Our Darling Murray: It’s time to stand by the river

Right now Australia has the chance to right one of our biggest environmental wrongs, the travesty of the declining Murray-Darling Basin.

Remember the recent drought, the thousands of dead river red gums and Adelaide’s drinking water threatened? The way we divide up the river’s flow turned this natural time of stress into a fully blown human and ecological catastrophe. Irrigation was prioritised and the environment only received what was left over. For many years the wetlands that are our rivers’ green lungs received no water at all. Native fish and waterbirds were unable to breed, and water quality plunged to unprecedented lows.

Now the drought has broken we have a window in which to fix this mess before it happens again. And with the Commonwealth stepping into to rescue the river from bickering state governments, we should be in with a chance. Next year, the government’s Murray-Darling Basin Plan will give the environment its first ever Basin-wide legally guaranteed share of water. The challenge is to ensure that the Plan is based on science rather than short-term politics, and guarantees enough water for the river.

Unfortunately, early signs are a little discouraging. A Draft of the Plan was released in November but under pressure from the irrigation lobby it proposed returning a yearly average of 2,750 gigalitres to the environment. This is only about half what is needed (a gigalitre, or GL, is a billion litres, and the science says the river needs between 4,000 and 7,600 GL to prevent further damage).

But it is only a draft, and the final plan has to survive a vote in the parliament next year. Now is a crucial time for environment groups like ours around the country to pitch in and ensure this once in a lifetime opportunity is not wasted. We need to make sure that this weak Draft Plan is rejected and that the final version guarantees at least 4,000GL of environmental flows.

What we can do to help

One of the most powerful things we can do as a group and as individuals is go and meet our federal member of parliament and raise these concerns. If this is of interest, Jono at Friends of the Earth can help with advice, background information and a lobby kit to take – just get in touch via the contact details below.

Writing to Janelle Saffin, your federal member for Page, will also have a significant impact. And seeing as the Murray-Darling Basin Authority is currently collecting submissions, you can double your impact by sending your letter to both. Here’s how:

1. Write a brief letter outlining why you want a healthy Murray-Darling and why you think the Draft Plan is inadequate. There’s a set of dot points in our letter writing guide below, as well as on our website. You can use these as a guide, and putting it in your own words will make it more powerful.

2. Email it to: submissions@mdba.gov.au, clearly specifying that it is a submission (eg, use the subject line Submission on the Draft Basin Plan). Submissions must be received by April 16^th, 2012.

3. Send a copy to Janelle Saffin, explaining that as a constituent in the Page electorate, you want them to stand up for a scientifically based Murray-Darling Basin Plan that restores our ailing rivers to health.

 

Contact Details for Janelle Saffin MP, Federal Member for Page

 

61-63 Molesworth Street

Lismore NSW 2480

Janelle.Saffin.MP@aph.gov.au

Phone: (02) 6277 4323

Fax: (02) 6277 8501

 

Want to know more?

If you would like any further information on the campaign, Friend of the Earth would love to hear from you:

Online: http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=bmc/news

Email: barmah@foe.org.au

Phone: (03) 9419 8700 extension 21

 

They also produce an e-bulletin about once a month if you’d like to stay in more regular contact with the campaign. To subscribe just send an email with “subscribe” in the subject line to barmah@foe.org.au

Letter-writing guide: what’s wrong with the Draft Basin Plan?

The biggest problem with the Draft Basin Plan is that it will not return enough water to allow the fish, birds and plants of the river to survive. The science shows that at least 4,000 billion litres, or gigalitres, is required. But the Murray-Darling Basin Authority have hidden this scientific reality behind economic arguments and furphys about ‘constraints’ on how much water they can practically deliver to the environment. Worse, it even proposes to hand out new groundwater extraction licences that could erode the limited gains made by reducing water taken from surface streams.

Friends of the Earth have identified 10 key failings in the Draft Basin Plan:

1. It undermines efforts to return water to rivers and wetlands by allowing a doubling of groundwater extraction, primarily for mining. Many of these underground water sources are interconnected with rivers and wetlands on the surface.

2. Weak 'aspirational' water quality targets mean the Basin’s 2.4 million residents will not be guaranteed water that is fit for human use, including drinking, washing and swimming

3. There will not be enough water to keep the Murray Mouth open and flush out the 2 million tonnes of salt washed off upstream farms every year.

4. It leaves a high probability that Red Gum and Black Box woodlands will die, especially on the Lower  Murray;

5. Because of insufficient flooding, waterbirds will be unable to nest and breed on a regular basis, so populations are unlikely to recover from their current historic low

6. Similarly, without enough water for fish to reach floodplain for breeding, native fish and fishing are at risk;

7. There is no provision of cultural water allocations, meaning Indigenous communities are deprived of the opportunity to maintain cultural practices and derive socio-economic benefits from their country;

8. Floodplain graziers, miss out on any return to natural flooding frequenices, threatening productivity and food production;

9. The tourism industry is given no security for its major attractions like the Barmah Forest or the Coorong;

10. The environment bears the risk of a drying climate. According to CSIRO, water in Basin rivers may decline by up to 37% by 2030 due to climate change. But under the Draft Plan, any reduction due to climate change will come predominantly out of the environment’s share, undermining the small gains that have been made in returned flows.

 

In order to fix the Plan, there are five key changes that need to be made

• At least 4,000 GL of new environmental flows must be provided
• Groundwater extraction should be returned to the sensible limits proposed last year by the Authority in its Guide to the Proposed Basin Plan
• Climate change must be adequately accounted for so that any reduced streamflow is shared equitably between the environment and irrigators
• Water quality targets should be made mandatory
• Water buybacks should be expedited now whilst there is plenty of water in the system and communities are more able to adjust