More strife in the MD basin—cont.
“Wehave witnessed a catastrophic failure of Australia’s supposedly world-leadingwater management system,”Rene Woods, from the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations says.
For decades the states alongthe river had been handing out water licences to farmers without any thoughtabout what unbridled extraction for farming would mean for the river ordownstream states.
By the 1990s, the mouth ofMurray at the end of the river system silted up. Salt levels became dangerouslyhigh, jeopardising Adelaide’s water supply, as well as internationallyrecognised wetlands.
Governments were forced toact and in 2007, after years of difficult negotiations, the states and thecommonwealth agreed to a plan that would licence water extraction and buy backa share of water for the environment.
This water is owned by theCommonwealth and is released periodically to mimic nature and, in theory, keepthe rivers healthy.
But from the outset, theplan owed more to political compromise than science. “The best availablescience assembled for the guide to the the Basin Plan said that we needed3,200GL to 7,600GL for the environment,” said Jamie Pittock, a professor at theAustralian National University and a member of the Wentworth Group of ConcernedScientists.
But ultimately only 2,750GLwas allocated to the environment. Astoundingly, the plan also failed to take into account climate change,despite scientific reports showing that most of the basin will become hotterand drier.
The Aboriginal nations ofthe basin have been all but ignored, too.
“In the 1990s, when NSWwater reform began, it was really difficult, because we had people say “whathave Aboriginal people got to do with water?” They didn’t see that we had avalid place at the table,” Yuwalaraay man Ted Fields says.
Aboriginal people have somesay over about a third of the country in the basin, but they hold less than0.01% of Australia’s water diversions.
Native title rights do notinclude ownership of natural waters. They can include the use of water forpersonal, social, domestic and cultural purposes but an entitlement to extractwater doesn’t mean there is any water to extract, or that the water isdrinkable.
Traditional owners are angryat being shut outof the water conversation. The loss is not just aboutday-to-day shortages. Gamilaraay and Yuwalaraay elders who have lived on therivers all their lives say they have never seen conditions as bad as now, andthey doubt it can ever be recovered.
“This to me is the ultimatedestruction of our culture,” Gamilaraay elder Virginia Robinson says inWalgett. “All people think about now is there’s no water. Aboriginal peoplewere very close to nature and that’s all unbalanced now. There’s no nature togo back to.”
Buying up water to return tothe environment remains deeply unpopular in much of rural Australia because ofits impact on farms, rural towns and jobs. At the same time the creation of awater market, where allocations can be traded, has benefited big agribusinesseswho moved into industrial scale production of cotton and other high valuecrops, as well as water trading.
Kangaroos compete for thesmall amount of water which remains in the outfall at Lake Cawndilla nearMenindee
Advertisement
The Greens and Indigenousgroups have calledfor a royal commission amid allegations of corruption and poorgovernance. South Australia has already held itsown royal commission into the plan, but was hampered by the federalgovernment’s refusal to cooperate. It will report next week and is expected towarn that key aspects of the Murray-Darling plan are in breach of theCommonwealth Water Act.
In Walgett the dry rivermeans the town must live on bore water indefinitely. Bore water is high inmineral content, especially sodium. It kills gardens and discolours basins andbathtubs. It comes out of the tap very warm – there’s no need to turn on thehot tap to have a shower, but there is also no chance for a cool drink.
Locals say bore water is nota long-term option as a drinking supply. Water restrictionsmean no water can be used during daylight hours, and there are limits on washing,flushing of toilets and the use of evaporative air conditioners, even when withtemperatures at extreme levels.
The fish kill and the heathave at least brought the problems of water management squarely into theconsciousness of city dwellers.
The future of the MurrayDarling basin is now a major issue in the upcoming federal and NSW elections.
Yuwalaraay culturaleducator Daryl Ferguson has a message for politicians and voters alike. “Everyoneshould take a leaf out of our culture – it is about looking after the land. “Everyone says “this is mine, this is my part of the river, this is mine, mine, mine.” “I’m not here to talk about ownership; that’s not our culture. You want to own it? That’s fine. “Just 
