South Australian Murray Irrigators

Below are Tim Whetstone’s full responses to the questions posed by the Advertiser for today’s Save the Murray special. This response, as well as the views of 15 other water management experts, can be found on the AdelaideNow website.

1. What emergency measures need to be taken in the next year, no matter how severe, to correct the rapid deterioration in the condition of the river?

 Release Menindee Lakes water now.

Talk that this would be a waste is just ludicrous. Saving this water for critical urban needs next summer will be too late for everyone. If the water is left in Menindee until summer, it will be lost to evaporation. You either get the water now or miss out altogether. It’s a bit like a Boxing Day sale, it won’t be available in January. We have to release the water at the time when it can do the most good.

All South Australians will benefit from an immediate flush of water from Menindee.

Adelaide’s reservoirs can be topped up and the environment and food producers can also gain much needed water security.

The Federal Minister also needs to take immediate control and declare a state emergency. Permanent plantings needs to be given priority to survive what is looming as the toughest summer on record. Without this urgent action the nation’s $9 billion food bowl could turn to dust.

2. Are State/Federal and local governments implementing the correct policy decisions (and quickly enough) to secure the future of the River?

No! If words were water we would have record floods! The $3.7B announced last week is over half of the $6.5B allowed for infrastructure upgrades. Not one drop of saved water will be delivered to the river or the beneficiaries of these projects in the next two years.  

We need to reduce the amount of all allocations in a once off process this year! Ten years of Minister Wong’s buy back plan is doing nothing for our system – when it most needs help.

Leadership on this front is so tentative that we feel hung out to dry. It is akin to dying a death by a thousand cuts.

In the face of the worst drought in our history, government should be responding at a far greater pace.

The losses to the economy and our communities are made much larger because there is no early intervention. EC and Exit grants are continuing to fail in delivering fair solutions. These programs have not made the transition from broad acre climate relief to horticulture because of a bureaucratic or political inability to accept the differences in our businesses.

Spending many millions reinvigorating Riverland irrigation systems will not solve anything in the short term. Riverland irrigators are in the main already the most efficient irrigators in the Murray Darling Basin.

3.       Are any aspects of the environmental condition of the river irreversible?

The Lower Lakes are on the brink of collapse and so are the people who rely on it. Based on the latest scientific evidence, the clock is ticking and unless we get short term solutions to save the river, we will have a long term disaster.

4.       What are the greatest threats and impediments to the campaign to save the river from governmental, community and personal behaviour levels?

a. A governmental level it is a distinct lack of leadership to make the decisions required. States still have too much power. All the tributaries to the MDB should be included under the new Murray Darling Basin Authority.

                                                                           i.      Farm dams, forestry (including carbon sequestration plantations) and salt interception schemes are water users that should be assessed as such and required to purchase the water they use. This matter has been known for some time and should have been signed off at COAG!

b.       Community – The level of understanding of water management within the MDB is very high. The options for state governments to take cheap water from the MDB to satisfy urban demands is not sustainable is our cities continue to grow. A greater understanding of the benefits retaining water from catchments on the city side of the ranges as well as implementing wide scale wastewater recycling, stormwater harvesting and desalination needs to be achieved.

c.        Personal – Domestic water should be charged for at flat rate, without a supply charge. Low water users and low income households would see a negligible increase and high users and high income households would see larger increases. If people were given more information about opportunities to save water they will force governments to act more ethically!

5.       What are the most significant misunderstandings about the future of the system which need to be overcome?

Without the food producers of the Murray Darling Basin, consumers run the risk of  buying imported food that may not meet the current quality and safety standards demanded of locally grown produce. I do not think there are too many misunderstandings about the future of our system – simply a lack of the courage to act by our leaders!

6.       Taking each segment of the catchment areas from north to south, what land use changes or changes in attitude need to be made to ensure the continued survival of the system?

The health of the river system has become a bigger priority right across the basin. The over allocation of water licenses is the biggest impediment in rehabilitating the system across four states. Areas of the basin that have reached a point of critical saline degradation need to be taken out of production and those stakeholders adequately compensated.

7.       In a perfect world, without having to balance the competing demands on the source, what steps would you initiate that would guarantee the survival of the river?

Place the entire basin under the control of one national authority and re-issue  sustainable levels of environmental and irrigation allocations to ensure all Australians continued to be supplied with safe, high quality food, the River Murray remained healthy and its communities flourished long into the future. Explore new technologies that are already being used in places such as Israel to reduce our dependence on the river and place a much greater emphasis on recycling all water used in society – ie: stormwater and waste water.

8.       What actions by individuals should be taken in the home, the workplace or the community to help save the Murray?

Everyone should be accountable for the water they use. Our most precious resource is running dangerously low and has been taken for granted for too long. The new age irrigator recognizes the benefits of being as efficient with water as possible and would like to see those same philosophies embraced.