Latest data from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the Bureau of Meteorology continue to refute the statement by Queensland Cotton CEO, Richard Haire, that "if you look at the problem in the Murray-Darling Basin, the problem systems aren't the Darling-based systems; the problem systems are the Murray-based systems”.
Menindee (image courtesy ABC)
Despite average to well-above-average rainfall in much of the Darling catchment in recent years, in contrast to the seriously drought-affected Murray catchment, storage levels in the Menindee Lakes are now at an all time seasonal low of 12%, whereas even the Hume reservoir is now at 39% capacity after winter rains in the southern part of the Basin.
It
is apparent that Queensland Cotton and other profligate water users in the upper Darling are
still in denial of the fact that they are largely responsible for the
continuing lamentable condition of the Darling and the critical
depletion of its groundwater reserves, to the point where the system
has no ability to resist the effect of their activities and the Darling
is essentially a chain of stagnant pools.
Even the National Water Commission has roundly criticised State Governments for their failure to work together to improve water management in the Basin.
Australia is still waiting for the Commonwealth to assume total responsibility, in-line with its stated commitment to the environment which was a major factor in its success at the last federal election.