The big squeeze: Murray Valley irrigators hit by massive water charge

For Kevin Cock, citrus grower at Buronga, it has seriously made him think of retiring and just trading his water holdings for a living.

“What’s the point of spending seven days a week tending to my orchards when I can just sit back and make money trading water? ” he says in exasperation.

“What incentive is there to grow anything? It’s quite amazing these charges come just when we were making some good profits because of strong demand for our juicing oranges, especially from overseas.”

Mr Cock said the water usage charge would be passed eventually onto consumers. He is charged about $120 a megalitre for energy and water usage, a bill that comes to about $40,000 a year.

“It’s one of our highest input costs,” Mr Cock said.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has issued its draft recommendations for water usage charges in NSW, with the Murray Valley high security users copping the biggest hike of any valley in NSW.

It prompted NSW Irrigators’ Council chief executive Mark McKenzie to call the price hike as causing “real alarm” and a “sense of outrage” among Murray irrigators. It came on the back of a 300 per cent rise in power costs in the last five years for many irrigators,  Mr McKenzie said. Irrigators in the Western Murray are diversifying into all areas to get by. Mr Cock’s son makes a living out of just ripping out wine grape plantations as people give up with poor returns and diversify into almonds, pistachios and walnuts. Many have moved into cash crops such as pumpkins and watermelons. But the water hike was an unexpected blow to the area. Some believe it is an attempt to prop up the Murray Valley Basin Authority, which is leaking money. 

Kevin Watson is chairman of Western Murray Irrigation Ltd, and also grows wine grapes at Coomealla. The water charge will be passed straight onto irrigators by Western Murray.  

Mr Watson is gobsmacked by the planned water usage hike of 35 per cent (over four years). “A 35 per cent charge, which we believe will eventually be a 42 per cent increase, is ridiculous. No one can accept that. We are going to fight this all the way.” 

IPART will hold a public meeting on April 4 in Sydney.