It must be recognised that future droughts will occur. We must not be lulled into a false sense of security.
Water users vent their concerns in Forbes
Posted
The Murray Darling Basin Authority is being urged to use the recent flooding to reassess decisions made during the drought.
About 20 people attended a community meeting in Forbes yesterday to discuss the impact of the draft plan on the Lachlan Valley.
No further buybacks are planned for the river, but some irrigators are still concerned about the social and economic impacts.
Local farmer Rawson Leach says now the river and storages are full, it is a perfect time to rethink decisions made when the situation was more desperate.
“Nature has given us a great gift in that it’s provided ample water over the last two years to just take a deep breath and readjust their time frames so that some of the rushed decisions that have been thrown up at us two years ago can have plenty of time to work,” he said.
“Once some of these business and some of the decisions are made, there will be no going back.”
The chief executive of the MDBA, Rhondda Dickson, says the recent flooding will help make the transition to the proposed new system easier.
She says it is important to remember the plan will be in place long after the waters have receded.
“The sort of changes we’re proposing aren’t just for the next two years or the next period of time or even five to ten years,” she said.
“What we’re looking at is really quite a significant rebalancing of the systems so in the estimates we’ve identified of how much water needs to be recovered for the environment, we’ve looked at the last droughts and floods of the last 114 years.”
The MDBA has also been told the Lachlan Valley is suffering while the draft plan is developed.
Mr Leach says the uncertainty around the plan has made some landholders nervous about spending money on their properties.
“People extrapolate out consequences that may not occur, but where there’s uncertainty there’s always going to be a reluctance to invest or to continue maintenance all those sort of things.
“You know, it’s once there’s doubt, it’s like the share market.
“Once there’s doubt there’s always that unknown factor.”
Ms Dickson says it is important the issues around the plan are dealt with quickly.
She says there are a range of ways to provide certainty.
“One is to finalise and settle on a plan that is reasonably well accepted.
“We know we’re never going to have a plan that everyone’s going to want to have because everyone’s views are so different, but one that is reasonably accepted by all governments and that they can focus on, the implementation, and that the implementation will include them.”
Topics:environment, rivers, murray-darling-basin, water, water-management, water-supply, irrigation, forbes-2871