Senate inquiry to hear radical water remedy
Siobhain Ryan; 19/9/08
The influential Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists is expected to call for a radical overhaul of irrigation and cuts to water allocations in the Murray-Darling Basin at a Senate inquiry in Canberra today. Wentworth Group director Peter Cosier and fellow members Bruce Thoms, John Williams and Mike Young will argue that irrigation allocations should be wound back in light of the drought and climate change forecasts and provide enough water for the rivers, including South Australia’s thirsty Coorong and lower lakes, to be healthy and sustainable. The group wants the cutbacks based on the CSIRO’s Sustainable Yields Project, which calculated the current take of water from each of the 23 river valleys of the basin, and Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s sustainable rivers audit, which found only one river in the basin, the Paroo, was in good condition.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24368857-11949,00.html
Tags: Australia, Environment, Murray-Darling Basin