Dams have been the mainstay of water supply for food production in agriculture for a considerable time.  Dams or reservoirs are also the mainstay of urban water supply.  The primary disadvantage of dams for agriculture and urban water supply are:

• As much as 40%of water stored in a farm dam can be lost through evaporation, depending on the depth of the dam and its surface area. Dam design can significantly decrease evaporation by reducing the surface area to volume ratio (deeper, narrower dams) and planting windbreaks to provide shade and reduce wind turbulence. Evaporation can be reduced to 20% with good dam design and wind protection.
• Dam and reservoir waters can be contaminated by chemical and nutrient runoff from catchments. These contaminants, including salts can accumulate in the bottom of the dam and increase in concentration within the water. Also, pathogenic microbes, like E.Coli can concentrate in the waters during periods of catchment runoff or high daily temperatures.
• Dams can leak and contaminate surficial groundwater aquifers.
• Dams are expensive to build and maintain.
• Dams can only be located in certain, low lying areas and this increases water distribution facilities across a farm or regional government area for urban water use.
• Decaying vegetation in dams can produce methane and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
• Many dams require the removal of shade trees in valley systems or drainage lines that are valuable as stock shade during periods of heat stress on animals.

A well-sited bore, by comparison can produce the following advantages over a dam:

• Contrary to popular belief, most of the highly productive, fractured rock, confined aquifers are located on ridge lines or high ground. The advantage of these locations is that this deep fractured rock water, is not contaminated by shallow groundwater flows in the lower parts of the landscape where salt, carbonates and chemicals concentrate in the water.  Also, water located on high ground can be gravity fed to locations across a farm (eg. troughs for stock, buildings, and dams as required)
• There is no evaporation or loss of water from a bore if it is pumped at a sustainable rate to maintain the water head in the bore.
• Deep groundwater bores increase in volume and water quality with depth. Also, the pressure in the bore that determines the bore water head level, will increase with depth.
• A bore site occupies a small space of about 3 sq.m. and normally does not require the removal of trees.
• The cost to establish a bore (eg. mapping and location services, drilling and pump setup) can be less than 5% of the value of the water for food production when ammonised over 10 years, including the high value of water during a drought when most food production is lost due to low water security from dams and shallow bores
• A bore site can be easily fitted with a Phi’on water conditioning device (meawater.com) if it is necessary to minimise any issues associated with water quality, eg. salinity, high minerals (eg. iron), carbonates, etc.

The high volumes and quality of sustainable, deep fractured rock water lie in the zone beyond 300 metres.  For more information, see the paper titled Groundwater Systems and Supply Issues, along with paper titled Earth Generated Water, on this website.

Perhaps 95% of agricultural bores are in the zones of 20-150 metres deep.  This water is highly influenced by the hydrological cycle (rainwater) and therefore is affected by drought.  This is particularly evident during a drought when harvesting of water from the alluvium aquifers on flood plains or river flats is unregulated.  In most cases, these bores are located within the floodplain alluvium at 60 metres, and in periods of drought the whole floodplain can be depleted of water inflows and therefore rivers stop running.  Consequently, regional towns must resort to high water restriction levels.  Flood plain harvesting of water is not sustainable in Australia.

A major issue with floodplain harvesting of water is that the depletion rates of water in the alluvium is difficult to measure and therefore regulation by government can be non-responsive or delayed until the point of crisis.  Albeit, that the water head levels in these floodplain bores can be measured by government authorities on a continuous basis as a permanent regulation requirement. Similarly, the harvesting of floodwaters on the plains by large agricultural corporations depletes a source of water to recharge the alluvium aquifers.

This issue of water security for all water users will only be properly addressed when the major water users in agriculture are moved into areas of deep fractured rock waters. While this reallocation may take decades to achieve, the long-term security and sustainability of surface water use is now at a crisis level across Australia.

The value of the water to a food producer is highly variable and dependent on the nature of the enterprise (eg. grazing cattle as opposed to growing cotton or rice). Also, the size of the enterprise that allows room for expansion based on available water and opportunity to provide variation or flexibility in the enterprise mix of foods to address seasonal or drought periods.

The cost of bringing a deep groundwater bore into operation (ie. productive use) is a minor expenditure compared with the potential to realise the value of the food produced from the water, albeit that water consumption per unit of food is highly variable (see table below).

