Murray River

THE short-listing of Melbourne’s Yarra River for the International Riverprize, billed as the “world’s most prestigious environmental prize”, just goes to highlight how farcical the debate over river health has become.

The National Irrigators’ Council said while the Yarra is being lauded as among the world’s best, the Murray-Darling Basin – which has more water available for environmental flows – is said to be in “crisis” and need of “saving”.

“For all the hand-wringing over the health of the Murray-Darling, it’s salient to remember that it has 58 per cent of flows available to the environment[1], while the Yarra has only 57 per cent,[2]” said NIC CEO Danny O’Brien.

“Yet management of the Yarra is now short-listed for an award while irrigators and their communities are facing the prospect of massive withdrawals of water for consumptive purposes in the Murray Darling. How can this be?”

[Read more…] about Yarra’s prize makes mockery of Murray-Darling ‘crisis’: Danny O’Brien

ADELAIDE in South Australia is a one paper town. Everyone reads the Adelaide Advertiser. Today, as usual, it’s full of parochial chatter including a one page advertisement devoted to a statement from all 23 South Australian Federal MPs (Green, Labor and Coalition) blaming the problems of the Lower Lakes and Coorong on upstream irrigators and their “chronic overuse of water”.

Of course the Adelaide Advertiser has never let the facts get in the way of a good story and so, without explaining that there is a local solution to the problem, their journalist Catherine Hockley supports the advertisement organised by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) with a nonsense story headlined ‘Politicians unite to rescue the Murray’

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/politicians-unite-to-rescue-the-murray/story-e6frea6u-1226080269703

[Read more…] about Irresponsible: SA Politicians Unite Against Upstream Communities and Environments

“World Environment Day is a time to celebrate what has been achieved, but also to reflect on many seemingly insurmountable problems,” said Murray Darling food producer, Johnny Kahlbetzer.

“The Murray River is important to me,” said Mr Kahlbetzer, “And it is important for the Murray River that it has a healthy estuary.”

“Just as lakes and wetlands need freshwater, rivers need estuaries. The problems of the Murray are exacerbated by five barrages that now separate salt water close to the river mouth from fresh water in Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert. Built in the 1930s the barrages have crippled the Murray River estuary.”

“Freshwater needs to come down the River to trigger spawning of fish and flow out the Murray Mouth to take nutrients to creatures like the Goolwa cockle but saltwater is also required for the estuarine ecology.”

“The health of the Murray River and its estuary is dependent on more than the amount of water coming downstream,” said Mr Kahlbetzer.
“Yet in all the arguing about the new plan for the Murray Darling Basin there is no discussion about the Murray River estuary or the barrages.”

“I cannot see the logic in allocating thousands of more gigalitres of precious freshwater each year to these lakes,” said Mr Kahlbetzer, “when they have an estuarine history.”

“Evaporation from the Lower Lakes has been estimated at 1,300 GL each year. This is the equivalent of three Sydney Harbours of freshwater which is an enormous quantity of freshwater because the Lower Lakes are a vast shallow expanse of water not quite the size of Port Phillip Bay and maintained as an artificial freshwater system.”

Concerned about the current direction of water reform Mr Kahlbetzer has joined the group ‘Myth and the Murray’ to help get the Lower Lakes healthy and back the way they once were.
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This is the first media release from the Myth and the Murray Group.
Adverts have been placed in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald for World Environment Day on this issue sponsored by Mr Kahlbetzer. For more information visit the media page at www.mythandthemurray.org

About Myth and the Murray – Myth and the Murray is a group of Australians concerned about the health of the Murray Darling and in particular its estuary.

THE left in Australia can mobile very quickly with ‘Getup’ securing over 18,000 signatures on its petition to ‘Save the Murray’ since it launched the campaign just yesterday.

The letter they sent out is full of misinformation including comment that:

“The Murray Darling Basin has been sucked dry by decades of over extraction. Despite recent rain and floods the Murray Darling Basin is on the brink of ecosystem collapse. Already over 90% of the floodplain wetlands have been destroyed along with native fish and bird populations.”

I guess the truth has never stood in the way of a good campaign?

[Read more…] about The Left Mobilizes to ‘Save the Murray’