So today is it the Murray Darling Basin is now in control of the new Federally managed independent authority
(See the attached article)
I look forward to some decisive action to create an equality in water usage across the entire system for all.
Yes there will be winners and losers but that just has to be to allow each state and stakeholder an equitable opportunity.
With the amount of water that is being captured at the head waters of the Murray Darling Basin one has to question the sustainability of these crops for the Australian Environment. Perhaps Rice should be moved to some of the cane growing areas and grown in the traditional methods utilising rainfall rather than relying on irrigation water.Both crops need large quantities of water for survival and seem inappropriate to me.
Please read the attached article and vote in my new poll.I am interested in your thoughts.
So now the Bill has passed and according to Penny Wong "We will get on with the work of making sure that authority is up and running, so we can start the important work of preparing the first ever basin-wide plan which will include for the first time a cap based on science."
I guess my concern remains as to the undoing of the illegal levies etc that have been reported on. The over allocation that has gone on under State Government controls. It would seem to me that there is not a lot of time to procrastinate here and would ask the Federal Government moves much faster to ensure an equitable solution for all while the longer term plan is laid out.
At last the Victorians have handed over their constitutional rights to control the Murray Darling basin to the Federal Government.They are the last State to do so.
This article goes to some pains to talk about the controversy over the North South Pipeline and I remain unsure as to what I think.
The wasted water as displayed in the pictures in the next blog down tell me that there is a huge opportunity to improve irrigation practices in Victoria and this almost needs to be a priority in that State.
Talk about infrastructure spending to bolster the economy then lets start instantly on converting the hundreds of kilometres of open channels to pipes and insist that irrigators improve practices with low throw sprinklers and drippers.
The River can be saved but prompt action is essential.
I would still be interested in you view on the North South Pipeline, please Vote in my Poll
Amazing headline really.Click on the title of this blog article and read the amazing story.
I find it amazing because I understand what they are saying and still not sure of my opinion of the North South Pipeline. So if you have not voted in the poll alongside please do now.
What I find amazing is when there is a complete thumbing of the nose as to implementing best practice in irrigation techniques why? Why would we want to?
The photos at this album are worth a look. The photo I have put in this article was one of many taken on a forty degree heat day in 30 to 40 knot wind. Stop this blatant waste and I might even become a little bit sympathetic.
The article connected to this heading is about the open Channels in New South Wales, and makes the point very clearly how viewing from the air highlights the vast network of Channels across NSW. The attached photo is of channels in the Murray-Goulbourn of Victoria which boasts an equally vast network of channels.
The conservationists are asking that these channels be used to supply wetlands.
I ask one thing contemplate the wastage from evaporation and seepage of this vast network of open Channels. Then add up the seepage and evaporation from the vast dams that have been established on Cubbie Station and the like.
When are we going to see this absolute disgusting waste of this precious reserve by at a minimum putting these Channels into Pipes - imagine the savings that this would give back to the River system. You know in South Australia these channels disappeared about thirty years ago why have the upstream states not taken stronger action to fix this problem years ago.
Please do not forget to vote on the amendment to the Murray Darling Bill alongside of this post.
So the Senate has amended the Bill to take over the Murray-Darling Basin by adding a veto of the Victorian North South Pipeline.
I am not sure what I think on this and am very concerned that it will simply delay a process that is already long overdue. Until the Federal Government can get control an evenhanded approach to the whole disaster seems miles away.
I am very interested in the views of the community on this issue.Please join my Poll and Vote.
How can this continue. The Headwaters of the system are not being allowed to flow. All water is being captured and the Rivers blocked by open storage that simply is being greedy and selfish. The whole economy and eco-system is at threat and all we do is rewrite yet another report.
Allow the Rivers to run and take control of massive over allocation and off River Storage of the huge stations in Queensland.
Read the link attached to this heading.
Please, please act now
So both South Australia and New South Wales have handed control of the River Murray to the Federal Government.
Interesting to note that Queensland and Victoria are still debating the legislation.
So still Rome Burns while Victoria and Queensland fiddle.
Senator Nick Xenophon was promising merry hell on the River. I am just a bit concerned that even he has gone quiet. I would be interested in his views on the 4 Corners article on Buying Back the River. The Senate report says there is not enough water - of course there is if we share it out properly as one nation.
The answer is very straight forward - nil nix nothing. The ABC put together a magnificent Four Corners everyone gets a bit emotional and of it wanders into the ether.
Why can we not have a monthly update of progress at Government Level. The South Australian Government is looking at a Bill and an Amendment handing Control of the River to the Federal Government.
On one hand it is the right thing to do but until they have full control why. One could cynically ask does the local Government believe it will deflect the anger of the community. Therefore do we have the commitment of State Government to continue to actively lobby the Federal Government for a fairer deal on allocation particularly when the amount of water is infinitesimal compared to other states.
