Fair Water Use considers one of the most pressing issues, of the many which comprise the Murray-Darling crisis, to be the severe degradation of  the Lower Murray Lakes and the Coorong. Years of inaction have allowed Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert to decay to such an extent that an increasing body of opinion believes that they cannot realistically be saved as fresh water ecosystems in the long-term. Additionally evaporative losses from the lakes have been estimated at up to 1000 gigalitres annually.

Given the lack of government action to order the release of the 1500 gigalitres required to revive the system, it now appears almost inevitable that the much-debated Wellington weir will be constructed in the near future. It is generally agreed that this provides no long-term solution and will have further negative impacts on the health of the River Murray and its water quality.

Fair Water use has been advised of a plan which would appear to address these problems in the long-term. The "Western Rim Proposal"  involves construction of a levee (highlighted in green) around the shore of Lake Alexandrina, effectively extending the River Murray to the mouth and isolating it from the lakes which would then be opened to the sea, as was the case before the barrages were built.

A weir on the north-eastern side of the lake would allow diversion of flood water into the lakes as and when Murray flows allowed, maintaining them as a quasi-estuarine environment. As is currently the case, the lock below Goolwa would enable boat access between the sea and the river. 

Fresh water wetlands would be restored and created along the western edge of the river extension. Flows to these areas could be regulated to simulate natural wet and dry periodicity. The unique and natural Coorong would be preserved as a brackish water system by diversion of several large drainage channels which currently discharge fresh water directly into the sea to its east. Local biodiversity is projected to increase.

This would be a major undertaking, involving both the South Australian and the Federal Governments, but, as it allows the Murray to flow to its mouth and to deposit its salt load into the ocean, it appears to offer significant hope that the river can be restored. It would also enable the weir at Wellington to be decommissioned, should construction proceed.

The project is certainly a long term one, designed to counter the projected effects of climate change as much as the impacts of over allocation. We are told that it would take around five years to complete, as the sad state of the lake would enable the major on-site earthworks to be undertaken on the dry rim. We are also told that lake bed soils could be used in part to construct the levee, augmented by rubble trucked-in to encase it. The budget would be required to allocate significant funds for remedial work to address the impact of quarrying.

It is generally agreed that the Murray-Darling Basin accounts for around 40 per cent of Australia?s gross agricultural production (calculated by the ABS as $37.3 billion in 2005-6). The one-off price of this major project should therefore not be an issue, as the annual opportunity cost is many times greater. Under the proposal, the levee would be sufficiently wide to be sold for development, with the river on one side and the lakes on the other. The value of these blocks would significantly offset the cost of this ambitious project. 

We are advised that there would be positive economic impact on local communities during the construction period, as employment demand and logistic support opportunities would be immense. In the long-term, given the degree of rationalisation of agriculture that has already occurred locally, the opinion of rim proponents is that communities would gain from the development: tourism and related industries would be expected to particularly benefit as boating and fishing sectors would have access to both fresh water and quasi-estuarine environments.