Here are a few popular myths that raise their head.
The Murray-Darling system faces a catastrophe without 450 Gl (or more) of water.
The “crisis” in the Murray-Darling Basin was so serious, it took Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek 12 months to get around to asking for a report on progress towards gaining environmental water.
With 2100 Gl so far achieved, the Federal Government is asking for a further 450 Gl or 600 Gl. Irrigators are asking: If 2100 Gl is not making a significant impact, and we are heading for a crisis, how would an extra 25 per cent make a difference?
Myth 2
Hardly any water has been set aside for the environment, so far.
So far 2100 Gl of environmental water has been secured for the Murray-Darling, but environmentalists and Ms Plibersek stubbornly refuse to acknowledge this. In most of her press statements since her party was elected, she has not mentioned the 2100 Gl.
Environment Victoria published a 20-page report last year attacking the Victorian Government’s approach to water management, and complaining about opposition to more water recovery, without acknowledging the water already recovered.
Watch for any reports or announcements which ignore the water recovered so far. Irrigators have given up about one third of their water for the environment, and they have every right to be annoyed when someone doesn’t acknowledge the contribution.
Myth 3
Volumes of water will save the Murray-Darling.
Just tipping more water into the rivers is not the sole solution to water quality and riparian recovery.
Good management of the 2100 Gl already recovered is producing some results for water quality and wetland recovery, as numerous reports held by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority attest.
We need to better understand how we can use the recovered water for results. The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority is suggesting a pause in environmental water recovery for the Goulburn due to constraints. At this moment, there is a risk of actually damaging the river environs if too much water is forced down the river.
Myth 4
Agriculture can afford to give up more water to the environment.
Frontier Economics found in 2022 that: “Buying back an additional 372 Gl to meet the 2750 Gl requirement would, based on the CEWH’s existing portfolio, necessitate reducing the consumptive pool of higher reliability entitlements by 209 Gl. In a repeat of the Millennium Drought, that would necessitate an additional 8700 hectares of high-value horticulture being dried off.”
“The socio-economic impacts of the Basin Plan in Victoria are apparent in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District — reducing water use and milk production in the order of 50 per cent in recent years.”
Agriculture is almost to the limit of economic water efficiency measures, without major (and very expensive) structural change.
Myth 5
The Murray Darling rivers are the most badly affected rivers in Australia.
Every year the good citizens of Adelaide and surrounds dump hundreds of tonnes of rubbish into their River Torrens. Platypus once lived in the river, but the growth of the city has pushed them out. Platypuses have been extinct on mainland South Australia since the 1970s.
Sydney’s sewerage system releases about 499 megalitres (ML) per day of treated sewage, called “effluent” into the ocean.
Melbourne’s eastern treatment plant discharges into the sea at Gunnamatta Beach, occasionally requiring warnings not to have contact with the water.
In October 2024, there were “avoid contact with water” alerts for four creeks in the Greater Melbourne area and this year the Yarra River frequently recorded dangerously high levels of E. coli contamination.
Urban residents have a responsibility in cleaning up their backyards.
