Irrigators say the draft plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin will destroy communities and make food more expensive, while green groups insist the environment is the biggest loser of all.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) released its long-awaited draft plan today, but early signs suggest it has failed to satisfy either side of the debate.
The authority wants an extra 2750 gigalitres of water to be returned to the river system each year to restore it to health, which is a step down from the minimum 3000 to 4000 gigalitres set down in last year’s guide to the basin plan.
Add in new savings and the MDBA says the figure is actually only about 1468 gigalitres annually.
But National Irrigators Council’s Stewart Ellis said the draft was a fraud and if adopted, would result in thousands of jobs being lost, an increase in food prices and communities being shut down.
And irrigators have already given back so much of their water.
“Irrigators want a healthy river system - we rely on it - but we want a balanced plan that considers the needs of people … as well as the environment,” he said in a statement.
“The draft basin plan fails to acknowledge that over 2.1 million megalitres [2100 gigalitres] of water entitlements have been recovered from irrigators in the past seven years.
“By 2019 well over 4 million megalitres [4000 gigalitres] will have been taken out of our communities.”
He attacked the authority for not saying what exactly would happen to the water, or where it would end up.
The draft plan includes an environmental watering plan, but only sets out a framework for how the plan will be implemented, such as how wetlands or other environmental assets will eventually be chosen.
The federal opposition says the plan fails to provide security for irrigation communities, with the 2750 gigalitres return not enforceable for another seven years.
“Locals will not know how much water will be taken from their community for another eight years until 2019,” federal opposition water spokesman Barnaby Joyce said.
“The draft plan provides people with less information, less transparency and less certainty.”
Also disappointed are environmentalists, who have appealed - now without success - to have the authority increase the minimum environmental return to what they say is a more scientifically valid 7000 gigalitres.
Voices for the Murray-Darling, which is made up of various groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of the Earth, said the authority’s scientific calculations were murky.
It had also failed to properly consider the risks of climate change and an increase in groundwater extractions, the group said.
“The authority has compromised river health to arrive at a politically acceptable solution,” it said.
The Australian Greens said the draft plan as it stood would become a multibillion-dollar flop.
“The river is being sold out for a plan that is more about political appeasement rather than robust and long-term reform,” Greens basin spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“The MDBA hasn’t provided the science behind its estimates, so we do not know the implications for the environment with less than 2800 GL available.”
With the plan now open for a 20-week public consultation, Senator Hanson-Young urged people to come forward and lobby for a greater return of environmental water to the river system.
