The Trangie-Nevertire Irrigation Scheme (TNIS) screening project is Australia’s largest showcase of modern pump screening designed for fish protection.

TNIS is a member-owned organisation managing 100,000 hectares of mixed farming, with over 21,000 ha under irrigation.

Leading the Macquarie

TNIS was one of the first organisations to install modern fish-protection screens. The goal was to help care for native fish, while reducing the cost and inconvenience of debris intake.

In 2020, the main pumping station was upgraded from traditional, ineffective ‘trash racks’ to four automated, self-cleaning cone screens.

The cone screens have a 3mm stainless steel wedgewire mesh. This reduces the velocity of water at the intake, but doesn’t impact the volume of water pumped.

In fact, because the system doesn’t need to be backflushed as often, pumping is actually more reliable and saves members around $3000 per month in electricity costs.

A bypass system is part of the design. This provides additional insurance in the case of any unforeseen challenges with the screening system.

Fully fish-friendly

In 2023, the diesel back-up pump next to the main pump station was also screened, making the pump station 100% screened and fish-friendly.

On this single pump, a T-shaped cylinder screen was fitted. This setup is a great solution for irrigators with individual pumps, but can also be used for a series of pumps arranged in a row on the riverbank.

The T-screen is fitted to rails and can be fully retracted using an electric winch, for easy inspection and maintenance (in this image, the screen has been retracted).

When the screen is up, water passes through a modernised trash rack – effectively returning the site to the old configuration. Like the cone-screen bypass, this provides additional ‘insurance’.

Native fish research

NSW DPI – Fisheries is surveying fish populations at TNIS. This helps understand the performance of screens under real-world conditions.

Surveys are done ‘with’ and ‘without’ screens, then comparing the results. Preliminary findings show the screening system is highly effective, dramatically reducing intake of fish and debris.

The research is part of a broader program of fisheries and economics. The goal is to continue developing understanding of how screening can improve native fish and fishing, along with the value-proposition and on-farm benefits for irrigators.

To learn more about the science behind screening, check out the Science page. More detail, plus links to scientific papers and reports, can be found on the Resources page.

Project details

Installed: June 2020 (back-up pump completed 2023)

Screen Manufacturer: AWMA Water Control Solutions

Project Partners: NSW Department of Industry and Environment (EES), Department of Regional NSW (Fisheries), Trangie-Nevertire Irrigation Scheme and AWMA Water Control Solutions, Recreational Fishing Trust and OzFish Unlimited.

Project Funding: NSW Drought Relief Fund, NSW Recreational Fishing Trust Habitat Action Grant, and the Macquarie River Screening Program.

NEWS ARTICLES

19 June 2020 | ABC COVER FISH EXCLUSION SCREENS INSTALLED ON MACQUARIE RIVER

19 June 2020 | ABC COVER FISH EXCLUSION SCREENS INSTALLED ON MACQUARIE RIVER

The major intake pump at the Trangie to Nevertire Irrigation Scheme is being screened.(ABC Western Plains: Jessie Davies) Every year 100 million fish are killed by irrigation pumps throughout the Murray Darling Basin — but a simple solution could stop the carnage. Key Points: A single large river pump can kill as many as 12,000 fish a day on the Murray-Darling The deaths negatively impact the environment and irrigators, who are forced to deal with the mess There are calls for screens that prevent the problem to be installed on all irrigation pumps A fish exclusion screen acts as a physical barrier to stop fish being sucked into large pipes and macerated. For the first time in New South Wales, a large screen is being installed on a major pump that feeds 33 farms from the Macquarie River, near Trangie. NSW Department of Primary Industries research scientist Craig Boys said the installation would save hundreds of fish a day.

Find out More

19 JUNE 2020 | FISH ARE FRIENDS: Brand new irrigation screening aiming to protect millions of fish a year

19 JUNE 2020 | FISH ARE FRIENDS: Brand new irrigation screening aiming to protect millions of fish a year

$500,000 worth of funding will be used to set up irrigation pipeline screens set to benefit irrigators, environmental groups and recreational fishers as well as endangered fish in the region's waterways. The project, which has taken decades to progress to this stage, will erect fish screens over irrigation pipelines that exist along the Murray Darling waterway and is currently constructing fish screens for irrigators in the Trangie and Nevertire areas to benefit from. Senior Fisheries Manager Sam Davis says the project could potentially save millions of fish from being extracted and in many cases destroyed from the region's water. "Fish screens prevent fish from being entrained into our pump irrigation and our water channels," Ms Davis said. "Those fish who are extracted are completely lost to the local ecosystem, they will never get to return, we lose all their genetic input and we can't get it back." "Our scientists have worked at quantifying how many fish are lost, and at our best estimate, millions of fish are lost in these water systems every year."

Find out More