Fish boss pushes for greater security
The leader of Victoria’s peak body for angling wants greater security for recreational allocations in Wimmera-mallee watersharing agreements based on pipeline savings.
Vrfish board chairman Rob Loats of Swan Hill said communities would be desperate for social respite from lengthy COVID-19 restrictions and opportunities provided by recreational lakes would play a major role in their recovery.
Mr Loats, a former Wimmera Anglers Association president, said he believed a Wimmera-mallee watersharing partnership structurally failed to acknowledge the socio-economic importance of recreation supply.
“The water-sharing agreement is out of whack and not what it was originally designed to look like based on what I believe the pipeline project’s business case intended,” he said.
“We know Gwmwater is piping water to 10 recreational lakes from its entitlement as part of a pipeline tradeoff, but the amount is negligible in the scheme of things and the agreement needs strengthening and to go further.
“In other words, this supply agreement needs a higher level of formal security of supply.
“Considering what it means for community health, it should really, in many circumstances, hold an equal weight of importance with stock and domestic supply.
“Of course common sense should always prevail in securing basic supply but recreation water should never be an afterthought.”
Mr Loats said in the many meetings he had attended years ago as a member of a Wimmera-mallee Pipeline community reference group, the importance of prioritising recreational water was always ‘very’ clear.
He said based on water-level volumes, apart from the high security of supply for the 10 designated recreation lakes, there was currently no official allocation process for other recreation supply.
He added that while environmental allocations were critically important to waterways, they should not have a higher security of supply than recreational water.
“This was never meant to be. Environmental and recreation water supply should naturally work hand in glove, not with one being more important than the other,” he said.
“As a long-time angling advocate and representative we can’t afford to dismiss the community wellbeing associated with recreational water – not only for fishing but all water-based activities such as boating and camping.
“If opportunities are good for recreation, they are also usually good for the environment.
“Considering the times we’re experiencing, it is never going to be more important for people to have access to recreational water – regional communities in particular as they try to claw their way back from the pandemic.”
Mr Loats said he believed recreational allocations under an operating schedule at the moment represented only one percent of the total impact on Wimmera-mallee storage volumes.
“Surely there is room to move here, especially when water users have a recreation-water payment included in their water bills to supply the 10 designated recreation lakes. This was part of the understanding when we lost all the dams and channels,” he said.
“So what happens? Do we expect communities to pay for recreational water when there is no guaranteed allocation?”
Mr Loats said he was constantly reminding State Government ministers and officials of a need for a high level of security for recreation supply.
He said reading about uncertainty surrounding recreation supply to Green Lake and Lake Toolondo near Horsham had prompted him to speak out.
Wimmera-mallee water-entitlement holders and stakeholders include Gwmwater, Coliban Water, Wannon Water, Victorian Environmental Water Holder, Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Wimmera, North Central, Glenelg-hopkins and Mallee catchment management authorities.