Irrigation and Site Based Management Plans (IMP/SBMP)

The holder of an environmental licence is generally required to develop and implement either an Irrigation Management Plan (IMP) or a Site Based Management Plan (SBMP). These plans describe the reasonable and practicable measures to ensure the sustainable release of contaminants (liquid or solid) to land.

An IMP or SBMP generally involves collecting and providing data for:

• Describing the existing environment, including location, climate, topography, hydrology, soils and vegetation.
• A description of the facility, operations, production, water sources and waste generation.
• Site-specific assessment of the soils including; types, structure, nutrient status, salinity and sodicity, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), of the contaminant release area;
• Identification of areas suitable for irrigation;
• Proposed crop development, management and removal strategies.
• Assessment of the effluent treatment system, including treatment pond sizes, wet weather storage capacity;
• Assessment of the system sustainability, including MEDLI modelling of the hydrological and nutrient balances of the effluent reuse system for an ‘average’ year and a ninetieth (90th) percentile ‘wet’ year.
• Development of an appropriate monitoring program for effluent, soil, crops/pasture, surface water and groundwater as required.
• Assessment of monitoring results and determination of the impact of the releases on the contaminant release area.

Our certified practicing soil scientist (CPSS) Justin Galloway, has personally prepared dozens of IMP and SBMP documents for sustainability and development application reports, all of which have been accepted by various authorities.