WINETECH Technical Yearbook 2019

CAROLYN HOWELL: ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Stellenbosch KEYWORDS: Treated winery wastewater, Adelaide, Australia. JULY 2019 MANAGEMENT AND RE-USE OF TREATED WINERY WASTEWATER (PART 3): ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Carolyn went to New Zealand and Australia to participate in a technical tour focussing on the management and re-use of treated winery wastewater, with particular reference to wine grape irrigation. This article focuses on visits in Adelaide. She reports… Recently, the Western Cape experienced one of its worst droughts to date. Users were limited to 70 L of water per person per day and are currently limited to 105 L of water per day. Therefore, water is a precious, scarce resource. Approximately three years of good rainfall is needed to recover from the drought. Therefore, alternative sources of irrigation water for vineyards, e.g. using treated wastewaters, will become more important under the above-mentioned conditions or if climate change reduces long- term winter rainfall.

THE GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA Adelaide was founded in 1836 by Colonel William Light and is north of the Fleurieu Peninsula on the Adelaide Plains, between the Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges. Adelaide has a Mediterranean climate with warm to hot dry summers and cool to mild winters. Mean temperatures are, on average, 29°C and 15°C in January and July, respectively. Most of the rainfall occurs in the winter with June being the wettest month. AUSTRALIAN WINE CENTRE The National Wine Centre was built in 2000 and is reminiscent of a barrel of wine (Photo 1). The National Wine Centre has a history wall (Photo 2) depicting the history of

PHOTO 1. The National Wine Centre of Australia reminds one of a wine barrel.