Water woes if weir goes ahead
The Editor,
Dubbo Environment Group considers the evidence presented consistently by academic institutions, river ecologists and the SA Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin to be the best scientific evidence available.
Too much water is being extracted from the basin rivers. The health of the Murray Darling Basin environment depends on natural river flows and is in a desperately degraded condition.
Early in the year, Dubbo Environment Group asked of Gladys Berejiklian and Dugald Saunders a series of questions relating to unlicensed floodplain harvesting and NSW’S non-compliance to the Murray Darling Basin Authority. They have been unwilling to answer our questions.
Allocation of too much water to irrigators from Burrendong Dam is the reason our communities of Wellington, Dubbo, Narromine, Warren and Cobar suffered such severe water restrictions during the last five months.
From a full dam in June 2017 (1224GL), irrigation took 444GL of water in the two years until June 2019. In that period, basic community and industry needs took 310GL and the environment took 261GL. In two years, irrigators were allowed almost the same amount of water as contained in Sydney Harbour (500GL).
From the Water NSW website, we learn that one of the benefits of the Macquarie River Re-regulating Storage Project (Gin Gin Weir), is: “Reduced transmission losses when transferring and delivering water through the river system on an annual basis.”
Dubbo Environment Group would like to remind Water NSW that the same reason was used to drain Menindee Lakes and build a new multimillion-dollar taxpayer-funded pipeline to supply Broken Hill. The results were devastating, not least to our native fish. The use of this ‘evaporation’ tool to further degrade our rivers is not legitimate.
Another ‘benefit’ listed is: “Maximise available water for general security customers within the sustainable diversion limits set under the Murray-darling Basin Plan.”
Dubbo Environment Group would like to remind Water NSW that there is currently NO Murray-darling Basin Plan for NSW. NSW has refused to comply to many requirements from the Murray-darling Basin Authority for at least two years and is running unchecked with their own rules.
The Water NSW website provides a survey for recreational users of the Gin Gin weir reserve only. All citizens who care about the environment, who care for the future of our natural heritage and culture, who care about fair rationing of water for all states and who care about the integrity of tax-funded projects, should be included if this consultation process is to be considered thorough and credible.
We condemn the building of the Gin Gin weir re-regulating storage project and request that the Macquarie River be allowed to flow unhindered by further obstruction or extraction.
Margaret Mcdonald, Coordinator, Dubbo Environment Group
The Editor,
If COVID-19 can be thanked for anything, it might be for creating an unprecedented focus on mental health and prompting the community to take stock of what counts when it comes to mental wellbeing.
Some wonderful things have occurred amidst the overload of bad and heartbreaking news, things that could ultimately bring us back as a more cohesive and resilient society, positioning us to better deal with mental illness and guide us on how to better support each other generally.
For context, let’s look back ten or 15 years. If you were feeling out-of-sorts or living with depression or anxiety, you may have been likely to keep a lid on things for fear of stigma and isolation.
You might have avoided reaching out for help or talking about your situation for fear or losing your job or having family and social networks think less of you.
Suffering in silence, with no help or support, and maybe not even realising ‘that thing’ on your back was a mental health issue, your situation might have gotten so much worse.
You might have lost your job and key relationships anyway. You might have turned to drugs, ended up homeless or gone to the darkest imaginable places.
Of course those things still happen, but times have certainly changed.
These days we have people from across the spectrum of society opening up about mental health issues.
Mental health is a national priority, with funding that couldn’t have been imagined in past years. Savvy education programs and in