Category: Water
The world’s fresh water supplies are almost fully exploited.Almost al, 97 per cent, of the world’s water is salt. Of the fresh water in the world, two thirds is locked up as ice and snow (the cryosphere – to you and me, kid!). Globally, three quarters of the water that is used is used by agriculture. India, China and the United States, use more fresh water than is available. The water level in those nation’s aquifers is falling as a result.The current food crisis has come about largely as a result as the shortfall in available water begins to impact on the cost of irrigation.Â
admin /29 January, 2009
From The Herald
THE fate of Tillegra Dam now rests in the hands of Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett after his department ordered an assessment of the project’s impact on the Hunter’s internationally recognised wetlands.
Dam opponents applauded the intervention last night, which they said would provide greater scrutiny and debate about the project’s environmental and economic impacts.
Tillegra Dam project manager Nicole Holmes said the implications of the decision would be known within the next month.
“At this point it’s not clear if there will be further work that needs to be undertaken,” she said.
“We are awaiting the outcome of discussions between the Commonwealth and the state to understand any implications.”
admin /18 January, 2009
From the ABC The Queensland weather bureau says water might start flowing into Lake Eyre in South Australia’s far north for the first time in eight years. Water from the recent floods in Queensland is starting to make its way down the Georgina and Diamantina rivers towards the lake. The bureau’s hydrology manager Peter Baddiley Continue Reading →
admin /7 January, 2009
“Water is very, very divisive” … Steve Posselt on the Darling River. He thinks irrigation is the cause of many problems in the outback.
Photo: Bryan O’Brien
WHEN the poet Henry Lawson walked over the bridge across the Darling River at North Bourke more than a century ago, it inspired his belief that irrigation was the answer to the outback’s woes.
But when the Queensland water engineer Steve Posselt paddled under the bridge this week, he was thinking that irrigation had become the cause of much of the outback’s woes.
admin /3 January, 2009
Four new national parks will be created in Victoria in an attempt to save the river red gum forests in the state’s north. The declaration of the national parks does not increase the flow of water to the areas but the government claims that the Foodbowl Modernisation Project will. That project is designed to reduce agriculture in marginal areas, reduce wastage from irrigation and share the available water between agriculture, the environment and the City of Melbourne. Farm groups have reacted angrily to the new national parks proposal claiming that grazing reduces the risk of fire and improves management of the land. Environmental groups have applauded the move, challenging the NSW government to follow suit.
admin /27 December, 2008
The National Party in Victoria has publicly split with the state Liberals over the building of dams in Gippsland to divert water to Melbourne. Environmentalists, water consultants and The Greens have all opposed further interbasin transfers on the basis that they require vast amounts of energy, destroy the natural environment, harm agriculture and consume vast amounts of energy. A similar coalition of interests in Queensland caused the Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, to announce earlier this month that the controversial Traveston Crossing dam on the Mary River would be put on permanent hold. Leader of the Victorian Liberals, Ted Baillieu, has refused to rule out the dam saying the party would announce its water policy closer to the election.
admin /7 December, 2008
The Federal Parliament today passed crucial reforms on the management of the Murray-Darling Basin, in another significant step towards sustainable basin water use and healthy rivers and wetlands.
Passage of the Water Amendment Bill 2008 through Federal Parliament followed the passage of complementary legislation in four State parliaments.
“The approval of these reforms marks a critical change in how Australia’s most important river system, the Murray Darling Basin, is managed,” Minister for Water, Senator Penny Wong, said.
“The centrepiece of the reforms is the development of a new Basin Plan and sustainable diversion limit, or ‘cap’, on the basin’s surface and groundwater resources.
