Smart Irrigation Management for Parks and Cool Towns (SIMPaCT) is an innovative new approach to using and conserving water to cool our urban environments. At a time when rising urban heat and water scarcity are becoming increasingly big issues, SIMPaCT offers a smart solution for maximising the cooling benefits of our green spaces.
The Digital Restart Fund (DRF) funded project is part of the Smart Places Acceleration Program, and is tackling the challenge of providing quality green public space for our communities. As our planet gets hotter due to climate change, these green spaces (such as trees, gardens and parks) are more important than ever. Sadly, these green spaces are threatened by more frequent and intense drought and extreme heat. This is where SIMPaCT comes in. With ‘energy, renewables and the natural environment’ being one of the NSW Government’s new focus areas, this project takes on even more importance.
What is Smart Irrigation Management for Parks and Cool Towns (SIMPaCT)?
SIMPaCT is Australia’s largest smart green infrastructure project. It uses embedded smart technologies, a digital twin and machine learning to manage irrigation and maximise cooling.
The SIMPaCT system is being trialled in Bicentennial Park, a 42ha parkland in Olympic Park. There, the system uses 50 low-cost air temperature and humidity sensing devices, 13 weather stations and over 200 soil moisture probes to gather live data on the local conditions across the park.
Self-improving algorithms use this input data to create commands for 193 irrigation zones across the park, telling it when to water.
Over time, the SIMPaCT system ‘learns’ how best to respond to current and forecasted environmental conditions to maintain optimal soil moisture levels and cooling with minimum water use.
Why is the SIMPaCT system important?
Australia is the driest and hottest permanently inhabited continent on Earth and heatwaves kill more Australians than all other natural hazards combined (AdaptNSW 2023). Intense heat events are more acutely felt in urban environments because buildings, roads and other hard surfaces absorb, store and re-emit heat. Air temperatures are further increased by traffic, manufacturing, cooling of buildings and other sources of localised heat emission. The result is the Urban Heat Island Effect.
The Urban Heat Island Effect doesn’t just make things uncomfortable; it leaves communities living in urban centres exposed to health risks and at higher risk of dying, reduces work hours and can have detrimental impacts on urban flora and fauna. It also drives up power use and increases the carbon intensity of our cities and towns – exacerbating the root cause of increasing urban heat.
We need to be innovative and use new technologies to help us tackle the urban heat island effect. Early results from SIMPaCT show the air in Bicentennial Park is up to 7 degrees cooler than the nearby urban centre.
What does award-winning sustainability look like?
SIMPaCT is an incredible example of cutting-edge technology being used to improve sustainability. As a result of this, it’s won several awards focused on sustainability. These include winning the Climate Technology Impact category in the Banksia Foundation NSW Sustainability awards, the Research and also the IoT For Good categories at the IOTAA Awards, the Gov Tech and People’s Choice Awards at InnovationAUS, and being a finalist in the World Smart City Awards 2023 in the Energy and Environment category.
SIMPaCT has been proudly developed and trialled in Western Sydney, to tackle Western Sydney conditions. With over 12 project partners, the initiative is a great example of collaborative innovation in action.