Water Down Under 2008

Today sees the beginning of the "Water Down Under 2008" conference. The major sponsors are The South Australian Government and SA Water. The Bureau of Meteorology and the National Water Commission are also major contributors. I really hope that this talk fest can actually assist in generating some positive steps to confronting the issues for the driest State in what is arguably the driest continent.

It is very important that these events are conducted, but what is very frustrating is the lengthy periods of inactivity in actually doing something.

Whilst this blog is directed at the Murray Darling Basin the issues are indeed much greater when taking a holistic perspective on the growth of Australia and the ready availability of the essential resource of water.

The obvious place to look particularly for South Australia is to remove our reliance on the River and protect our Primary Producers who depend on the River for their livelihood.

Brisbane must address it's domestic water issues as must most Capital Cities. Equally there are many country communities that are consistently walking a fine line on having sufficient water.

Yes we need answers, but most importantly we need action. Unfortunately there are decades of inaction that bring this to crisis point today.

Good luck with the conference - I look forward to hearing and seeing some positive outcomes.