Murray Darling Basin
At the moment, we’re all spending a lot of time debating gay marriage and climate change. Meanwhile, other issues aren’t being debated as vigorously as they might be.
Today The Punch team has each selected two issues which get us hot under the collar, and which we feel deserve more airplay.
What are your thoughts on the issues we’ve chosen? And what other issues do you think we should all be talking about?
Continue reading "12 bigger issues than gay change and climate marriage" »
After a wetter than average year in the Murray-Darling Basin many people seem to think the problems of Australia’s most important river system are solved. They’re not.
Rain and floods have returned life to many parts of the river system, but if they are to provide more than a temporary boost before the next drought hits, our federal Parliament will need to sign off on a strong Murray-Darling Basin Plan this year.
When I say a strong plan, I mean a plan that results in a river not poisoned by salt, that flows, that is alive. Anything less threatens the future of the river and regional communities, not to mention Adelaide’s drinking water. For too long we’ve been taking too much water out of the river – much of it for irrigated agriculture – for the system to remain healthy.
Continue reading "Regional Australia needs a healthy flowing Murray" »
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Ray says:
The best way to have a strong flow in the lower Murray is to remove the barriers that are built across the river in its lower reaches. Environmentalists should realise that the Murray system would reduce to a trickle for over 99% of the time if it had no storage… Read more »
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tim says:
and then google moron, April Fools Day and you will land on the same planet as @John Read more »
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority Draft Plan, released yesterday, includes a reduction in water use of 2,750 gigalitres per year, compared to 2009 baseline diversions. So there will now be extra 2,750 GL/y in environmental flows. Does this give the right balance?
The candidates for the biggest loser are (1) the irrigators, (2) the Basin communities and (3) the environment.
The extra environmental flow is estimated to lead to a reduction in irrigated agricultural production of about 11%. But the irrigators won’t be the big losers because they will be compensated by the water buyback scheme.
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Rick with a silent P says:
Yeh that’s the best place for Vic’s….....underwater! Read more »
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palone says:
Peter, I think that you cut the above diatribe from a report on John Howard’s Government and put it away for when Labor came to office, and now you send it in whatever the topic. Didn’t you make that very same comment when Australia got kicked out of the World… Read more »
Many of us learnt at school that the great Nile River sustained Egypt through floods that nourished the fertility of the river’s floodplain.
Our Murray and Darling Rivers are no different.
It’s in Australia’s national interest to protect and restore the Murray Darling Basin. Disconnect the river from the floodplain and you destroy the fertility of the land.
Continue reading "Watering down the Murray Darling plan would be fatal" »
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kimo says:
Perhaps too we sohuld be continuing to question the wisdom of maintaining two very large lakes that used to be tidal as freshwater lakes? (High evaporation losses for????) and the reduction in tidal flow into and out of these lakes would have been contributing to the sanding up of the… Read more »
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Occam's Blunt Razor says:
Why aren’t you campaigning for the removal of all river infrastructure? Shouldn’t the Murray be returned to it’s natural state with no dams or barrages? Isn’t that what you want? Then we could see what happens naturally to the river in summer let alone a drought. Read more »
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