River Murray Minister Karlene Maywald today announced that water allocations for River Murray irrigators in South Australia would be increased by 4 per cent to 15% because recent rains had brought 400GL of inflows, some 130GL more that expected. This is still less than the September average of 1,600GL and the region remains in drought.
Di Bell asks: And what about the environment? That 4% could make a big difference. How many GL does that 4% represent? Will 4% make it possible for irrigators to survive? If so, how many and where? What difference would that 4% have on a stressed wetland? Is anyone doing the impact studies? We have plenty of modelling on the drought, how about some modelling on the environmental benefits of 4% to the environment? Every little bit helps.
