Water- A wickedly complex issue in the Murray-Darling Basin

Water is a wonderful subject to discuss in rural areas, almost everyone has an opinion on it and I really appreciate listening to them all, it is the lifeblood of inland areas.  These discussions can become very “robust” when water is scarce, then totally change tune when there is high volumes about due to the risk of flooding, it is so very Australian to have a good amount for only a very short time, compared to the extremes.

We aim to view and plan across whole basins in Australia and that makes lots of sense to connect the many communities that live along the rivers and their tributaries.  One of the many issues in say the Murray Darling Basin, is the huge distances and the changes in landscape, climate and population densities.  This rightly so makes “one rule for all” virtually impossible, as this in no way takes into account each unique regions issues.  The thinking that it is alright to put in place plans understanding that there will always be winners and losers, means decisions makers are ensuring that water fights will continue well into the future.  Just remember if it isn’t a win: win relationship, then it won’t last.

I have a lot of trouble discussing water without discussing the land that rivers are connected to, they are all part of the system, not separate.  Why aren’t we talking about management of land that reduces sedimentation, salinity, nutrification and turbidity in our waterways?  Why don’t we talk about “water sheds”, acknowledging the role land management has the health of our waterways?  Land management, especially grazing management is vital to improve the health of our waterways and therefore our communities dependant on that.  By grazing management, I’m not saying exclude grazing animals, I’m saying control them, there are many areas that really badly need grazing animals and others that need less, all areas need to be managed.  All landholders are responsible for the active management of their lands in the basin, through the strategic use of fire, grazing, rest and mechanical intervention we can improve outcomes for the whole system.

I talk a lot about the over allocation of water in our basin and how enacting the Basin Plan has exacerbated this, not helped as it was intended to do.  Why has this happened?  When water has been purchased for environmental water, that water is then accounted for every bit as tightly as it was when used for production.  Then you add to this new water allocations that have been created to account for water saving projects and the allocations that are accounted for has increased, not decreased.  This makes it less reliable for communities that depend on irrigation water use and then less money is multiplied through that community, having significant impacts on small towns and communities.  While water buybacks may seem the cheapest way to purchase environmental water, if the impact on communities is taken into account, then that is by far and away the most expensive water!

The next issue I would like to discuss is the respect and valuing of the water in our system, especially when there’s low inflows due to droughts.  If we very simply divided rivers into two parts, the critical in river stream (looking after critical riverine life) and the floodplain section (breeding and growing the riverine species).  There are times when there are low inflows, communities are on water restrictions and environmental water is being used to water floodplains.  This shows a lack of understanding of natural river processes, devaluing the and disrespecting the water and the communities along the river that do respect and value the water.  When flows are low it would be much more prudent and respectful to utilise ewater in improving and maintaining in stream river health, through weir pool manipulation and diversity of flow patterns.

The last point I would like to make about water is that each community needs to have ownership of changes in water management and their section of the basin.  By this I mean that every section of the rivers or creeks needs their own special environmental patch that has an allocation of water and is monitored and managed.  This is so important as many regions have had lots of parcels of water sold out of their region, to be used in another section of the river totally disconnected from them.  Each region needs to change with our climate and the acknowledgement that no area manages the river as well as they can, so every reach needs to have benefits and tough changes, that is what ownership is about.

For the above to happen there is no secret that management needs to happen in the heart of the basin, with decisions connecting communities, that means passing on tough times and good times.  Really important that our rivers dry back when the climate dictates they should, that makes us value our water, instead of taking it for granted.

Water is a wonderful subject to discuss in rural areas, almost everyone has an opinion on it and I really appreciate listening to them all, it is the lifeblood of inland areas.  These discussions can become very “robust” when water is scarce, then totally change tune when there is high volumes about due to the risk of flooding, it is so very Australian to have a good amount for only a very short time, compared to the extremes.

We aim to view and plan across whole basins in Australia and that makes lots of sense to connect the many communities that live along the rivers and their tributaries.  One of the many issues in say the Murray Darling Basin, is the huge distances and the changes in landscape, climate and population densities.  This rightly so makes “one rule for all” virtually impossible, as this in no way takes into account each unique regions issues.  The thinking that it is alright to put in place plans understanding that there will always be winners and losers, means decisions makers are ensuring that water fights will continue well into the future.  Just remember if it isn’t a win: win relationship, then it won’t last.

I have a lot of trouble discussing water without discussing the land that rivers are connected to, they are all part of the system, not separate.  Why aren’t we talking about management of land that reduces sedimentation, salinity, nutrification and turbidity in our waterways?  Why don’t we talk about “water sheds”, acknowledging the role land management has the health of our waterways?  Land management, especially grazing management is vital to improve the health of our waterways and therefore our communities dependant on that.  By grazing management, I’m not saying exclude grazing animals, I’m saying control them, there are many areas that really badly need grazing animals and others that need less, all areas need to be managed.  All landholders are responsible for the active management of their lands in the basin, through the strategic use of fire, grazing, rest and mechanical intervention we can improve outcomes for the whole system.

I talk a lot about the over allocation of water in our basin and how enacting the Basin Plan has exacerbated this, not helped as it was intended to do.  Why has this happened?  When water has been purchased for environmental water, that water is then accounted for every bit as tightly as it was when used for production.  Then you add to this new water allocations that have been created to account for water saving projects and the allocations that are accounted for has increased, not decreased.  This makes it less reliable for communities that depend on irrigation water use and then less money is multiplied through that community, having significant impacts on small towns and communities.  While water buybacks may seem the cheapest way to purchase environmental water, if the impact on communities is taken into account, then that is by far and away the most expensive water!

The next issue I would like to discuss is the respect and valuing of the water in our system, especially when there’s low inflows due to droughts.  If we very simply divided rivers into two parts, the critical in river stream (looking after critical riverine life) and the floodplain section (breeding and growing the riverine species).  There are times when there are low inflows, communities are on water restrictions and environmental water is being used to water floodplains.  This shows a lack of understanding of natural river processes, devaluing the and disrespecting the water and the communities along the river that do respect and value the water.  When flows are low it would be much more prudent and respectful to utilise ewater in improving and maintaining in stream river health, through weir pool manipulation and diversity of flow patterns.

The last point I would like to make about water is that each community needs to have ownership of changes in water management and their section of the basin.  By this I mean that every section of the rivers or creeks needs their own special environmental patch that has an allocation of water and is monitored and managed.  This is so important as many regions have had lots of parcels of water sold out of their region, to be used in another section of the river totally disconnected from them.  Each region needs to change with our climate and the acknowledgement that no area manages the river as well as they can, so every reach needs to have benefits and tough changes, that is what ownership is about.

For the above to happen there is no secret that management needs to happen in the heart of the basin, with decisions connecting communities, that means passing on tough times and good times.  Really important that our rivers dry back when the climate dictates they should, that makes us value our water, instead of taking it for granted, then there is good times.

I do like the attitude of being the change that you want to see in others, it is always easy to criticise and tell others upstream that they aren’t valuing and respecting the river, when if we look closely at our own area we may find similar issues.