Also, the value of the food from the water consumed can vary. For example, cattle and sheep that are grazing on 100% native plants will have a greater value for every litre consumed, as opposed to the same animals grazing on improved pastures that must be sown and fertilised.A deep groundwater bore to say 400 metres that is operationalised can cost from $150,000-200,000 depending on drilling and pump costs. However, this cost is potentially 5% of the opportunity value from the water if it has drought-proofed a farm or increased income by 2-4 fold. Farmers can lose  $100,000’s to millions of dollars every year in a drought and incur considerable debt costs if bank loans are required.The starting point for assessing the cost values of establishing a bore and budgeting for these costs is to complete a full water valuation for the enterprise.

Often bore and dam water quality is an issue on a farm or grazing property.  For example, salinity and hard water (high carbonates) can reduce food value potential and can become exacerbated over time if the water quality is not fully addressed.

Most deep, confined, fractured rock water has high water quality that is well mineralised with a good balance of minerals. That is, the water does not have concentrations of certain minerals or compounds, like iron, salts, and carbonates.  However, while these issues can be resolved through accessing the fresh water in deep fractured rock water, the existing surface water systems still need management solutions.

Phi’on has researched, developed, and commercialised a unique water conditioning technology that overcomes most water quality issues and increases food production. The details of this technology can be reviewed at www.meawater.com and a summary is provided on this website (www.primalwater.com.au) under Groundwater Quality on the home page.

The primary value in water is the negative (-mV) charge in the water at the point of use for food production.  Phi’on water conditioning devices provide a unique technology to entrain a permanent negative charge to the water.  All cell regulation and healing functions (eg. for microbes, plants, animals, and humans) operate at an optimal level with a negative charge.  It is only when this charge changes polarity to a positive charge that disease conditions commence.

A major issue in some regions of Australia is the presence of Calcite in water (hard water). A Phi’on water conditioning device will convert the Calcite to Aragonite. However, while this process will stop the scaling of pipes, the Aragonite (another crystalline form of a carbonate) must go somewhere. There is a principle in physics (1^st Law of Thermodynamics) that says: you cannot destroy matter or energy however they can be transformed. The Calcite is transformed to Aragonite however it needs to be collected and diverted as a waste or used as a carbonate as a soil nutrient or composite supplement.  A simple treatment system could be as follows:

Most farmers and graziers know that historically most bores in Australia have been sited by diviners or dowsers.  The skill of dowsing has existed for over 8,000 years and even with advanced ground-based seismic and gamma-ray technologies, dowsing is still the most efficient way to locate a bore on a fractured rock system.

Dowsing works through a process called entrainment. This is a process described in science whereby two interacting oscillating systems (ie. a human body and flowing water in a fracture) assume the same phase or cycle, or the synchronisation of an organism (human body) to an external rhythm (eg. the resonant energy of groundwater flowing in a fracture).  A dowser uses a pair of rods as an antenna for the dowser’s body to entrain the energy from water flowing in a fracture, ie. as the dowser crosses the edges of the fracture.  The Earth’s resonance energy changes from a rock system with no water to the resonant energy of a fracture with flowing water due to the deformation of the Earth’s rock system.  Flowing water in a fracture has current and therefore a change in charge or voltage (-mV) across the fracture.  Dowsing is all about tuning into an energy (eg. groundwater) through the dowser’s intent or question to the dower’s body energy (consciousness) and therefore to rods.

Phi’on uses dowsing to determine the precise location of the bore hole. However, Phi’on scientists already know the general location of the deep groundwater sources and the associated fractured rock systems through analysis of the airborne gravity, magnetic and gamma-ray data sets.  That is, a Phi’on scientist will determine within 30 metres, the desired bore site based on groundwater map intelligence. The next step is to dowse the fractures and then peg the exact drill site.  A Phi’on dowser will also calculate the estimated depths to fractures (usually 4 for each borehole) and the potential flow volumes at each depth (as an accumulative volume). A fracture is normally 15-25m wide.  These site details for each bore can be achieved within 15-20 minutes using dowsing.

The full potential of a bore (flow volumes) can be achieved when:

• The bore is drilled to the specified depth of the water bearing fractures
• The drilling of the borehole is perfectly vertical. There are times when the drilling is not vertical, and this can lead to the hole moving outside of the fracture (a deviation of only 2-3⁰ can place the drill bit outside of a fracture at 300m)

Phi’on can also facilitate ground-based seismic and gamma measurements of each dowsed borehole to validate the presence of fractured rock water, including the precise depths to water.  This ground-based measurement service is provided by Sustainable Water Solutions Pty Ltd (  https://www.sustainablewatersolutions.com.au/) who collaborate with Phi’on scientists to provide integrated technology solutions for large scale projects (including Regional Councils).