For anyone that missed the Goolwa protest rally the other day, it looks as though they're bringing it to the city on August 1st. It might be good to show some support for the locals.
www.adelaidenow.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes
MORE than 3000 people have rallied in Goolwa angry at the lack of water flowing down the River Murray into their region.
Goolwa businesses have called for a temporary weir to be built up river of the town and for water top be pumped from Lake Alexandrina to Goolwa Pool.
At the rally outside the Goolwa Aquatic Club, protesters showed how falling water levels are hurting the area's economy and environment.
Southern Alexandrina Business Association President John Clarke said Goolwa was "end of the line" for the Murray.
"We need water, not more talk or endless studies or technical debates", he said.
Mr Clarke said the area's boating and tourism industry were being affected by low water levels in the Goolwa Pool.
Some businesses had reported water had dropped 80 percent in the past 12 months.
"The whole community fabric is in danger of collapsing if we do not get water now." he said.
Businesses have called for a $5 million temporary weir to be built on the Murray at Clayton Bay.
Glenise Girke and Malcolm Beattie, who rent out a holiday house on Hindmarsh island, said rentals had virtually halved.
They also had been unable to use their boat because it kept running aground.
Goolwa residents David and Jenny Smallacombe said they were disappointed water levels had fallen so low.
Mr Smallacombe said a nearby marina with space for 115 boats now held only 10.
"They have all moved away," he said.
Senator Nick Xenophon, State Member for Finnis Michael Pengelley, State Opposition and Acting Water Spokesman Adrian Pederick and Alexandrina Mayor Kym McHugh also spoke at the rally.
Mr Clarke said the Federal and State Government were invited to send representatives but none attended.
Another rally is planned top be held at Parliament house in Adelaide on August 1.
Mate they can rally all they like.....there is simply no water available.........
What is happening down at Goolwa will slowly make it's way upstream like a cancer,unless it rains the term ghost towns may ring true in a few areas along the river.
its no wonder their were no fed pollies at that rally,the public in sa want action and the feds want talk,lets talkfest till the next election they reckon !Rudds Dudds,Penny wong needs to pull her finger out and make victoria and new south wales toe the line ,drastically cut the over allocated water in these states and let the water flow through.But do it now penny not two years time.Rudds dudds are gonna kill the river system in sa ,what a legacy!mass public opinion is the thing that will make them act(especially close to an election) so the rally should be a good thing
You can't point the finger at the Rudd government they have been in power for approx 8mths,this drought had started around 2005 when we were only given 80% allocation back then and has only got worse since.
If you like bag the hell out of Mike Rann and Maywald because the S.A border ends at the outskirts of Adelaide,they have got plenty of water held back in the lakes in NSW but this is for Adelaide! stuff the rest of the river communities.
Instead of holding a rally the people should organise buses and drive interstate and through shear numbers force the lockmasters to open up the locks to let the water through this is "ACTION"!!!
Feel sorry for those up river - about time we harvested what we were all getting in the city via rainfall instead of flushing it out to sea.
Increase the Vic Hydro scheme flows in the murray as well. Fill in lake alexandrina or make a pool cover to stop evaporation!
Recycle sewerage water for household use - or cut out the middle man and get a recycling toilet and piss on the lawn.
Stop Growing rice on the hay plain - what a joke - huge evaporation rates!
Need to look at NW WA and the ord river scheme to become Austalias rice centre - but then you have to ship it around the country.
Open the lower lakes to the sea, barrage across nth goolwa with a lock - wait for a king tide and storm surge and lock it in. If there aint no fresh water give em some salt - at least they can use their boats.
apparently they used to catch whiting at murray bridge before the goolwa barrage was built in the 1930s,in the dry years the salt water used to get up that far ,shark sightings were not uncommon.you blokes at boggy lake wouldnt like that.yeah,open the barrage and let the salt in,but it will sure as hell make the bernoota from lake breeze winery taste funny.
rice on the hay plain,we also grow cotton in south east queensland,cubbie station.check out this site for a shock and a massive over allocation of water.www.warickhughes.com/cubbie .no wonder water doesnt flow down the darling river,but i"m sure kevvy and penny are onto it?not
iam sure they would dam wind if they could,if their was money in it!!
Best thing for the whole environment is to open the barrages and fill it with salt water
I am not from SA but I am angry about the wastage of the Murray River. Despite the billions of dollars thrown at it the 'experts' can't work it out. The answer is pretty obvious.... let the water flow, both ways.
Why can't some of the money that Howard and now Rudd talk about be spent to buy some of the big irrigators out? I know its already happening with the Federal government buying a big farm that was sucking water out of a wetland up in SW Queensland. More of this should be done.
I saw on TV a while back a dairy farmer on one of SA lakes saying they are running out of water, the lake is running dry. So while its bad to be at the end of the line in SA, the same stupid attitude of sucking every millilitre you can for your use exists in SA as it does in Vic, NSW and QLD. From what I understand, rice production in NSW has virtually stopped. Irrigators are getting no allocation at all, along with cotton growers in northern NSW. They should be bought out along with their water allocations, never to be issued again.
The government pushed for compulsory Super funds,these investment companies have and are pumping millons into large scale plantings,alot of the water came from "sleeper allocations" these allocations were held by farmers but never used.The government should have purchased all these allocations 15 years ago and they would have paid next to nothing for them.
