Record profits of over $8 billion announced by “big irrigation” come at a huge cost to the environment and to the people of South Australia, who depend on a healthy Murray River, said the Wilderness Society.

The Age in Melbourne recently reported this fact at a time when “big irrigation” is refusing to reduce the amount of water it takes from the river system and recognise the urgent need to restore the Murray Darling Basin to health.

South Australia's Environmentalist of the Year, Peter Owen said the true cost of this profiteering comes in the form of environmental and agricultural destruction to the Coorong and Lower Lakes and ultimately South Australia's water supply.

"It fails to consider the cost of destroying soils with salt and the cost of not allowing the 2 million tonnes of salt that accumulates in the Lower Lakes every year to flush through the Murray Mouth and out to sea.

"The Murray Darling Basin Authority’s Plan, currently out for public consultation, is supposed to restore the health of the river system. To do this it must adopt the scientific advice and address the massive over-allocation of water that is destroying the Murray – South Australia’s lifeline.

"The MDBA must base their Plan on the advice of Australia’s leading river scientists, not “big irrigation” said Mr Owen.

For more information please call:
Adrian Dodd: 0401 726 476

Environment groups today launch a campaign calling on South Australia’s federal MPs to represent the interests of their constituents by speaking up for the health of the Murray.

For the next month big billboards with the message ‘No future on a dead river: SA needs a healthy Murray’ will be on display at prominent locations within the electorates of federal MPs Kate Ellis and Christopher Pyne. A letterboxing campaign will follow.

“South Australia has become the nation’s salt dump with our natural systems destroyed and our drinking water security compromised because big irrigators in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are taking too much water out of the river,” said the Wilderness Society's South Australian Campaign Manager Peter Owen.

“It’s going to take a concerted, bi-partisan effort from South Australia’s political players, at federal and state levels, to wrestle the Murray-Darling Basin Plan out of the grip of powerful industries upstream,” said Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Don Henry.

“This is an issue SA’s federal representatives must not shy away from – it is too important to the livelihoods of their constituents and to our state’s precious natural environment – on World Wetlands Day let us stand tall and honour Australia's international commitments,” said Prof Diane Bell of the Conservation Council of South Australia.

WHO
Peter Owen, South Australian Campaign Manager, the Wilderness Society
Don Henry, CEO, Australian Conservation Foundation
Professor Diane Bell, Chair for Water ESC, Conservation Council SA

WHERE
Billboard at north-west corner of Anzac Highway and Greenhill Road, Keswick

WHEN
Thursday 2 February (World Wetlands Day) at 11:00am

Contact:
Peter Owen, the Wilderness Society: 0423 550 018
Professor Diane Bell, Conservation Council SA: 0427 554 194
Ruchira Talukdar, Australian Conservation Foundation: 0438 547 786

The Wilderness Society has called on the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) to acknowledge its failure to show a scientific foundation for its draft plan to return only 2750 Gigalitres (GL) of water to the Murray-Darling, as highlighted by the Wentworth Group today.

Wilderness Society Rivers Campaigner Chris Daley said the Wentworth Group is one of the most credible scientific bodies on the river system and cannot be ignored.

“The Wentworth Group has today slammed the scientific basis for the 2750 GL figure, an amount which will not restore the river to health,” he said.

The Wentworth Group's statement adds further weight to the CSIRO Science Review, released on the same day as the Draft Plan, that said 2750 GL would not achieve the environmental objectives of the Water Act and did not ensure sufficient resilience against the future impacts of climate change.

“The Wentworth Group's statement today shows what we've been saying all along – that the plan, which is currently in draft form, will not do what it says on the label, which is return enough water to the environment for a healthy system,” Mr Daley said. “The science is clear, we need 7,600GL of water to flush the salt from the system, ensure the Murray's mouth stays open and there is enough water to protect Australia's internationally significant wetlands.

“Anything less represents a colossal waste of the $10 billion of taxpayers’ money set aside to fund the plan. Australians should be outraged that the government is prepared to spend this money with no scientific basis.

“The Draft Plan, as it stands, is a political quick fix to a long-standing environmental problem and favours Big Irrigation and Mining interests over those of Floodplain Graziers, Dryland Farmers, Recreational Fishers and Indigenous Nations. “Rather than being a plan for a healthy working river, it is a blueprint for disaster.

“We call on Tony Burke, the Federal Minister for Water, to acknowledge the lack of sound science in the plan as highlighted by the Wentworth Group and refuse to table it in parliament unless the necessary scientific rigour is applied.”

For further comment contact Wilderness Society Rivers Campaigner:
Chris Daley: 0451 007 915
For further information contact:
Adrian Dodd: 0401 726 476

Environment groups are calling on Premier Barry O’Farrell to take action and stop coal seam gas work in the Pilliga State Forest, as gas giant Santos today released a statement admitting that 10,000L of untreated coal seam gas water spilled into the Pilliga Forest in June 2011.

Environment groups discovered this pollution event in October of 2011 due to significant tree deaths in the area. It was reported to the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services (DTIRIS) who responded that the tree die-back was most likely due to water logging.

Carmel Flint of the Northern Inland Council of the Environment said, “The Governments response to our complaint in October was a complete failure. We reported this spill and they did not act upon it. This highlights the gross inadequacy of self-regulation by coal seam gas companies .

“DTIRIS has a serious conflict of interest with coal seam gas, as they are the agency charged with both promoting and regulating the coal seam gas industry’.

“We are calling on Barry OFarrell to sack the DTIRIS as the coal seam gas regulator and to immediately hand all regulation over to the EPA

“Barry OFarrell has staked his environmental credentials on a strong and independent Environment Protection Agency. Now, O’Farrell must step in and take responsibility for an out of control coal seam gas industry in NSW.

Ms Flint said, “It appears the gas company deliberately hid this pollution event. This is a serious breach of their responsibility to report any serious environmental incidents within 24hours.

Prue Bodsworth of The Wilderness Society Newcastle stated, “The EPA shut down Orica for serious environmental damage, and now they must also shut down Santos operations in the Pilliga while this incident and other recent complaints are investigated.

“This spill is just one of many pollution events in the Pilliga Forest, including discharging treated coal seam gas water high in ammonia and cyanide into local creeks.

For interviews contact:
Prue Bodsworth: The Wilderness Society Newcastle: 0427 417 870
Carmel Flint: Northern Inland Council for the Environment: 0400 521 474