Protectingthe Murray-Darling Basin to secure our waterways.
South-eastern Australia is bisected by the mighty Murray and Darling rivers, and home to more than two million people.
The Basin hosts life, but also sustains life.
It provides essential drinking water for regional communities, and supplies water for urban, recreational, industrial and agricultural use.
However,years of mismanagement have threatened the Basin’s health, putting the region’swell being and prosperity at risk.
It’s his role to support the protection and restoration of the Basin, helping to ensure the long-term management of this vital resource.
What can go wrong?
Water mismanagement can lead to ecological disaster, says Dr Ben Gawne is an ecosystem ecologist.
Negative environmental conditions can lead to toxic blue-green algae blooms, while excessive flooding can cause lowered levels of oxygen.
Low oxygen levels can lead to ‘blackwater’ events that can kill fish and poison animals that feed on aquatic life, damaging the ecosystems in affected areas.
This has a negative impact on agriculture and tourism due to polluted water supplies, degraded vegetation and declining wildlife numbers.
Tourism is the Basin’s second-biggest industry after agriculture and clean fresh water supplies are necessary for rivers and floodplains to maintain their health and diversity.
How rivers are managed is not often questioned during average or better than average years of water flow, but when stressed due to extended droughts visible disasters cause a popular uproar.
Recreational activities along watercourses pours millions of dollars into the Basin’s regional communities,’ but when native fish stocks are in decline and highlighted in the media, the locals suffer more so as people may cancel their visits.
Around$13 billion dollars has already been spent in the past decade as part of restoration projects but there are still serious deficiencies that have been highlighted by recent events.
Now is the time for all parties to cooperate including:
State and regional governments, scientific organisations, farmers and townspeople in order to seek the best pathways forward and ensues rivers and wetlands are suitable for multiple uses, not just as delivery infrastructure for irrigation.
A wide range of stakeholders are present and to ensure some don’t pot their own needs ahead of the region’s best interests good governance is needed as a regional economy of around $30 billion annually is at risk.
Some communities may feel threatened if they perceive that they are being unfairly impacted by activities up stream.
How can we manage water flow as well as ensure biodiversity best restored is an important question to be answered.
There’s a lot at stake. ‘If we don’t succeed, we risk losing the water.’
And if we lose the water, the effects are numerous.
If water systems degrade, ‘we won’t be able to use the Murray-Darling for irrigation; we certainly wouldn’t be able to use it for angling or picnicking.We’ll risk losing vegetation, shade, fish and birds.’
Ultimately,a healthy and diverse ecosystem contributes to the well being and prosperity of the Basin region, and to communities beyond.
IMO the appraisal of the economic benefits of a Nth-Sth pipeline is also an important task to be completed asap.
https://www.latrobe.edu.au/our-work/protecting-the-murray-darling-basin-to-secure-our-waterways
