WATER
October 9th 2010 03:07
Water
Here we go again. Water in Ausdsie is as precious as gold. We live on the driest inhabited island on the planet and we are short of water. I wonder why? The Murray Darling Commission has released it’s recommendations for water use reform. The irrigators are fuming already. They will lose a percentage of their water, jobs will be lost, communities badly affected and so on and on.
Wait a moment. Who caused the rivers to stop flowing? Who made nice fat profits for a few years while the water lasted? I know we have had drought in many parts of the Murray/Darling Basin for about ten years and that sure doesn’t help the situation. For all that the primary cause of the rivers running dry was the OVER ALLOCATION of water licenses to landholders and investors. Yes, investors, you know the ones, those who can see a way of making a quick dollar from whatever with no thought for any long term consequences which may arise from their actions.
The Water Trading Schemes set up in the greater basin area were flawed from the start. Water from rainfall at the upper end of the Darling River, ie- Queensland, stopped the normal flows from ever reaching the Darling River, let alone the bottom end of it. There has been a lot of flowery oratory these last several years, but no one has done a damn thing about reducing the water taken from the top end of the system.
I know that the cotton growers in Queensland are as happy as a pig in a mudhole on a hot summers day right now. It’s planting time and every little dam and pothole in southeast Queensland is full of water, ready to make a fast buck from cotton growing. I have no objection to that at all, just as long as the rest of the two and a half thousand miles of farmers on that river get the same allocation of water. That won’t happen, simply because the damn river doesn’t hold that much water.
So, where are we now? The river system has water right to the Murray Mouth for the first time in years. It’s no credit to Water Trading Schemes, more efficient infrastructure or anything mankind has done; Mother nature sent oodles of rain and filled the damn rivers. This should tell the Murray darling Commission (or whatever they call themselves) that far too much water is removed from the system at the top end, in the middle and all the way down. The river catchments can’t supply the water needed to keep this new irrigation involvement going. What I would like to know is :- What was the land used for before all this irrigation was installed and operating. I am an old man and seem to remember that people made a living without all that irrigation stuff. I accept that we as a nation do need some but – damn it all – can’t we plan it so that there is enough water to keep the rivers alive.
When it’s all said and done and the political garbage removed, aren’t living rivers more valuable to us all than a lot of empty irrigation chanels along with empty rivers.
Here we go again. Water in Ausdsie is as precious as gold. We live on the driest inhabited island on the planet and we are short of water. I wonder why? The Murray Darling Commission has released it’s recommendations for water use reform. The irrigators are fuming already. They will lose a percentage of their water, jobs will be lost, communities badly affected and so on and on.
Wait a moment. Who caused the rivers to stop flowing? Who made nice fat profits for a few years while the water lasted? I know we have had drought in many parts of the Murray/Darling Basin for about ten years and that sure doesn’t help the situation. For all that the primary cause of the rivers running dry was the OVER ALLOCATION of water licenses to landholders and investors. Yes, investors, you know the ones, those who can see a way of making a quick dollar from whatever with no thought for any long term consequences which may arise from their actions.
The Water Trading Schemes set up in the greater basin area were flawed from the start. Water from rainfall at the upper end of the Darling River, ie- Queensland, stopped the normal flows from ever reaching the Darling River, let alone the bottom end of it. There has been a lot of flowery oratory these last several years, but no one has done a damn thing about reducing the water taken from the top end of the system.
I know that the cotton growers in Queensland are as happy as a pig in a mudhole on a hot summers day right now. It’s planting time and every little dam and pothole in southeast Queensland is full of water, ready to make a fast buck from cotton growing. I have no objection to that at all, just as long as the rest of the two and a half thousand miles of farmers on that river get the same allocation of water. That won’t happen, simply because the damn river doesn’t hold that much water.
So, where are we now? The river system has water right to the Murray Mouth for the first time in years. It’s no credit to Water Trading Schemes, more efficient infrastructure or anything mankind has done; Mother nature sent oodles of rain and filled the damn rivers. This should tell the Murray darling Commission (or whatever they call themselves) that far too much water is removed from the system at the top end, in the middle and all the way down. The river catchments can’t supply the water needed to keep this new irrigation involvement going. What I would like to know is :- What was the land used for before all this irrigation was installed and operating. I am an old man and seem to remember that people made a living without all that irrigation stuff. I accept that we as a nation do need some but – damn it all – can’t we plan it so that there is enough water to keep the rivers alive.
When it’s all said and done and the political garbage removed, aren’t living rivers more valuable to us all than a lot of empty irrigation chanels along with empty rivers.
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