The " Fight " Over Water !

Cotton is a thirsty crop and it is suited to the agrarian conditions of northern New South Wales and Queensland.  It is being blamed for the mysterious disappearance of water from Australia's inland river systems.  The problem is that these rivers wind their way through Queensland and New South Wales before they empty into the great southern ocean in South Australia.  They therefore come under a number of state water management schemes.

For too many years each state granted water rights to agricultural interests drawing water from the inland river system until the flow failed to reach the sea.  It was imperative that action be taken and the Commonwealth stepped in and compulsorily bought back the water rights that exceeded reasonable usage.  Farmers allowed a more meagre water allocation had no option other than to manage their water use more wisely.  Drip irrigation replaced wasteful crop inundation and there was an expectation that the problem was being resolved.

This year, the scientists who evaluate the river system are reporting a strange anomaly.  Despite predicted rainfall in the catchment area the level of the inland rivers is not reaching the expected flow level predicted and in South Australia it is much the same as when the alarm was first raised.  This raises the question of what happened to the missing water ?

Suspicion is mounting that the big cotton farms to the north have greedily taken more than their allocation and that the New South Wales government has been complicit because the cotton crop is critical to the state's economy.   Inspectors who manage water use report that water gauges have been tampered with and hidden pumps have been drawing water far in excess of the allocations granted.  The opportunities exist over the many miles the rivers run through country almost devoid of human occupation.

This is water that belongs to the Australian people because it has been bought and paid for by government taxes.  It was public money that bought back those water rights from farmers and that public money bought the expectation that we would achieve a healthy inland river system despite the encroachment of global warming.

The pundits have been predicting that water will be the source of future world wars.  The worlds great rivers run through many countries and as rainfall patterns alter desperate people will choke off flow to others downstream by building dams and running off supplies for their own use.   Most of these rivers start from melting glaciers - and these glaciers are themselves melting away.

We are fortunate that Australia is an entire continent with no land border with another country.  Our rivers start and finish within Australia.  Their management rests entirely in Australian hands.  We need to crack down hard and see that quotas are maintained and use the punitive power of the Commonwealth to achieve a healthy river system.   Those illegally taking water must face the full force of the law !