In what is dubbed the “most significant body of evidence to date” on the effectiveness of the basin plan, the MDBA’s third evaluation finds positive outcomes for river flows as “most of the original targets for water recovery have been met”, but highlights “flow management is only one component of the suite of integrated management activities needed”.
The National Irrigators’ Council described many parts of the evaluation as refreshing and a wakeup call needed to shape thinking in the basin going forward.
“There is a lot to celebrate in this evaluation in terms of environmental outcomes,” NIC chief executive officer Zara Lowien said.
“It is no small feat, and while it has come at a cost to some communities and industries to have most of the original water recovery targets complete, the health of the basin has turned around.”
“What the evaluation finds is you need to do more than ‘just add water’ to improve all environmental outcomes, particularly for native fish which have had mixed results, despite plenty of water, and it’s really refreshing to hear the MDBA acknowledge that ‘it is more complex’ than the flawed assumption of the original basin plan that water alone would be sufficient.”
Ms Lowien said there should be less pressure on farmers to give water, as it wasn’t identified as a current issue.
“It’s very hard to look at these findings and argue the top priority for our basin environments is even more water from farmers, when 72 per cent of flows are now for the environment,” she said.
“These findings will throw into troubled waters the relentless pursuit of more and more water buy-backs from farmers.
“The evidence is clear this is no longer the big issue for the environment as it was before the basin plan during the millennium drought, and at increasing costs.”
