homes in Australia – Understanding community views, issues and practices (Taylor and Francis Group, London). Urban Water, In press.

Maheshwari, B. L., and Grewal, H.,S., (2009) Magnetic treatment of irrigation water: Its effects on vegetable crop yield and water productivity. Agricultural Water Management, DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2009.03.016 (Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam), 96: 1229–1236.

Webb, T., Burgin, S., and Maheshwari, B., (2009) Action Research for Sustainable Water Futures in Western Sydney: Reaching Beyond Traditional Stakeholder Engagement to Understand Community Stakeholder Language and Its Implications for Action. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 22:1–14.

Schwecke, M., Simmons, B., Maheshwari, B., and Ramsay G., (2008) Integrating alternative water sources in urbanised environments. WIT Transaction of Ecology and the Environment, 112:351-359.

Atkins, D., Maheshwari, B., Christen, E.W., and Shepheard, M., (2007) Irrigation TBL - a sustainability reporting tool for urban irrigation. Water Journal (Australia Water Association), 34.

Mulley, P., Simmons, B., and Maheshwari, B., (2007) Sustaining public open spaces through water recycling for irrigation: developing decision support tools and framework. International Journal of Water, Vol. 3(4):397 - 406.

Schwecke, M., Simmons, B., and Maheshwari, B., (2007) Sustainable use of stormwater for irrigation case study: Manly Golf Course. Environmentalist 27 (1):51–61. http://www.springerlink.com/content/85g6m570mj7w8p44/

Maheshwari, B., (2006) Urban irrigation - looking at water use in our backyard. Water Journal (Australia Water Association), 33(5):51-52.

Burgin, S., Carson, J., and Maheshwari, B., (2005) Local provenance in rehabilitation of degraded landscapes: a case study from the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, Australia. AREA, 37(3):324-331; (Wiley-Blackwell, London; Journal of Royal Geographical Society of UK), 2007 Journal Impact Factor: 1.671.

Brainwood, M.A., Burgin, S., and Maheshwari, B., (2004) Temporal variations in water quality of farm dams: impacts of landuse and water sources. Agricultural Water Management (Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam), 70:151-175; 2004 Journal Impact Factor: 0.835.

Moehansyah, H., Maheshwari, B. L., and Armstrong, J. L., (2004) Field evaluation of selected soil erosion models for catchment management in Indonesia. Journal of Biosystems Engineering (Academic Press, London), 88(4):491-506; 2004; Journal Impact Factor: 0.848.

Maheshwari, B. L., Moehansyah, H., and Armstrong, J.L., (2003) Effects of different landuses on runoff and soil erosion in the Riam Kanan Catchment, Indonesia. International Agricultural Engineering Journal, 12 (1&2):19-51; 2004 Journal Impact Factor: 0.848.

Conference Publications – Full Papers – Refereed

Singh, R., Maheshwari, B. L., and Malano, H. M., (2009) Developing a conceptual model for water accounting in peri-urban catchments. 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09, International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, July 13–17, Cairns, Australia, 7p.

Gartley, M., Nawarathna, B., Davidson, B., Malano, H., and Maheshwari, B., (2009) System harmonisation framework for water resources planning in peri-urban catchments. 8th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09, International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, July 13–17, Cairns, Australia, 7p.

Schwecke, M., Simmons, B., Maheshwari, B., and Ramsay, G, (2006) Community Awareness of the Use of Alternative Water Sources for Irrigation of Golf Courses in Urban Landscapes - A Case Study of Selected Sites in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. In: Proceedings of the10th Annual Environmental Postgraduate Conference, Sydney, p241-255.

Schwecke, M., Simmons, B., and Maheshwari, B., (2005) Sustainable use of stormwater for irrigation: A case study of Manly Golf Course. In: Proc. ERE 2005, November 29 – December 2, Hobart, p.1-7.

Devi, B., Maheshwari, B., and Simmons, B., (2005) Rainwater harvesting for residential irrigation: how sustainable is it in urban context? In Proc: XII International Rainwater Catchment Systems Conference, November 15-18, New Delhi, India, CD ROM, 8p.

Maheshwari, B., (2004) Urban irrigation: Understanding issues and research needs, In: Proc. National Workshop on ‘Role of Irrigation in Urban Water Conservation – Opportunities and Challenges. Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures, 28-29 October, p.15-18.

Maheshwari1, B. L., Plunkett, M., and Singh, P., (2003) Farmers' perceptions about irrigation scheduling in the Hawkesbury-

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