After repeated delays, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority is now aiming to publish its Guide to the Basin Plan in November.

The Draft Guide, released by the Authority last year, indicated that, if the aim of the Basin Plan was to return the Murray-Darling to good health, environmental flows should be increased by at least 7,600 gigalitres per annum.

It surprised many observers that the Authority, the statutory body charged with protecting the Murray-Darling river system, recommended that only half this volume be sought; all but admitting that this decision, which threatens the very future of the river system, was driven by fear of backlash from powerful vested interests within the irrigation sector.

Following release of the Draft Guide, the Authority was justifiably criticised for the manner in which it presented its recommendations for public discussion. However, the vitriol which emanated from maverick groups of irrigators largely resulted from knee-jerk rejection of the figure of 3,000 to 4,000 gigalitres proposed by the Authority - despite the Draft Plan clearly stating that this reduced volume would be insufficient to revive the ecological health of many river valleys in the Basin, upon which all Basin farmers, and not just the irrigating minority, depend.

As part of its campaign to demand the substantial increase in environmental flows required to ensure the ecological health of the river system and thereby the future of all those who seek to utilise its water, Fair Water Use has agreed to join the Voices for the Murray-Darling, a national alliance of concerned groups and community members – both from the Basin and metropolitan Australia – who agree that Australia’s lifeblood is in crisis and the problem needs to be fixed now.

Supporters of Fair Water Use, and all those concerned about this critical issue, are urged to visit the Voices for the Murray-Darling website for more information about the campaign and to sign a petition, to be presented to Craig Knowles, the current Chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

The best available science indicates that a Basin Plan based on any less than a 4,000 gigalitre increase in environmental flows would likely prove futile and therefore be a flagrant waste of the 10 billion dollars of taxpayers’ funds allocated to efforts to restore the Murray-Darling and to assist Basin communities through the transition.

There are now serious concerns that Craig Knowles’ MDBA v.2011 will recommend returning less than 3,000 gigalitres to the river system. If true, this would be one of the most malignant acts of tokenism ever imposed upon this country: effectively risking the long term future of the nation’s most vital rivers for the sake of short-term political expediency and the financial benefit of a small proportion of the Murray-Darling Basin community.

We are planning a range of additional initiatives to increase awareness of the implications of a compromised Basin Plan and the need to ensure that the nation seizes this singular opportunity to turn around the degradation of an iconic national resource which belongs to all Australians; not merely the irrigating minority, who for far too long have been encouraged to overexploit the water of the Murray-Darling.