construction and refurbishment of earthen irrigation channel banks

3. Research Procedure3.1 Terms of ReferenceTerms of Reference were prepared by the Steering Committee. This determined the aimsand objectives of the research project and directed the Research Teams into specific areasof research.3.2 Literature ReviewA world-wide literature review was conducted by Sinclair Knight Merz. The searchcovered Australian and overseas databases for articles in English published in the lasttwenty years. This search yielded some useful information but to a great extent was of anacademic rather than a practical focus.The climatic and installation conditions of many countries are very different to Australia,and a considerable number of technical references, covering such topics as sub-articconditions and third world countries, were not applicable to Australia.These references have been catalogued on a Microsoft Access database which is availableon request. References can also be found at the end of each section of the Guidelines.It was found during the Survey of Authorities that a large amount of unpublishedinformation was held by irrigation authorities in the form organisational communications;memos, technical manuals, project reports, plans, cost estimates, etc. These documentsprovided the research teams with a substantial amount of practical information on whatpractices and procedures are currently used in Australia. Personal communications withauthority staff also yielded much useful information.The research teams also sought product data from contractors, suppliers andmanufacturers and specialist information from consultants.Much of this information is presented in the Guidelines so that it can be shared byirrigation authorities throughout Australia.3.3 Survey of AuthoritiesA review and documentation of current problems and practices of public and privateirrigation schemes in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia andWestern Australia was carried out during 1996.The Survey of Authorities consisted of:1. initial contact with Authorities by letter and a short questionnaire to obtaininformation.2. further consultation and semi-structured interviews with irrigation schemes identifiedfrom the written responses as having new or innovative practices3. field inspections and data collection of irrigation schemes identified as industryleaders or representing current industry best practice in a particular fieldConstruction and Refurbishment of Earthen Channel Banks August 2002 – Edition 1.0 3-1