Salinity levels in some stretches of the Murray River already exceed WHO recommendations for safe drinking, and South Australia's water authority and 11 rural townships east of Adelaide have been told to prepare for the worst.
Climate experts fear the continent faces a permanently drier future as the impact of global warming kicks in. South Australians have watched the waters stagnate as farmers, especially cotton and rice growers upstream, siphoned up to 83% of the water from the river system.

FWU note: Meanwhile the Federal Water Minister continues to promote the self-same unsustainable policies that have brought the Murray-Darling to its knees, recently stating,  'We have been very clear about the fact we want to see a removal of impediments to farmers and irrigators being able to use the water market as and when they wish".

It was announced earlier today that Singapore-based agribusiness corporation Olam International has acquired the almond plantations of failed MIS operator, Timbercorp, at a price well-below bargain basement.

Olam is already a major player in Australia’s water market, being the owner of Queensland Cotton.

The sale includes the acquisition of “rights” to 40,000 megalitres of water, “worth” in excess of $100 million. The value that Olam attaches to the almond crop itself is clear: the total amount it paid for the 8,000 hectares of plantations, including the price of the water rights, was $128 million.

Australia will continue to lose control of its water resources until such time as the Commonwealth Government rescinds the 1994 decision of the Council of Australian Governments "to implement a strategic framework to achieve an efficient and sustainable water industry", emphasising "the adoption of pricing regimes based on the principles of consumption-based pricing"; in essence, privatisation of the nation’s water.

The following is a draft of a submission prepared by the Australian Water Network, in consultation with FWU.

RATIONALE FOR INCLUSION OF REFERENCE TO RIGHT TO WATER WITHIN A PROPOSED BILL OF RIGHTS.

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its 22 May, 2009 report expressed concern about the negative impact of climate change on the right to an adequate standard of living, including on the right to water, affecting in particular indigenous peoples, in spite of the State Party’s recognition of the challenges imposed by climate change.

The following has been lifted from the website, watermakesmoney.com, and is of great relevance to Australians as Veolia is the conglomerate that is involved in the construction and operation of many of the infrastructure waterworks being undertaken by many of our State Governments. Have any of them really done their home-work?