‘Urgent steps’ needed to save Australia’s biggest river system

SYDNEY: The viability of a key river that feeds into Australia’s biggest water system is under threat if poor conditions that killed millions of fish are not improved within six months, scientists warned yesterday.

The management of the MurrayDarling River system, which stretches thousands of kilometres across several states and supplies Australia’s food bowl, has been under close scrutiny following three mass fish deaths in December and January.

Authorities said millions of fish died in the Darling River events, blamed on low water f low and oxygen levels in the river as well as possibly toxic algae.

Leading scientists who studied the three bouts of kills said that while a severe drought plaguing inland eastern Australia contributed to the deaths, there were also “serious deficiencies in governance and management” of the river network.

“Our review of the fish kills found there isn’t enough water in the Darling system to avoid catastrophic outcomes,” said Craig Moritz, chair of the independent expert panel commissioned by the opposition Labor Party to investigate the deaths.

He said an analysis of rainfall and river f low data over recent decades points to “excess water extraction upstream” in the agricultural regions of Queensland and New South Wales ( NSW) states.

If urgent steps are not taken within six months to increase the f low of water, the expert report said, the “viability of the Darling” as well as the communities that depend on it for their livelihoods would be under threat.

Authorities in 2014 launched a vast Murray-Darling Basin Plan to manage water sharing and usage along the length of the system, which runs through five states and territories.

Last month a Royal Commission launched by South Australia state accused officials of “maladministration”, “negligence” and “unlawful” actions in implementing the plan.

Environmental activists and many residents living along the lower reaches of the MurrayDarling system have put much of the blame on abusive water extraction for irrigation by agribusinesses, including major cotton farms in Queensland and NSW. — AFP