Water management in the cotton industry has continued to be of fundamental importance to sustainability and production. Dealing with climate variability that requires the tools of water management be more sensitive to atmospheric factors. The IrriSAT suite of tools integrate atmospheric measurements with plant vigour measurements, creating tools which reflect very well the current climate, including extremes and spatial variability in crops.

The IrriSAT tools capture a foundation dataset for the reporting and management of variability of plant water use. IrriSAT is a weather based irrigation scheduling service. It uses satellite imagery to better determine crop coefficients that are needed to calculate crop water use. The system uses on-ground weather stations to measure sunlight hours and intensity, cloud cover, rainfall and wind which are all used to calculate a potential water use in the past 24 hours. This information when combined with the satellite-determined crop coefficient for a particular crop allows an actual water use figure to be calculated on a site specific basis for low cost.

During the 2010/2011 irrigation season an initial trial was undertaken to assess the potential of the IrriSAT system for use in water management in cotton production systems. Ten consultants took part in the trial with 304 individual paddocks or blocks being monitored. Total area monitored was approximately 20 000 ha.

Based on the results of the trials and feedback received from the trial participants there were three potential applications of the IrriSAT technology identified and initially assessed for their useability and function which could benefit the cotton industry. These are:

1. Providing site specific irrigation scheduling information

2. Regional water use benchmarking

3. In season yield forecasting

Each one of these components has clear benefits for the cotton industry. From this initial trial it was clear that there is significant interest in the approach by water managers in the cotton industry and real benefits for water management.