Today's $13 billion allocation by the Federal Government is welcomed but does little to address the major anthropogenic causes of the critical condition of the Murray-Darling, according to Fair Water Use (Australia) coordinator, Dr Ian Douglas.  

"The Government must acknowledge that, irrespective the severity of drought conditions, the future health of the Murray-Darling requires that only environmentally sustainable and appropriate agricultural practices are permitted in the catchment."

Based on figures obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2005-6 the cotton and rice sectors extracted around 3,000 billion litres of the total of 7,400 billion litres of water removed from the Murray-Darling system for agricultural irrigation.

Dr Douglas went on to say, "The unacceptably high water demands of cotton and rice are best illustrated by calculation of the volumes required to create a unit of product."

According to Fair Water Use data, nationwide, irrigated agriculture as a whole generates one dollar of product from every 295 litres extracted; whereas cotton growers alone require 1925 litres and the rice sector a staggering 5000 litres to generate the same dollar.

Fair Water Use believes that a rapidly-increasing percentage of the Australian public is of the opinion that the cultivation of water-hungry crops such as cotton and rice on the driest continent on earth is totally unacceptable and should be proscribed, to reduce the long-term impact of such activities on the catchment.

"There is a precedent for such action, as a range of crops cannot be grown in this country without a licence. Strangely, the list includes industrial hemp, which is much better suited to cultivation in Australia, as its water and chemical demands are relatively low", said Dr Douglas.