MEDIA RELEASE 

Environmental and public water rights advocate, Fair Water Use (Australia) notes comments reported today from Andrew Gregson, CEO of the NSW Irrigators Council, indicating that the irrigation community fully understands the need to promote the environmental health of the river system.

In welcoming this announcement, national coordinator of FWU, Ian Douglas, has requested that that Mr Gregson does all he can to ensure that irrigators act in-line with this philosophy and do not give into temptation resulting from irresponsible governance.

Dr Douglas stated, “The Rice Growers Association announced last week that, in response to the lifting of water allocations by the NSW Government, its members are preparing to plant a crop this year, in expectation of a harvest of around 200,000 tonnes.”

“Based on 2005-2006 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, FWU has estimated that the cultivation of this crop will remove 250 billion litres of water from the system, to produce a harvest which we estimate will be worth only 55 million dollars based on 2006 prices”, he continued.

“This cannot be seen as a socially or environmentally responsible use of Murray-Darling water, coming at a time when the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is once again forecasting below average rainfalls across much of the Basin, the Murray River is still not flowing to the sea, the Menindee Lakes are at all time seasonal lows and some downstream communities are unable to drink the water that flows from their taps,” he added.

Dr Douglas concluded, “Although the primary blame lies squarely with the NSW Government in approving this increase in water allocations, all Australians concerned about the future of the Murray-Darling must place its environmental health before financial opportunism; the selection of appropriate crops is an essential component of this policy”.