But still there are know significant actions that are appearing to be taken anywhere right now.
Anyone who watched the Four Corners Program (clicking the Four Corners will link you to the program)last evening must be aghast at the absolute stupidity of Government in the management of the Murray Darling Basin.
How can the NSW Government possibly justify water allocations well in excess of 100% of the dams servicing the Moree District and other regions.
When an independent review declares that there are over 2000kms of unauthorized levees,dams and channels and we are advised that they will just be allowed to exist by turning a blind eye and excusing blatant pilfering of water.
And then there is Queensland. Do you reckon anyone might be a little perturbed at pictures of Bulldozers going flat out increasing "on Farm" storage as fast as they can go. Like how off is that......
Do you reckon that we might be a little perturbed when the Queensland Government is pushing through legislation that will see the Australian Taxpayer have to foot a bill born out of there own administrative stupidity. Oh no the entitlements have already been granted regardless of the fact that there is not enough water to serve those entitlements.
Those magnificent aerial shots of these massive dams with many times the water in Sydney Harbour laid out for miles and miles in some of the harshest country in our land.
The evaporation and seepage off of these massive facilities and the open channels alone probably is enough to save the River system. There may even be an argument for putting the channels into pipes and other ways of reducing the wastage that clearly was being demonstrated in the footage shown by the ABC.
The pot shots taken about down stream abuse (SA takes less than 5% of the whole deal) are disgusting. The cries in the last twelve months over the damage caused by the floods in the Warrego and Condamine and calling on Australia to donate for relief are now stupifying. We now find that these floods were A) probably caused by the unnatural diversion of the River System by these man made levees, and B) were trapped so far upstream that farms even in New South Wales a few hundred kilometres way have been left in drought.
Clearly until the Federal Government takes control of the Basin there is simply going to be an ongoing selfishness about the water issues regardless of economical and environmental issues that effect the entire Australian Economy.
Penny Wong I am sad, that the amount of water in Queensland seemed to be news to you and the “thumbing” of the nose that the Queensland Government was serving up leaves me a little perplexed as to what you have been doing for the last year.
Better management of the River and a fair distribution surely is the answer to providing equity for all Australians. That can only be accomplished by exercising the Sovereign Power of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Please act now - we have shown we can when a crisis hits - is this not a crisis.
I congratulate the ABC for at last showing Australia where all the water is being kept. It has been very perplexing when we here of upstream flooding that has not given the River system any benefit. We now know why. Sir Sidney Kidman must be turning in his grave. He knew how to use the pastoral country of the Channel Country and drive his herd to market following the flood. Now we just block it for the purpose of commercial greed.
I am absolutely stunned by the Queensland Farmers Federation and the suggestion that Adelaide Water Restrictions should be higher.
The entire South Australian water draw only represents 5% of the the drawings across all states.
Queensland sits smugly at the top of the system drawing and storing 10 times more water than the whole SA outtake.
I am told that the evaporation off of Farm storage reflects more than all of the water we are allocated in South Australia - Unbelievable.
The figures quoted seem to be very out of kilter with recent numbers released by the Federal Government.
This is an amazing step. Congratulations. The only way to allow enough water is to stop this kind of mass storage. If we have to buy the farm, so to speak, then so be it. There are so many properties in these areas that are harvesting water and not allowing the natural flow of the River.
Please read this article and you will agree that this is a strategy that has been absolutely pushed by this blog since I started writing.
Thank you at last a step in the right direction - now lets move on to the next one. The more of this kind of action will see a terrific move to a happy healthy river system, and the surrounding economic communities will benefit.
We still need to consider how to harvest flood waters from the Northern Rivers as well. I stress only flood waters. If this water can be redirected inland rather than allowed to go out to sea then we will be protecting the overall production that has been built around our River Systems.
Professor Mike Young has today told the Senate Committee that just buying water is not the answer. The allocations down stream will just eat it all up.Rfere to the attached article "No Extra Water In sight"
Until the Federal Government takes control of all Water Allocations under Emergency Powers the folly that the State Governments have so brilliantly overseen cannot be undone.
The massive water storage facilities in the upstream environment have to be let go - and the downstream draw then has to managed very carefully. If each irrigator was allowed an emergency allocation of the flow that could be created the management of environment, Crops, livelihood and the economy I believe could be brought back to sustainable flow for all participants.
Professor Young and his "Wentworth Group" cohorts have been saying this stuff for years now and still nothing.
Please hear what is being said and step in and do the right thing.
The Greens are astounded why CSIRO has not been directly involved in this disaster.I am too - why hasn't our leading Scientific Research body been incorporated in this process. Indeed why haven't "the Wentworth Group" been included. The cluster of talent that is just not being utilised is criminal.
