One of the executive directors from the Murray Darling Basin Authority says people should give the Murray-Darling Basin Plan a go as it was only half-way through implementation and there were many water management plans still to be finalised.
Dr Peta Derham, MDBA agriculture water resource planning and management executive director, said people were jumping the gun on the plan and it was delivering real outcomes for the environment.
"We are now seeing the benefits to that reform," she said.
"Farmers have contributed significantly to the water plan."
She said the contribution of both irrigators and farmers was often "underestimated".
Land and Water Commissioner Jock Laurie said there was little that could be done with the plan to improve water supplies until the simple fact of it raining.
But the drought situation offered opportunities to improve the plan.
"There is no doubt the system is under stress at the moment," Mr Laurie said.
"But with this comes the real capacity to make change. If it doesn't rain there is no hope to move things forward now but sometimes though we need to elevate a problem to make better decisions.
"Everyone's got to give a bit of ground, it's all about compromise and keeping goodwill between all parties."
Dr Derham said it was still an issue of "how do we come together to move forward?"
The speakers were part of the NSW Farmers conference water panel.
Delegate Ed Colless from Walgett said things had changed dramatically in his area from a "land drought to a socio-economic drought".
He said the question for many people is western NSW was now, after years of drought and a dry Barwon river, "how do we live with no water?."
"Drought is a human condition and so we have to ask, How do we keep our communities functioning with no water? How do we manage without water?'"
Jane MacAllister from the Murray-Darling Association said the Murray-Darling was in ecological collapse. She said there was a lot of silting in the Darling river and that a lot of dredging needed to be undertaken.
She said in response to Mr Colless's question that each region had to work on its own tourism plan to boost communities.
In a bizarre twist after the fish deaths at Menindee Lakes, visitor numbers had increased from people wanting to see the disastrous situation. "People have actually been drawn to it," she said.
"You have to find out what makes your area unique and work on it. We know that circumstances change all the time."
She said the inflexibility of the Murray Darling plan was a major problem for people who lived and used Murray water.
"I think we have to say 'what are our opportunities?' and be more flexible in our approach."
Dr Derham though said she believed the plan was adaptive and was "designed to be adaptive".
There was still great opportunity for flexibility and out of the State Water Review Plans only one of 33 plans had come in, she said.
"We are all neighbours, whether its on farms, in regions or states and we have to be respectful of that."
Consultant Kai Wakerman Powell from Aither, said the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was actually the envy of the world and many countries used it as a framework for their own water resource management systems.
The water trading system was used as a blueprint by many countries, he said.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
