Stop Third Party Bulk Storage First

So the opposition leader wants to lower the weirs to increase flow. It has some merit of course and will have an effect on flow.

Before we consider doing this why would we not look at stopping what you might call third party dams and storage facilities being used.

The amount of water that is being pumped to private dams and storage facilities is outrageous. If that is necessary one wonders at the viability of the crops that are being grown in those region.

If irrigators use the water as it is passing by then the flow with controls over allocations will also increase. The weirs of course were installed to ensure any water at all along the length of most of the rivers. Before the locks all of the rivers were more often than not dry in certain areas for significant periods of each year.

I find it difficult to comprehend storing water in dams for farming with, it is said, up to three years supply for some properties. The evaporation and seepage must be awesomely wasteful.I also find it difficult when it is reported that considerable of these facilities have been illegally constructed.

The infrastructure that the taxpayer has contributed to should be left alone in the first instance and the illegal on property facilities in inappropriate areas should be be removed immediately.

Communities Die - while Kevin,Penny and Mike Fiddle

So the good Karlene gets handed the bitter pill of advising that a third of the Irrigation Communities could die if the dire situation does not change.

So after decades of inaction what are we still seeing, INACTION.

I would like to have one of our expert economists tell me exactly what the loss to GDP is going to be with the loss of Riverland and Lower Murray Production. What is it going to cost Australia and the state of South Australia. I fear the number might put yet another shiver into the future of the Australian Economy.

When are we actually going to see some action on returning wasted water to the River. Just buying water alone sure is not going to fix the problem - there has to be serious inroads into better water management NOW.

So put down the Violin and do something.

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.

Can legal cannabis crops help save the Murray? But what about the open Channels?

The NSW Government (click the heading for the link) has put up a wonderful idea. Hemp is a much underestimated crop and provides so many bi products that are valuable to our community lets get on with it. Fibre,oil and many other opportunities exist in growing hemp.It will need fabric industries and a whole range of support from big business to make it viable but hey lets actually get behind this idea.

It will save water!

On a less positive note however, this blog has been very critical of inaction in Victoria. I would really like to know when is the NSW Government going to bite the bullet and replace all of their open irrigation channels with piped water. The savings from seepage and evaporation alone will contribute an enormous amount of water saving for the Murray Darling Basin. Please do it now and unlike the Victorians actually return the water to the River system.

The question I still ask when the hell are we going to stop talking and start doing SOMETHING!!!!

800 Billion Litres of Water

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 fears more talking here. When do we get some serious upstream action?

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.