The important part of this is nothing has been done. A lot of the land that is under irrigation was originally part of soldier settlement programs and we encouraged them to grow Citrus and Grapes etc. Now we choose to desert these families and destroy a lifetime of work.
What has happened is Governments have continued to rape the Golden Goose and have significantly over allocated the River resource. We have allowed bulk storage of water that has now shut down River flow but still there are massive amounts of water being collected and stored at the headwater.
The "johnny come lately's" in the upper reaches of the Darling etc who have only in the relatively recent past been storing massive amounts of water in new dams and have really changed the whole face of the river system and the agriculture of these previous pastoral only regions.
Please let's not just add another layer of administrative static now. Let the water go from these massive storage facilities and let people along the river use what allocation they really need to survive. The surplus will fix the environmental issues and proper management of allocation can be installed if only the Federal Government will act instead of continuing to pay lip service to the issues at hand.
I would hate to consider the mental health issues that this continued "head in the sand attitude" is causing and wonder if statistics of family breakdown and suicide can be directly attributed to this disaster are being kept.
Political tokenism is way past its use by date and action must happen NOW!!!!
So again Senator Wong announces a further $400 million to buy back water. She hopes that it will add to the already acquired 39 billion litres of water already acquired.
I am not sure why Penny keeps talking in Billions of litres when the normal nomenclature along the River is megalitres.A cynical man might believe that talking billions makes it sound lots. So 39,000 megalitres have been acquired which is only about one third of what is required. $400million what will it buy and will it only force up the price for those who are trying to survive downstream.
The upstream problems are mainly caused by Bulk Storage in dams away from the River. This problem is still not being addressed. Any kind of drawing that is holding water in Dams away from the river for future proofing must be stopped. If the crop protection requires that kind of mass storage then it should not be allowed. Draw water as it passes by - the River has already put in place locks etc to assist in flow management and we the taxpayers have paid for all of that infrastructure.
Let the water in these private storage facilities go - take back control of allocations and the irrigators and towns who require water can then draw what they need as it passes - frankly capturing water, with as much as three years supply being held in some of these privately owned storage facilities, apart from being an environmental disaster is simply un-Australian. The need to manage water only as it flows by and travels the length of the river I am sure will give us back an appropriate amount of water for now. Then we look at supplemental flows like flood mitigation of Northern Rivers.
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.
Senator Penny Wong again comes out and says that a single controlling body must occur. The Federal Government has the power constitutionally to take that control in the National interest. There is sufficient precedent available in the takeover and control of the Franklin River in Tasmania many years ago.
Queensland comes out and defends the amount of irrigation water that has drawn this year because of the seasonal rains that have given the upper reaches significant inflows. I actually have no problem with the drawing of the water. The problem is that it has been drawn and is now being stored in artificial dams and we are told that some organisations have taken up to three years supply into their storage.
Reported (a University of NSW report)some months ago in this blog there are over 2400kms of illegal dams and levees in the NSW portion of the basin, this unnatural capture is wrong.
That is outrageous, the evaporation alone from those storage facilities is very likely to be more than the requirements to supply downstream needs.
If it flows by take what you need, storing it and allowing environmental disaster further down is the abhorrent part.
Dear Senator Wong please exercise your powers and allow the river to run and allow irrigators to use what is there while it is there. Storage of the magnitude that exists is foolish and selfish.
And so the South Australian Minister remains quiet on what is going to happen. She would not front the crowd on Friday, while disappointing is understandable. South Australia and the River system generally, is suffering the consequences of upstream abuse.
The actual amount of water we want is infinitesimal by comparison to upstream demands.
Why the Federal Government will not simply take control of the River System as they proved they had the power in the Franklin issue in Tasmania, is still beyond me.
When case studies on things such as the Clarence River Flood mitigation scheme were carried out and simply dismissed as expensive also seem like a cop out by Government in actually taking a positive and aggressive stand.
Taking control of all allocations by a central body immediately surely is the only answer.
Karelene Maywald and Premier Rann have little say or control other than to Lobby Penny Wong and Prime Minister KRudd.
I am sure the compulsory take over will offend the concept of Water Allocations being a trading commodity - surely that is better than total environmental and economical destruction.
I have not always agreed with our newest South Australian Senator. His tactics in the State Parliament often left me shaking my head.
I have been listening and reading what he has to say on the topic of Saving the Murray and commend him totally on his tactics. See the story linked to this heading.
On a day when our Prime Minister has seen his polls as to being out of touch with the community, maybe a letter from a man in the Senate who in traditional Don Chipp fashion may be the boy to "keep the bastards honest", Nick's letter certainly cannot hurt.
