2009 July Archive at Hurry Save The Murray!

Monthly Archive for July, 2009

29 July, 2009: Ngarrindjeri say stop construction

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on July 29, 2009

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STATEMENT FROM NGARRINDJERI REGARDING CLAYTON REGULATOR

The Ngarrindjeri people of the Lower Murray River and Coorong have told the State Government that the construction of regulators will seriously damage Aboriginal sites. Ngarrindjeri has informed the Government that it considers there has not been adequate justification for the construction of the regulators. The State Government has acknowledged the pain and loss to Ngarrindjeri, but determined to proceed regardless. Ngarrindjeri has been placed in a position where it must bear witness to the damage, disturbance and interference to its culture. The State Government, by proceeding with this work, is responsible for its own actions in the destruction of the area.

In recent times there have been important and significant rains in the area. The water the partly constructed Clayton regulator was designed to block has been released into Lake Alexandrina. In light of this, the State Government should review its plan and to this end immediately stop the construction of the regulators. There is no longer, if they ever was, any environmental advantage to the Goolwa Channel, the Currency Creek or the Finniss River of the construction of these regulators.

Contact:
Tom Trevorrow
Chairperson, Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee Inc.
(08) 8575 1557
0447 032448

28 July 2009: Protests, Pollies and Barney-Boo

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on July 28, 2009

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A big day at the Embassy today: politicians, police, media and lots of local traffic.

When the workers arrived this morning, they found two women holding a banner “Stop Killing our River” at the end of the dam/regulator.

The police arrived and arrested the two . See YouTube. The women were charged with trespass. Visit www.stoptheweir.com for details.

Ngori, the Ambassador, called in to see the action.

In interviews screened on Channel 10 and 7, the women explained that a citizen had a responsibility to protest injustice and that her protest was not about emotions but knowledge.

What is that knowledge? Local, scientific, historical and ethnographic. What protest? Selective use of data, sham consultation, lack of integrated plan? Call into the Embassy with your questions, browse our literature, share your stories.

Opposition to the dam is mounting. A environmentally aware visiting politician was shocked by the scale of the construction and that there had been no EIS.

The folly of continuing work on the dam/regulators on the Currency Creek and Finniss River was apparent to a visiting SA Water employee.

The author of Barney Boo, a book about a young Koala from a fictional, drought-ridden part of Australia who takes the reader along on his quest for a new home and future, visited and immediately understood the tragedy.

And the water is rushing through to Lake Alexandrina.

27 July, 2009: Slips, silt and slumps

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on July 27, 2009

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Early this morning one of the trucks slipped over the edge. A crane came to rescue it. The end of the dam/regulator slumped. The construction slowed. The materials are now being dumped in the deepest part of the channel. The silt spread out. An ex-irrigator from Currency Creek came by and was horrified by the extent of the damage. The rain continues.

Surely it is time to quit any idea of building the “regulators” on the Currency Creek and Finniss River. The first flush has rushed down the tributaries. The fresh water has flowed into Lake Alexandrina. The evidence of acidification of the Goolwa Channel is contestable. Do we have a politician with sufficient courage to say, “Stop now”.

26 July 2009: Monitoring with Mike

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on July 26, 2009

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Drs Diane Bell and Mike Geddes went monitoring along the Finniss River today. Mike in his waders was the first one to fall in. Diane managed not to lose her gum boots in the sodden lime bank. They sampled water at the Finniss Crossing, at Wally’s Landing and below the liming site. Diane noted the presence of swamp hens, swallows, egret, boatmen (Corixid), and luscious regrowth on the banks and Mike added the small crustaceans, Ostracod, and noted the brownish tinge to the water: humic acid. Diane tested the pH at the Finniss Crossing in the 6.8-7.0 range at Wally’s Landing 6.6 to 7+ below the liming site. Mike pronounced the site that was cited as being a reason for constructing a Regulator on the Finniss River as healthy. The recent rains are diluting the acid.

26 July, 2009: Alexander and Nikki Downer visit

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on July 26, 2009

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“Tea and scones?” ask the friendly staff.

“Like a real Embassy.” jokes Nikki Downer. “Champagne?”

“If we had a licence,” the staff laments.

