Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Murray Darling Basin draft plan under scrutiny today

How hopeless can you get? The pollies and environmentalists annoy me greatly. They can't see the wood for the trees. It is all spin, spin, spin and how does my approach effect my voter support.
Jay Weatherall, Premier for South Australia, insists that SA is getting a raw deal with water and that the proposed 2750 GL (billion litres) environmental flows is not enough to meet environmental needs. (The river basin is presently in flood and has been past year). He threatens to take the matter to the High Court. Peter Owen of the Wilderness Society, insists a minimum of 4000 GL environmental flow is necessary to maintain a "healthy river" and flow out to sea.
The NSW and VIC irrigators don't want to loose more water to the environment (and so to be wasted in South Australia, if it even gets there).
SA Labor Gov has commissioned the Goyder Report on the matter which comes to the predictable conclusion that the MDBasin plan should release much more than 2750GL to the river.
In my opinion, the whole media controversy is a nonsense and I suggest that the idea, or model of a "healthy river" that flows out to sea at the Murray mouth all the time is bunkum, or wishful thinking. It hasn't happened in the past and there is no need to force the river to do it now, to the great detriment of having water restrictions for irrigation further up the watershed during drought times.
The current predicament during drought times (maybe 7 out of 10 years) is the MISMANAGEMENT by the South Australian Government of the Lower Lakes system by maintaining a closure of the barrages, or sea dykes, that prevent the sea from entering Lake Alexander and Albert and restoring a natural estuarine system when there are drought conditions inland. Details of the true water state of the region is admirably exposed by Jennifer Marohasy

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