Blog at "Letters from Adelaide" poses some very pertinent questions. I for one do not believe it is too late, but that depends on how long we take to procrastinate over taking some affirmative action.
Please read the attached document $1billion to fix the Murray Valley Irrigation says the Victorian Government. So the Australian Tax payer has just paid for that program. But the article attached also says that the water saving is going to be 800 billion litres. Mr Rann can you please tell me what happened to the other 700 billion litres? The taxpayer has paid, the River should get the benefit surely.
Fifteen months and finally the deal is done. But what does it really mean - I look forward to Penny Wong making some pretty serious announcements in the next few days. Equally how soon can we get started on infrastructure improvements throughout the basin. That is when the real test will come to bear. Illegal levees and dams all of these issues need to be addressed with great Urgency.
In one of the articles written today the Wentworth Group of scientists their warnings must now be very carefully considered.
At least there is some progress.
Today is a meeting of the State Premiers with the Federal Government.It is apparently still confusing as to the agenda. Will the Governments of Australia actually come to an agreement on doing something about the water crisis in the Murray Darling Basin?
The continued reticence of the Victorian Government to join the scheme is absolutely appalling. In the event that they do move on the $10 billion scheme I for one will be absolutely incensed if any of them comes out with the statement "that see the Labor Government has done something that the Howard Government could not". The Victorian Government and its selfishness in not agreeing to this scheme months ago is disgusting.
I believe the suicide of every farmer along the River Scheme can be laid squarely on the shoulders of the Victorian Government. The loss of business due to the recalcitrant Government is inexcusable.As families face the crisis of no water when one State simply will not play the game is intolerable. To be driven into deepest Depression to the point of suicide when Government inactivity is to blame is incomprehensible.
Even now it is said that even if Victoria signs it is unlikely to return flow to the River of any of the massive savings of water that can be achieved by upgrading out of date management and irrigation practices of this precious resource.
This matter is critical and must be handled now.
It seems that the issue is not one that Australia is to face alone. The "Water Wars" article attached the link under this heading describes the fact that usable water is a major Global Crisis. Clearly in Australia being the "driest" continent it is much more critical but keeping our Global resource of water clean enough and plentiful enough to actually use is something the whole world needs to consider.
I find it amazing that this kind of study is done but still it sits on a desk with no apparent reaction from anybody. Who is going to take responsibility for addressing this kind of blatant ignorance of the law, the ecology of the river or the sheer environmental vandalism that is being allowed to go on.
Read the article by clicking on the heading of this post or this link
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/25/2171113.htm.
Irrigation modernisation in Northern Victoria scheduled to start in Winter this year will recover 800 billion litres of water a year. If each of the irrigation zones actually took this on how many Billion Litres of waste could be recovered. If we do not stop stupid wastage first how will any scheme work. Surely these programs should be accelerated across the entire Murray Darling Basin.
One feels that when you view these pictures attached to this link that there are plenty of options to improve bad water management throughout the entire Murray Darling Basis. There is talk that proposed changes in the Shepparton region alone will see the recovery of 800 million litres of water. That seems to me a very conservative estimate.
Professor Mike Young of Adelaide University and Research fellow at CSIRO John McColl Have written a very constructive paper on Future Proofing The Murray Darling Basin.
I recently heard Professor Young speak and I have to say he rates as one of very few people I have heard actually speak very constructively. I have linked both the Professor and John McColl to their article have a read and I think you will agree it is one the more useful pieces written on this topic.
This link is the latest out of Karlene Maywald's Office and is important for South Australian Interst Groups.I am sure the Honorable Karlene has a master plan but wish we could actually see real action to start the engineering works upstream that would save gigalitres. One feels when you see the amount of wasted water that the flows could well improve if this was corrected and of course State Governments do not keep giving away allocation.
This has been a long and well documented track for as long as I can remember. I saw a paper recently with the appropriate apologies "Water Policy everywhere and not a drop to drink!".Mick Keogh, Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute writes quite an insiteful paper.
It is time that politicians faced this problem seriously and on this occasion actually do something. The millions of dollars spent on studies and still we are no distance down the track of fixing the issue.
Its time.
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