Thus began a delightful visit with Alexander and Nikki Downer at the Embassy this afternoon. Their questions were quick, pointed and engaged. “It’s Orwellian,” Alexander Downer declared. “A disaster,” said Nikki Downer.

25 July 2009:

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on July 25, 2009

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The water is still pouring down the Finniss River and through to Lake Alexandrina. The dam/regulator is making slow progress. The mud-retaining skirt on the Lake Alexandrina side is still is place but Dad’s Army spent most of the day trying to get the skirt in place on the Goolwa side. At the Goolwa barrage today we got pH readings between 7.4 and 8.2 today. Where is the acid?

24 July 2009: The Embassy Travels to Adelaide

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on July 24, 2009

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After tracking the Minister for the Environment to Port Augusta and waiting all week for the data he promised on the question of the acidification of the Goolwa Channel, the Embassy set off for Adelaide to try to get answers from Ministers Maywald and Weatherill.

An email of May 22 inviting the Ministers to the Embassy had said, ” We need you to speak to each other and to have common sense prevail. We ask you to stop construction immediately. We ask for a thorough, transparent review of the data.” Minister Maywald apologised that she was in her electorate on Friday. Minister Weatherill: notice too short. But it’s urgent, the Embassy protested. Senator Nick Xenophon (Independent), MLC David Winderlich (Democrat) and MLC Mark Parnell (Australian Greens) were available to welcome the Embassy to Adelaide.

So at noon, July 24, on the steps of Parliament House, the Fresh Water Embassy was open for business.

There is no emergency. The recent rains have washed the threat of acidification away. Why continue with these engineering disasters?

Why build a dam across the deepest part of the River? This is the fresh water refuge for fish in times of drought.

Why create another weir pool that will be subject to algal blooms?

Why have you abandoned Lake Alexandrina?

Where is your plan for these Ramsar sites?

An email response from Minister Weatherill, arrived as 11.59am and reiterated the position that, “The consistent advice from leaders in the field regarding acid sulphate soils has been to re-wet the soils and keep them submerged. This is the purpose of the regulators.” The email offered four websites as references. Only one contained data relevant to the Minister’s undertaking to answer the questions posed in Port Augusta. The EPA site had been updated today with a report of July 14 on the Currency Creek and Finniss River.

Channels 7 and 2 carried the story of the “water wars”.

More tomorrow from the “experts”.

23 July: Skirts and fences

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on July 23, 2009

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Looks like the Department of Water, Lands and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC) is worried. Today they sent helpers to make sure we were all right. We’ve staffed the Embassy for over a month now. It has been peaceful. Help? DWLBC? The only help they could offer, we told them, was to stop construction. They giggled and skipped on their merry way to watch the yellow skirt being reinstated. It was a relatively still day and Dad’s Army succeeded in getting in back in place. How much did that visit cost the tax payers?

Then came the fencing fellows - all the way from Elizabeth. They were there to secure the foreshore and cliff face with fences.

The work is stalled while the structure is widened. We assume to compensate for the slumping banks.

But can we get answers to simple questions? No. So tomorrow the Embassy is off to Adelaide. Stay tuned.

15 July 2009: Greens Motion

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on July 23, 2009

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News from the South Australian Legislative Council. Sorry this entry is out of sequence.

GREENS MOTION: Fresh Water Embassy at Clayton Bay

On the 15th of July 2009, Mark moved the following motion:

The Hon. M. PARNELL (17:12): I move:

That this council —

1. Notes the establishment of the Fresh Water Embassy at Clayton Bay on 28 June 2009 and congratulates the River, Lakes and Coorong Action Group Inc. on this important initiative;

2. Notes that the Fresh Water Embassy was established to represent all the fresh water species, all the Ngarrindjeri totems and all the places and communities that will suffer as regulators, weirs, bunds and embankments divide up an interconnected ecosystem;

3. Calls on the Premier of South Australia and the Minister for Water Security to establish diplomatic relations between the Government of South Australia and the Fresh Water Embassy with a view to ensuring a fresh water solution to the crisis facing the River Murray, the Lower Lakes and the Coorong; and

4. Urges the state government to prioritise fresh water flows and bioremediation over engineering solutions such as the regulators currently being constructed at Clayton Bay and proposed for the Finniss River and Currency Creek.

To read what Mark Parnell said …