Our Prime Minister in less than 12 months has been sprung it seems for lots of talk and not much action. Its much easier on the election hustings than sitting in the chair.
Go for it Nick - seems like you are taking it to the top.
On Friday the 1st August in Adelaide on the steps of Parliament House at 11:30am there will be a rally for the Murray. For the first time in my life I am going to attend this demonstration of the right of the peoples voice.
I have not written on this blog for a long time and that is simply because I have become so frustrated with the complete sham that Governments have been foisting on us all.
I have personally been writing articles and lobbying politicians for years now on this topic and all we get is toothless agreements,and meaningless platitudes from politicians whom seem to be taking great delight in watching the pain and suffering of the community and the environment. Yes it will take guts to make the radical changes that will be required, but water for the environment and the economies that were encouraged to utilize the resource must happen now - not in a years time or many years time. Now take control of all allocations and share it out fairly and equitably.
For our Governments to be critical of the global governments and the failure of the world to address climate and environmental issues merely displays the ignorance and hypocrisy with which the Governments of Australia sit idly by overseeing one of the greatest disasters that this nation may ever witness.
So yes I am driven to something I thought i would never do is swell the visible numbers standing in the street demanding and demonstrating that the environmental apathy that has been displayed over many generations must now stop.
Please join the voice of absolute abhorrence at the completely ineffectual efforts that are being directed at this issue. See you in the street.
The return of flow in the first instance could come from putting every irrigation channel into pipes. The evaporation and seepage which is assisting in leeching these chemicals would be reduced.
Unlike the sting pulled by Victoria where a saving of 800 billion litres is being touted, not one litre is programmed back to the River flow.I now see that water trading licences are being set up in Melbourne. The sting continues.
Having said that the open channels that exist across the entire basin represent billions of litres wasted by poor management. One suspects that if no increase in allocation and a continued buyback occurs there maybe sufficient water.
I am yet to here of any engineering works such as this being programmed in NSW or Queensland.
The other thing that is annoying when according to a report done by the University of New South Wales there are over 2000 kms of illegal dams and levee's diverting flow from the River, whom is going to take responsibility for removing these environmentally damaging structures. Peter Garret's Office and Penny Wong's Office will not even respond to letters on this matter let alone the NSW Premier's Office.
I fear our politicians who can make a difference are hiding their head in the Sand or secretly doing Rain dances in the hope we get a flood.John Venus has pointed out his concerns on this matter - follow this link or see his comments in the shared articles listing over on the right hand side of this blog.
There are also many schemes that have suggested pumping water from the Northern Rivers (only in times of flood mitigation) that could well support flows throughout the basin. The programs I have been privy to also included generating Green Power as means of making the whole scheme instantly viable. Still we watch the flood warnings right now and gigalitres flowing uselessly, causing massive damage, out to sea.
The problem is fixable and we do not need to see stupidity that almost killed the Snowy River repeated. The water is available, the gumption to fix it severely lacking. For God's sake act and act decisively.
The question of crop sustainability along the River Basin needs to be addressed but lets look at where the additional water maybe sourced sensibly.
Minister Karlene Maywald is attending Public Conferences today on Drought Strategy. Firstly let me say I am pleased to see the Community start to get involved and really glad that the Minister is going along. A bit of a shame that Penny Wong did not go along as well.
Anyway lets see the outcome, I will look forward to hopefully reading some outcomes soon.
The article underneath the link in this heading is I am afraid all too typical of what is going on in the whole Murray Darling Basin discussion.
Yet another fine rhetorical statement accompanied by another Happy Snap.
Mike do something, hey why wouldn't you lead a street march down to Penny's Office with a few banners demanding action. Dear Mike do something!
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.
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.
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!!!!
It is fair to say that I think Mr Brumby has pulled the biggest con job of all time. As I have written previously the Murray Valley Basin modernization programme to be initiated by the Victorian Government is slated as saving 800 Billion Litres of water at a cost of $1billion. But of course that is 800 billion litres of water that is currently in the Victorian Quota. Therefore the 800 Billion Litres will not be returned to the River and is not accessible because the MOU says that Victoria can keep taking its quota until 2019. Will there be a Murray/Darling left by then?
Well done Mr Brumby you have scammed the system so well that not even your own Farmers Federation got the picture and were busily protesting your stupidity - or was this just a set up to pull off the whole sting.
Everyone is running around back slapping each other but secretly they still have not caught on that Victoria has just been paid $1billion to keep back 800 billion litres for their own use.
I will be interested to see what our pollies think when they work out how good a job Victoria has done on you all. Paul Newman and Robert Redford would be proud. Marvin Hamlisch/Scott Joplin a little of "The Entertainer" please.
Tim Norton an adviser for Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has written a very good article over at the Blog Larvatus Prodeo. It is in my shared items here or follow this LINK.
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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