IT was interesting to read the government propaganda telling us an American river ecologist thought our Murray-Darling Basin Plan was “a model for other countries seeking to support communities and healthy rivers into the future”.
Of course, if they didn’t want to promote their own agenda, governments and their agencies could also find an increasing number of Australian river ecologists who would disagree.
These scientists, like communities who live and breathe our rivers, see the basin plan for what it really is: a political attempt to provide South Australia with an abundant water supply for industry, canal-based housing developments and cheap urban water.
If it was truly for the environment, governments would acknowledge that the initial agreed water recovery target of 2750 gigalitres has been well exceeded. There are now more than 4600GL available for the environment, but our river systems do not have the capacity to deliver anywhere near this amount to South Australia.
If governments took the advice of many Australian scientists, especially those who are based in the basin, rather than in capital cities and on the government-funded gravy train, they would cease unnecessary and damaging water recovery. Stop treating the Murray River as a drainage channel. And start developing the scientific measures which are available and can play a more genuine role in sustaining our river environs.
Unfortunately, the past 15 years of water management experience tells me that will not happen until the environment is the priority, rather than politics.
Daryl McDonald
Murrabit
