Agree BTW by the brook... apparently the Ord diversion was proposed many years ago and never made sense to me
. The diversions from Qld over the ranges to the top of the Murray is one thats more current and is still part of some groups arguments... and has apparently been proven that it would end up far cheaper than the water buy-back scheme, let alone the rest of the MDBP.
Ok, where do I start with this considering I was answering reactively last night and not doing a very good job of trying to get people to understand where I was originally going with this?
We are not against the idea of something needing to be done. What we dont agree with is the actual PLAN ITSELF that was poorly researched, thrown together and handed out to everyone... the monumental flaws in it... and the governments reasoning behind this particular guides implementation.
I agree that a river should run out to sea, but the proposed volumes arent required.
I completely agree with your views on the massive volumes of water dammed at Cubbie Station, also places like Timbercorp, Tandau and others... and from memory the MDBP doesnt include dams owned by these big corporates for some reason... which is another little doozy.
I know there was an overallocation by SOME states yes... but am SO not getting into a debate on that one - its too easy for us to point fingers at other States... and to have fingers pointed at us by SA that gets the raw end of the deal, and we do realise that... Ive already been attacked about putting forward my views politically so Im stopping there...
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The over-allocation of water quotas would ultimately have resulted in restrictions on farmers along the entire river... or pumps running dry... within a very short timeframe had the drought not broken in the significant way that resulted in "all the rivers running"
Ok, we have been under water restrictions for at least 7 years that hubby and I can remember...I would have to check with Dad for specific times and its too late at night for that... the water authorities do actually bother to work out how much water is available for farmers etc. During the drought there were years where we started on zero allocation, and after a few months we were allocated 5%, 12%, etc., and ended up with only a fraction of our allocation for the entire year... So Rupe, the restrictions have been in place for quite a few years now.
What I will say though, is that our area has been very pro-active in the last 20 years and uses much less water than further up the river... we have no open channels that evaporate and seep water - ours is all pipelined... we dont furrow irrigate or use overhead sprinklers that waste so much water, its all under tree sprinklers or drippers... but this is part of the problem... funding was allocated for water infrastructure but never delivered. This alone would have made the MDBP obsolete but Im not getting into that one either...
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The immediate to long term prognosis for "social", "environmental" and "financial" disruption... not just to farmers, but to the nation as a whole... were probably just as concerning as the implications that any individual, or collective group of farmers migh feel in the short to intermediate term
... but its not short to intermediate term.
Towns all along the rivers will become ghost towns, after 10 years of drought no farmer can handle this massive cut so we will see huge percentages of farmers going bankrupt. Businesses will have to close because the majority of their income stream that buys their clothes, shoes, magazines, cars, and so on, just cant afford it or have had to move away to find other work.
we are already in a situation locally after last year where we had such a massive failure of wine and table grapes, that we will lose many growers this year. The citrus industry is looking amost as bleak locally, but for different reasons.
Communities are pleading with the government to just put it off for a few years and review it so it makes sense, and till the farming industry stabilises and will have a chance to survive.
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and every pond/dam/weir.... bombed..
Bloody 'ell Rupe... do you understand the concept of the lock/weir system? You arent going to sway me on this one... we have way too many photos of the river completely bone dry for me to even bother trying to work out where your coming from...
Sorry for the novel... Its a pretty emotive subject...
Backyard Aquaponics
damn there goes my thesis 
LOL people really thought water would flow N-S????
... doubt Ill be back tonight so thought Id leave you with a little light reading coz Im noice 