OUR STRUGGLING RIVER SYSTEM

 The Darling River, her tributaries, lakes and wetlands are one of Australia’s great natural wonders and the country’s longest river system. Under natural conditions the river provides consistent minor floods (rises) and major floods to provide the ephemeral lakes, wet lands and flood plains along her length with her precious life giving flows.

Part of The Darling River in 2003

 The majority of the water that gathers into the tributaries and makes it’s way into the Darling River channel proper is either flowing in from Queensland or north eastern New South Wales. Very little water makes its way from central or western New South Wales into the main channel, so when large volumes of water are removed upstream,  there is no water left to replenish the southern reaches of the river system and its lakes.

 In the 1960’s an environmentally friendly water management system was completed on the natural lake system toward the bottom end of the river, known as the Menindee Lakes System. Until this time virtually no commercial irrigated cropping existed along the river’s banks and the water in the Menindee Lakes was used mostly for the townships along the river, Broken Hill and towns and cities throughout southern Australia.

Part of The Darling River in 2005

 Things have changed………and changed beyond any of our forefathers imagination! Over the past 25 years tremendous areas of Queensland and New South Wales have established irrigated agriculture (not seasonal opportunity cash crops to harvest during extreme high flood periods). The present crops are water hungry long term crops that are now destroying the ancient stream by reducing her flows to a trickle even after record rain falls. Millions upon millions of mega litres of water storage has been constructed, with some agricultural properties holding more than the volume of Sydney Harbour behind man-made banks.

 We now also see the chemical waste of industry sent down the channel like sewage down a toilet. The big commercial companies filling their man made lakes with fresh water and letting the stale and stagnant water run down the river in its place. To this end we now see large blooms of blue green algae, fish kills and the depletion of animal and marine life throughout the river system.

Another part of The Darling River 2005

 Past and present governments have neglected the Darling River to the point it is almost dead. We feel it is now time that governments halt any new water licenses, stop any new irrigation within the system and work toward better water practice usage and minimal chemical usage.

 We need to reverse the trend and start to bring back life to this natural wonder before there is no life left at all to protect!