With the theme ‘Water Innovation – challenging the drought’, the Murray Darling Association’s (MDA) 65th Annual Conference highlighted that with shrinking water resources across the Murray Darling Basin, we need to do more to use less.
Staged in Playford in South Australia from 2 to 5 September, the conference stressed that thorough research must be conducted to determine sites adjacent to the basin appropriate for flood mitigation, thus enabling water to be sensibly diverted inland.
Formed in 1944, the MDA represents over 90 councils along the Murray, Darling and other rivers in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, as well as the communities that rely on water from the basin.
The current severe drought in southeastern Australia has put a great deal of pressure on these communities, including their basic human needs and food production.
The CSIRO predicts a drier future yet, with at least a 25 per cent drop in available water in the southern Murray Darling Basin.
Improving water security in the Murray Darling Basin has been essential to past and future investments being made by the Federal Government in its plan to ensure the success of its ‘Water for the Future’ initiative.
This initiative aims to secure the water supply of all Australians. It is a long term framework being delivered through a ten year, $12.9 billion investment in strategic programs, improved water management arrangements, and a renewed commitment to deliver a range of water policy reforms in both rural and urban areas.
Speaking at the conference, Federal Minister for Water and Climate Change, Senator Penny Wong, gave a passionate plea for the patient understanding of all stakeholders as the Water for the Future programs evolve.
She said that critics of the speed of this program and the Government’s other climate change programs need to understand the direct connection that climate change is having on our future water resource plans.
In his address, Independent Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenaphon, said that he now sees the urgency of current programs as very critical steps to lifting future water security in the Murray Darling Basin, reinforcing the view that a strong Federal Government management plan is necessary now.
A post conference tour of several water conservation and flood mitigation sites, all designed to aid the waterproofing of Adelaide’s northern suburbs and supplementing food and fibre production water resources, was also held at the conclusion of the conference.
For further information contact Ray Najar, General Manager of the MDA, on 0408 502 393.
