THE deluge driving southward through inland NSW is reinvigorating calls to abandon future water licence buybacks in the Murray Darling Basin.
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As flooding puts Basin towns on the National agenda, irrigation communities are trumpeting their concerns over water recovery under the Murray Darling Basin Plan. They argue the triple-bottom-line has been ignored – with social and economic factors taking a back seat to the environment.
NSW Irrigators chief executive Mark McKenzie pointed to a recent draft report on the Northern Basin (where catchments run into the Darling), in which the Basin Authority found the proposed water recovery of 390 gigalitres would cause job losses of up to 35 per cent in some towns.
The Basin Plan has already recovered 70 per cent of the water volume set to go back to the environment - 1980GL. That leaves 770GL to go toward the total of 2750GL.
“There is no reason to push on with any more general tender water purchases from irrigators,” according to Mr McKenzie, who argued that alternate measures to buybacks are available to recover water.
The Basin Plan has wriggle room for 650GL to be recovered by “non-flow” measures – basically anything that enhances the availability of water to the environment. State governments have submitted a range of projects for approval to the Basin Authority.
Works could include in-stream infrastructure to conserve water flows, or even initiatives to help native fish – such as the carp virus or reducing cold water pollution from dams.
NSW Water Minister Niall Blair wants these state projects to fulfil the remaining obligations of the Basin Plan. Last year he accused the Basin Authority of “flow-fixation” for treating the volumes of water recovery as an end in itself, rather than delivering environmental outcomes with maximum efficiency.
“There is no reason for the federal government to be in the market buying more water…. The (Basin Authority) is fixated on achieving specific flow rates and volumes rather than achieving environmental outcomes,” he said.
“We are confident that offset and recovery schemes can satisfy the needs of the Basin Plan and until that is assessed, the government shouldn’t go back into the market for water.”
Although the vast bulk of water to be recovered from irrigation has come from the Southern Basin, the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s assessment of economic impacts has to date focused on the north.
“Given the data on the devastating impacts in the north, the government should formally commit to a halt in further water purchases until the same evaluation of impacts has been completed in the south,” Mr McKenzie said.
Ricegrowers Association president Jeremy Morton said social imperatives of the plan had been ignored.
“The significant recovery that has occurred to date has transpired without any clear understanding of the social and economic impacts of this recovery,” he said.
There is no reason for the federal government to be in the market buying more water
- Niall Blair
This level of negligence is unacceptable and cannot continue”.
Deniliquin ricegrower Shelley Scoullar, spokeswoman for the Speak Up campaign to highlight Basin Plan impacts, wants the bureaucracy to acknowledge the economic impacts on her community.
“It’s extremely frustrating we don’t have an independent review on the Southern Basin.
“Our community has the largest private irrigators company in Australia – Murray Irrigation – and 30 per cent of the resource has gone from production to the environment.”
According to Speak Up, 1000 jobs were lost in Deniliquin in the decade to 2011.
“We have done really well to remain positive to now, but we can’t afford to have one more drop of water leave the community,” Ms Scoullar said.
“There is enough water to achieve environmental goals with what has been recovered already.”
The $10 billion Basin Plan was launched in 2007 to reset the water balance between environment and irrigation. On average some 32,500GL flows down the Murray – a figure that varies wildly dependent on drought and flood.
Water for irrigation had already been recovered by previous schemes, including 500GL through the Living Murray program.
In total, 2750GL of water allocation will be recaptured by the Basin Plan. That would limit water take for consumptive use at 3468GL – a 10 per cent reduction on pre-Plan levels.
For southern NSW, the Basin Plan would cap use at 1048GL. So far, 690GL has been recovered – leaving 358GL is to go.
In northern NSW, an initial target of 390GL was set. Reviews of this figure are ongoing to determine the fate of future water recovery. To date, the region has lost 272GL, leaving 118GL up in the air.
Findings from the review of the Northern Basin are set to be published by end of the year.
By 2019 new caps on consumptive use (irrigation and town water) will be in place. That’s known as Sustainable Diversion Limits, if you’re into Basin Plan jargon.
