In addition to current news items from Fair Water Use which appear below, a wide range of our previous articles can be viewed via the subheadings of the News tab on the side-menu.

13th April 2012

The ongoing flooding in the Murray-Darling Basin, coming so soon after the decade-long 'Millennium Drought', is a stark reminder of the extreme variability of the Murray-Darling river system.

These events also illustrate why the proposed Basin Plan, predicated on allocating a fixed volume of water for irrigation and returning a fixed volume of water to the rivers, has been widely condemned as facile and insincere, and of failing to improve on the existing, discredited management regime.

The period since the Murray-Darling Basin Authority released its guide to the proposed plan, nearly two years ago, has been marked by sustained outrage from all quarters. The authority, under its current chair, political apparatchik Craig Knowles,  has been accused of a lack of transparency and scientific dishonesty.

Few if any stakeholder groups have willingly embraced the proposed Basin Plan, and those that have indicated that they may are tending to do so in the belief, as stated by Craig Knowles himself, that his plan is "better than no plan at all" – hardly a ringing self-endorsement of a proposal which will direct the expenditure of over $9 billion of taxpayers funds.

It appears that both Mr Knowles and federal Water Minister Tony Burke have adjudged the proposed plan to be worthy precisely because it pleases no-one.

In the broader community, there is widespread frustration and "Basin Plan fatigue as criticisms and counter-criticisms continue to saturate the debate and consensus seems hopelessly unattainable.

Many are now asking: as a nation, how have we arrived at this impasse?

ACCESS  COMPLETE ARTICLE AT:  http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3948040.html

 31st March 2012

The Environmental Defenders Office is an independent, not-for-profit, community legal service, specialising in public interest environmental law. Its review of the Proposed Basin Plan reveals that the Plan may be in breach of the Commonwealth Water Act. 

29th November 2011

World Bank partners with Nestlé to ‘transform water sector’

The World Bank's new partnership with corporations aimed at transforming the water sector is 'part of a broader trend of industry collusion to influence global water policy', writes Corporate Accountability International.

The World Bank has launched a new partnership with global corporations including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Veolia. Housed at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the new venture aspires to “transform the water sector” by inserting the corporate sector into what has historically been a public service. The new partnership is part of a broader trend of industry collusion to influence global water policy.

The venture — called the 2030 Water Resources Group Phase 2 Entity — aligns global corporations that have major financial stakes in water governance with the World Bank, one of the world’s leading development institutions. Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has been appointed to chair the Water Resources Group, which has already received $1.5 million in IFC funding. Nestlé is the world’s largest water bottling corporation.

Given the heated debate on the upcoming Basin Plan and water policy in general, Fair Water Use is keen to know your thoughts on these issues.

Please take a moment to complete a brief questionnaire, as it will assist us in prioritising our efforts.

27th September 2011

Environmental engineer and member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, Tim Stubbs, details serious concerns about the effectiveness and economic wisdom of the Knowles' Basin Plan: [listen here]

8th September 2011

Just received from our colleagues at Food and Water Watch (USA):

This morning we've organized hundreds of people to travel to the Shale Gas Outrage Rally in Philadelphia, where thousands of people from across the country are coming together to fight against fracking.

This dangerous practice has already contaminated more than 1,000 water wells and caused many other serious problems like explosions, quarantined livestock and radioactive wastewater. . .

Communities across the country are racing to protect their water from the dangerous and unnecessary practice of fracking. From Dimock, Pennsylvania to Santa Barbara, California, residents are standing up and saying "Ban Fracking Now." We're working with folks in some of the frontline communities to ban fracking so that they'll have safe clean water for their families and livelihoods. . .

7th September 2011

Despite vociferous protestations from a section of the irrigation community that all is back to normal after last year's rains, and that reductions in diversion limits are therefore unnecessary, drought has already been declared in a significant portion of the Murray-Darling Basin:  LISTEN HERE

27th August 2011

Dear Dr Marohasy,

Re. your article in today’s Australian:

It is heartwarming to note your deep concern for the ecological health of the Murray-Darling river system.

Given your stated opposition to man-made barriers to natural flows, can we assume that you would be in favour of the removal of all weirs, locks and in-stream diversions along the length of the Murray-Darling?

24th August 2011

Compulsory viewing for everyone who cherishes the waterways of this country - and especially the Murray-Darling: