Wednesday 15 March 2017
Background
Building a Lock Zero at Wellington before water from the Murray River flows into South Australia’s Lower Lakes should be on the agenda for Friday’s Ministerial Council in Mildura.
Five barrages are installed through the Lower Lakes system downstream from Lake Alexandrina.
Up to 950GL of water is lost each year from the Lower Lakes through evaporation and securing this water would mean no more would need to be taken from agriculture to meet the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP).
Record flood events in the southern Basin in late 2016 saw more than 4000GL flow into the Lower Lakes in two months yet dredging of the Murray Mouth already resumed in January.
Last year an investigation of the impacts of water recovery under the MDBP on Northern Basin communities found it had significant negative impacts on jobs and local economies.
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Water and Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh
There needs to be a serious examination of the case for removing the barrages and installing Lock Zero and Friday’s meeting is the ideal time to start the discussion.
This is about saving Victorian jobs and Victorian farm businesses from wastefully evaporating out of Lake Alexandrina.