18 January 2019
Academy of Sciences confirms North Basin Review was bad for Darling River health
The Nature Conservation Council and Inland Rivers Network welcome the Academy of Sciences Report on the Menindee Lakes and Darling River fish kills, which confirms mismanagement of water in the Northern Basin is largely responsible for the catastrophe.
“Australia's eminent science community supports the position of NCC and IRN that the Northern Basin Review outcome was a damaging for river health,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski said.
“The decision to take 70 billion litres of river water away from the environment was not a balanced decision. Also, the decision to decommission the Menindee Lakes was made with no background information or business case.
“The influence of the irrigation industry through the National Party resulted in a biased Murray Darling Basin Authority board and poor decision-making.”
Inland Rivers Network spokesperson Bev Smiles said: “The NSW Government threatened to pull out of the Basin Plan and demonstrates no interest in healthy river systems in NSW.
“The sale of 15 billion litres of environmental water in August last year to irrigate cotton placed the northern rivers under greater stress.
“This water could have been used to help our native fish populations but was siphoned off for big irrigators.
“The recent unprecedented fish kills are the result of policies and actions taken by the NSW Government that favour water extraction, not river health.
“The Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), federal and NSW governments have ignored the science, which clearly shows what is need to have healthy rivers with healthy fish populations.”
The Nature Conservation Council and Inland Rivers Network are calling on the NSW Government to:
- Mandate environmental flows. Water management regimes must mandate flows sufficient to maintain healthy, functioning river systems and wetlands. Water-sharing plans must include enforceable rules and allocations of environmental water.
- Tighten the water-use monitoring regime. The government must implement the ‘no meter, no pump’ objective universally. Systemic failures have led to poor monitoring and enforcement of water laws, including alleged corruption and criminal activity in relation to improper use and over-extraction of water.
- Control floodplain harvesting. The government must require cumulative environmental assessment prior to issuing floodplain harvesting licences, and place limits on extraction. Irrigators in Northern Basin catchments have built levees and dams to capture and store floodwaters which have stopped water flowing downstream to recharge groundwater and fill billabongs, lagoons and wetlands.
- Rule out new dams. Promote more efficient water usage and do not build new dams. Large dams and weirs alter natural water flows, significantly degrading the health of rivers. New dams do not create more water, they redistribute water, withholding it from downstream users and the environment.
Tags
Rivers and wetlands
Let others know about this issue