It has been revealed that consultancy firm KBR will receive in excess of $30 million for advisory input with respect to the $3.1 billion desalination plant to be built at Wonthaggi in Victoria and scheduled to produce 150 gigalitres of fresh water annually by 2011. 

Toorale Station is expected to be acquired by the Federal and NSW Governments within the next two weeks for around $20 million. Its purchase will allow annual inflows into the Murray-Darling system to be increased by an estimated 90 gigalitres. 

To recap: 

·        The consultancy fee alone for Victoria’s desal plant is 50% more than the expected purchase price of Toorale Station.

·        Based on acquisition price alone, with no consideration of the operational costs of desal projects, in the first twelve months of operation the Wonthaggi plant will produce around 48 litres per dollar outlaid, whereas Toorale will provide approximately 4,500 litres per dollar. 

These figures should largely dispel concerns about the wisdom of Government plans to purchase strategic irrigation properties in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Report from Australian Bureau of Statistics (issued 15th August 2008)

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is an area of national significance for social, cultural economic and environmental reasons. The social impacts of changes in agriculture and environmental events, such as drought, are important for people in the MDB. The MDB also contains nationally significant environmental assets which are reliant on water to maintain ecosystem health.

[FULL REPORT HERE] 

The upcoming auction of the large, overseas-owned, cotton property, Toorale, provides the Federal Government with an opportunity to do something meaningful for the Murray-Darling.

Yesterday’s (August 1^st 2008) announcement by the NSW Department of Water and Energy appears to confirm suspicions that the NSW State Government has little intention of contributing in a meaningful manner to efforts to increase environmental flows in the Murray-Darling. [SOURCE TEXT HERE] 

The 25% allocation now available to NSW irrigators in the Murray valley is in stark contrast to the current zero allocations of zero and 2% currently available to Victorian and South Australian irrigators respectively. The Department has also indicated that NSW allocations may well be further increased in the near future following increased inflows into the upper Murray catchment.

Under current legislation, the NSW State Government retains control over water held in the Menindee Lakes, until such time as reserves rise above 640 gigalitres, at which point it comes under the jurisdiction of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which would dearly love to be able to access water from the lakes to increase environmental flows.

The stupidity of the this arrangement is that NSW water authorities are apparently permitted to extract water and transfer it to other storages as and when reserves in the lakes approach the 640 gigalitre level. 

Following the average to well above average rainfall in the upper Darling catchment over the last nine months, the small amount of run-off that evaded diversion into the vast private storages of the usual suspects,  flowed down the Darling and, as of January, into the Menindee Lakes.

The cynical attitude of the NSW Government to the current water crisis is evident on examination of recent data released by the Commission:

We will spare you the need to do the maths: 640 gigalitres corresponds to 38% capacity . . . .

Fair Water Use condemns the NSW Government for its small-mindedness in the face of this national crisis.

Get out of the gutter Mr Iemma: your country needs you.

Current data obtained by FWU from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and relevant State water authorities reveal that around 4,000 gigalitres of water is currently held in public storage in the Murray-Darling Basin: including Menindee: 510 gl; Dartmouth: 730 gl; Hume: 620 gl; Eildon: 562 gl; Burrunjuck: 450 gl; Blowering: 650  gl. This total is increasing following recent, but by no means drought-breaking, rains in south-eastern Australia.

The volume currently impounded by private enterprise is estimated at 1,000 gigalitres (predominantly in the upper Darling catchment).

We are advised that the Federal Government has the constitutional authority to assume control of Murray-Darling water, including this total of around 5000 gigalitres currently impounded. It is therefore not unreasonable to ask Senator Wong why she has made no decisive moves to acquire the 1,500 gigalitres that the CSIRO tells us is urgently required by the system if it is to be given a reasonable chance of restoration.

It is interesting to note that that the CSIRO has determined that 1500 gigalitres is urgently required by the Murray-Darling to prevent its short-term collapse. Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that cotton-growers in the Murray-Darling basin consumed this volume in 2005-6.

Given the above, the Federal Government should move without delay to compulsorily acquire water from the massive private impoundments in the upper Darling region, in addition to that able to be sourced from reserves held by the States.

For those who have an interest in the scale of earthworks undertaken in the Upper Darling region by major  irrigators, courtesy of Google Earth, FWU can take you to  one such development, at Cubbie Station. The image below shows merely ONE INLET to the THIRTY THREE THOUSAND HECTARES of irrigated cotton country owned by the Cubbie Group - on this the driest continent on the planet.

To take a tour of this huge water-sucking enterprise, simply copy and paste the following coordinates into the "Fly To" window of Google Earth and you will see for yourself the lengths to which the Cubbie Group has gone to ensure that water is diverted from the nation's rivers into their irrigation system:  -28.6117048382 148.005713781 (don't forget the "-" )

This is only one example of the diversion channels put in place by organisations which  have the temerity to state publicly that they have an "almost negligible" impact on the Murray-Darling. 

If you feel motivated by this image you may care to contact the following entities and individuals who are invested in these selfish and destructive activities:

Tell them what you think.....

CUBBIE:  

Chairman  Keith De Lacy: Fax: 61 7 3229 1776 ; Director: Peter Forbes: Fax: 61 7 3360 3986

Joint managing directors: John Grabbe, Paul Brimblecombe: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    

CUBBIE'S MAIN FINANCIERS:

National Australia Bank:
Ric Shadforth: Media Relations Business Partner - Agribusiness: +61 (0)2 9237 1518 / +61 (0)447 395 889 or via  http://www.nabgroup.com/0,,33879,00.html

 Suncorp: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

- We CAN make a difference: Remember ANZ's response to the Anti-Gunns Campaign.

Please consider forwarding this information to your email contacts list, asking them to add their support.

July 13th 2008 

New data from Murray-Darling Basin Commission reveals that, despite excellent rains in the upper Darling catchment over the last nine months, total inflows into the Murray are at historical lows; and we know that the Darling itself is barely flowing at present.

Currently the situation may be exacerbated by drought, but it cannot be argued that the only solution is for this drought to break. FWU believes that the vast majority of the national electorate will no longer accept the reluctance of Prime Minister Rudd to use the emergency powers that his office bestows to compulsorily acquire and release the recommended 1500 gigalitres of impounded water that is currently being denied the rivers  - as a result of vested political or corporate interests.

We urge Mr Rudd to rise above the endemic obfuscation and prevarication and take decisive action to address the problem in the short-term. The vast area that used to be the nation's bread-basket is literally dying as it waits for him to do so.

However, the rivers will never run as they should thereafter unless Governments also step in and radically reduce or reclaim water "rights", especially those granted in a less than transparent manner to big business buddies of the National Party. This would also encourage the cultivation of less water-hungry crops throughout the basin.

The Federal Government has a mandate from the electorate to redress the mistakes of the past. It owes the country no less.

Could this mark the beginning of the end for Australian cotton?  [FULL STORY HERE]