Opinions are healthy. Unfounded opinions, particularly those voiced from a public platform, are irresponsible and damaging.
So let's talk facts surrounding rainfall, and the trapping and use of this water with the interplay of irrigators. Not cotton farmers - irrigators generally. And because I'm located in the NSW Northern Rivers, I write this piece with that area in mind.
Let's look at the river systems historically. How did the river systems of the area work prior to the trapping of water in the top of the systems?
The answer is fairly basic.
In the wet times, water flowed through the systems and met stock and domestic requirements for grazing properties, supplied water for towns, irrigation, and the ecosystem of the river networks.
And in the dry times? The answer is also fairly basic.
The river systems dried up and there was not enough water to support the people, stock, industries and ecosystems that relied on it. Fish died and crops failed.
What also made sense to the farming community some 50 to 70 years ago when most of the Northern River dams were built, is that the above reactive approach to dealing with the cyclical weather conditions was not sustainable.
Of the total capacities of these dams, a percentage of the water is earmarked for town water supply, irrigators and environment.
All users order water to be released through the Department of NSW Water, with the released ordered water travelling through the river system to the intended user for sometimes several days.
The restrictions and regulations the department places on when producers are able to order water, and the costs payable, are extensive. It's neither free nor a free for all.
So you've got ordered water released and travelling through a river network in a region in not only the driest continent in the world, but also (second to Antarctica) the flattest. It is the user's paramount duty then, to use the received water in the most efficient and economical way possible.
Relative to the season, towns implement water restrictions, graziers have opted for efficient pasture types and stock management, and irrigators, are drawn to the planting of cotton being an extremely efficient user of water, with one of the greatest returns per megalitre.
It is important to remember that once the ordered water is received, the user is not required to immediately use it. For example, an irrigator orders water and while it travels through the river network, a rain event occurs on their property avoiding the immediate need to irrigate.
That irrigator is entitled to store the water until needed. It isn't uncommon then, for some on-farm dams to have water stored for an extended period to use as required.
Opinions such as 'cotton should be banned' are disappointing, in circumstances where these opinions do not appear to be based on any logical conclusion and have the potential to cause real harm to real families and an industry as a whole.
- Isabel Coulton is a Future Farmers Network director.