The Goolwa barrage at Lake Alexandrina.
Photo by
Sharon Wills
NSW State Member for Murray Helen Dalton has called for South Australia’s Lower Lakes to be opened up to seawater immediately, following a six-day fact finding trip of the Lower Lakes and surrounding area.
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The Independent MP met with experts, historians, South Australian farmers and Indigenous representatives to discuss the Lower Lakes, which are currently being maintained with freshwater taken from the Murray-Darling river system.
Seawater from the Murray River mouth is kept out of the lakes using seven giant barrages, which were built in the 1930s and 1940s.
“What I saw was absolute madness and no-one could tell me why Lake Alexandrina and the rest of the Lower Lakes should be kept as artificial freshwater lakes, especially when water from Victoria and NSW is used to keep the lakes full,” Ms Dalton said.
“Before humans got involved, 80 years ago, the Lower Lakes were a mixture of freshwater from the rivers and saltwater from the sea. We never should have put up the barrages to artificially keep the seawater out.”
Ms Dalton has called on NSW Premier Chris Minns to disallow water bought from NSW farmers from being used to fill South Australia’s Lower Lakes.
“You couldn’t design a less logical system,” Ms Dalton said.
“That water should be used for farming so we can feed the 27 million Australians who now live here, as well as the people overseas who want Australian food.
“Instead, we are sending that precious water down to the Lower Lakes so well-connected South Australians in Goolwa and on Hindmarsh Island can tie their boats to private jetties outside their luxury holiday homes. This must stop.”
Ms Dalton has also called on the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to explain why the barrages are still being used, given the environmental damage they are causing.
“These lakes had been connected to the sea for tens of thousands of years before humans came along and messed things up.
“It’s time for us to put things right again. We need to return these lakes back to their natural state.”
According to the Federal Government environment department, the Alberet and Alexandrina lakes are comprised of fresh to brackish-saline waters.
A 2020 CSIRO report found: “There are strong complementary lines of evidence indicating that Lake Alexandrina was fresh at the time of European settlement and that this predominantly fresh status existed for millennia before European occupation.“
This has been challenged by some scientists who have examined the historical geology of the lakes.
The Coorong and the Lower Lakes in South Australia. Source: MDBA
