There is pressure on a Federal Government body to release water stored for the environment into the Barwon-Darling system, as lowering levels spark fears about its health.
The catchment makes up for about 13 per cent of the Murray-Darling Basin, and has no major storages.
Dry conditions have prevented the flow over the weir at Bourke in western New South Wales, sparking fears about supply and the environment.
A group of councils have called on the Federal Government to release water stored for the environment into the Barwon-Darling system to abate the effects.
The Brewarrina, Bourke, Walgett and Central Darling Shire Councils want the Commonwealth Environment Water Holder to release water held in storage at Copeton, near Inverell.
The body recently sold 6.7 gigalitres of water originally purchased for environmental purposes, as part of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, to Gywdir-district irrigators.
Slap in the face
It said the $2.878 million return from the sale would be used to improve the Basin’s environment.
The Brewarrina shire’s mayor Phillip O’Connor said the sale ridiculed the $13 billion plan when the Barwon-Darling was running low.
“Good on the irrigators, of course they will make a lot of money and it is a lot of jobs.
“It is nothing against them [irrigators] and if the Commonwealth Environment Water Holder and the Commonwealth Government decide to do that it is just an absolute slap in the face for what everyone has been trying to do the last six months to try and fix this river system,” Mr O’Connor said.
He warned action was needed now.
“When they [water users] can’t shower in it and they can’t use that water for their stock and when they haven’t got bore systems, it is an absolute disaster.”
He said some would argue the water would not reach the system from Copeton, but he said it would after time.
River’s survival ‘in jeopardy’: farmer
Louth-district farmer and the Australian Floodplain Association’s Vice President Stuart Lelievre is already destocking as a result of low water levels.
He said he was one of a few producers who had begun destocking.
He warned the effects of hot and dry conditions in the system would be broadly felt.
“There is no doubt about that and you know just all communities, small business, Aboriginal people, farmers, graziers, whom ever, it is getting harder and harder,” Mr Lelievre said.
He said morale was low in river communities.
“At the moment, the survivability on the river, in fact, the survivability of the river itself is very much in jeopardy.”
Source: http://ab.co/2DGJkWR
