Friday, May 01, 2015 at 10:17
Without doubt this has been a political issue for a long-time that has actually seen a Royal Commission in the past. The purchase of Toorale in 2008, at the convergence of the
Warrego and Darling Rivers, by the Federal Government of the day was a politicised process.
Mind you, based on the reading I have done on this subject, that purchase returned a substantial amount of water to the
Darling River system by once again allowing flood waters from the
Warrego into the
Darling River and in turn the Murray-Darling basin.
The theme and point I am making in this thread and in my blog has been that the
Darling River is either “feast or famine – dry, somewhere in between, or flooded”. Given this is the case my question is similar to that of many people.
Why do we allow water to be drawn from this fragile system to grow irrigated crops? Should the river be allowed to simply flow unimpeded, as slowly as that might be depending on rains, or lack thereof, in the catchment areas?
No easy answers, personally I try to look at these issues through a variety on lenses, one of those being what is actually best for the environment.
The more I travel Australia and see just how much natural beauty and natural resources Australia has - minerals, river systems to name two, the more I find myself asking the question as to whether we have the balance right – exploitation of our natural resources versus protecting our environment.
I don’t believe either is mutually exclusive, but getting the balance right is an imperative!
Being a risk versus reward person, I ask the question;
Is the reward from the short-term benefit of growing irrigated agriculture crops, that may not be “best suited” in this region taking all factors into account, versus the risk to our environment and potential negative impacts from contaminants entering it from irrigated crop growing worth it? And that is before taking the actual water usage into account.
The time-line I am looking at is counted in decades, not what happened this year, last year, or potentially next year…
What is our responsibility to future generations, to indigenous Australian’s who have an important and possibly spiritual connection to these lands?
But as indicated previously, nature is powerful when it comes to correcting abuse; it might take a long time but like the sun rising in the east, it will surely come!
Thanks for your input, open discussion and debate is always a key ingredient to understanding the issue and getting the right outcomes…
As always, I have an open mind!
Cheers, Baz – The Landy
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