WATER users along the Lower Darling-Baaka River have praised a report examining connectivity between catchments of the northern NSW Murray-Darling Basin and downstream.
Written for the consideration of the New South Wales Government, an independent expert panel released an interim report in April examining water sharing plans, and ways to improve flows for downstream connectivity outcomes.
The report’s executive summary stated its recommendations sought to “rebalance extraction with downstream social and environmental needs” by ensuring a connection from the Northern tributaries through the Barwon-Darling down to Menindee Lakes.
NSW South-West Water Users Association vice-chair Rachel Strachan welcomed the report’s findings, saying the lower reaches of the river had been “cruelled” by over-extraction in the catchment’s north, evidenced by blue green algae, fish kills, and water quality issues.
“At the moment you’ve got a water sharing plan that on the front page it tells us exactly what we want to hear about looking after the health of our rivers, and then at the next 90 to 100 pages completely undermines everything it says on the first page,” Ms Strachan said.
“We have to really rectify that and I’m hoping this report’s seriously looked at by government, we seriously need big changes.”
NSW South-West Water Users Association chair Howard Jones described the findings, recommendations and tone of the interim report as a “very, very positive thing.”
“We’ve been pursuing connectivity in the real sense in the Barwon-Darling ever since the disastrous 2012 water sharing plans were introduced by the previous government,” he said.
“It was allowing take at a level that was already perilously low in relation to connectivity, and destroyed any opportunity for connectivity to occur, particularly in the lower flow scenarios.”
Among the interim report’s recommendations is a request to protect baseflows through to Menindee Lakes by restricting supplementary and floodplain harvesting access.
It also called for a move away from a reactionary approach to low-flow situations, by providing small and large refreshes along the river system during non-dry times when water is readily available.
Ms Strachan agreed that more consistent connectivity would boost the resilience of the river ecosystem.
“Instead of reacting to when it’s dire and there’s no water at someone’s doorstep, we have to actually look at the whole system as a whole picture,” she said.
“This report is really encompassing that we start to embrace the whole system as an important entity and looking after the water quality.
“Yes, we are getting some water to Menindee, but then you still have to get some quality water through that bottom section of the lower Darling and the Murray for the river to actually be a river, not just a delivery channel delivering repulsive water to people’s doorsteps.”
A final report will be presented to NSW water minister Rose Jackson in June, and any resultant changes to water sharing plan flow targets are expected to be implemented from July next year.
