Large amounts of floodwater flowing into Menindee Lakes, near Broken Hill, should be released into the Darling River immediately to help save the River Murray in South Australia, according to SA Murray Irrigators chairperson Caren Martin.
Mrs Martin said until now State and Federal leaders have resisted calls to push more water through to the lower reaches of the River Murray by claiming “they can’t make it rain”.
“That type of convenient reasoning is now no longer relevant,” she said.
“We have all had enough excuses. We have an enormous amount of water in the Murray Darling system due to the flooding through northern NSW and it’s now a matter for State and Federal governments to take a commonsense approach to a drought that is slowly strangling the Murray in SA.
“There is no justifiable reason why a substantial volume of water should not be released from the Menindee Lakes.
“More than enough can be held back to supply Broken Hill, but the rest should be on its way south to breathe new life into a river system on its knees.
“Nature does not wait for long winded political processes. We have a rare opportunity to help save the Murray. All that is stopping more water coming down the Murray in SA is parochial politics. Current water sharing bickering is unresponsive and meanwhile the Murray suffers.
“The rains have arrived, the water is available, so let’s get on with it.”
Mrs Martin said that history would portray today’s political leaders in an extremely poor light if commonsense does not prevail and a large volume of water be released from Menindee Lakes this summer.
“What is the sense of having the second year in a row where you hold back water in Menindee where 400 gigalitres evaporates and another 200gL will be lost to seepage," she said.
"A proportion of that could be helping save the Murray in SA and its communities."
Mrs Martin said SA irrigators were facing another summer where they were being treated like the poor cousins of their upstream counterparts.
“The sooner the Murray Darling Basin’s water resources are managed under a national Basin Plan the better,” she said.
“This reluctance by NSW to release water from Menindee once again highlights the inadequacy of the state water sharing arrangements. It seems ludicrous that we have a system that requires one State Premier having to beg another for more water.
“SA should not have to employ this ‘Oliver Twist approach’ and be entitled to its fair share without having to beg for it every time.”
Email a friend