Dr Gillies's software, some of which has been rolled into the IRRIMATE service, monitors water inputs and outputs and speed of water flow over furrows, bays and basins to draw conclusions about the performance of irrigation systems.

Farmers can use the assessments from one irrigation to create "what if" scenarios for the following watering - a tool that has been used with great effect, particularly by the cotton industry.

Water savings averaging 20 per cent, and as high as 50 per cent, can be achieved through improved flow rates and scheduled irrigation times suited to various field layouts and soil types," said Dr Gillies, a scientist with the Irrigation Futures CRC.

If applied across Australia's irrigated farming systems, potential water savings could be in the order of 800,000 megalitres per year.

Dr Gillies is now working on the next evolution of water monitoring software: the ability to monitor an irrigation and control the results of that same irrigation in one process.

Currently, the results learned from an irrigation must be applied to the next watering.

Ideally, Dr Gillies said, the "real time control" software he is working on as part of his role with the Irrigation Futures CRC will be hooked up with the automated control systems recently installed in Victoria's Goulburn Valley and Colleambally, NSW.

An early version of real time control software should be available to the cotton industry, which has been the major adopter of Dr Gillies's work, by summer 2011.

Ultimately, all of Dr Gillies developments will be rolled into the IRRIMATE package, which over the past decade is estimated to have delivered $36 million in water and energy savings, and productivity gains.

The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage was established in 1950 as a scientific, technical and voluntary organisation to enhance the worldwide supply of food and fibre for people by improving water and land management.

The Commission's Young Professionals Award was presented to an Australian representative during a conference in New Delhi, India.