Hurry Save The Murray!

Continued from previous post — the road trip/fact finding missiom of Independent MLC, David Winderlich and Professor Diane Bell.

Just click on a photo for caption and enlargement.

On Sunday January 17 we trek up the Darling River from Menindee to Wilcannia. We meet up with the geologists on the survey near Three Mile Creek and call into a local homestaed.

The wetlands and billabongs are filling up. The wide brown Darling is on the move. Eight metres of it at Wilcannia. David and Diane take turns at wading in and try to figure out the video camera. “Is it recording?” “Ah Choo,” exclaims David and the metre registers.

Wilcannia is depressing as a town. One store, No fresh food. Nothing from which one make a home made meal and its 150kms to Menindee.

Monday January 18 and the media is interested in the photos that David and Diane have been filing and want more. The politician and professor crank up their technology. Cars need a work station bench on some kind they decide as they balance lap tops and phones and cameras and batteries run out.

The arithmetic and mechanics of Menindee is becoming clear and David and Diane begin drafting Media Releases.

Here it is good to look at the maps of the Menindee Lakes system and know their capacity.

Only Lakes Wetherell and Pamamaroo are going to be filled with the 600-800GL flowing down the Darling River. There was already 100 GL is Wetherell which is not really a lake but rather the Darling River re-engineered with levee banks and regulators and weirs.

Lakes Menindee and Cawndilla are too dry and it would take a massive amount of water to soak and fill them.

Lakes Wetherll and Pamamarro can be surcharged to 610 GL.

Once the water in the Menindee system as a whole reaches 640 GL, the lakes come under the control of the Commonwealth (Murray-Darling Basin Authority: MDBA) and do not revert to NSW until they drop to 480GL. It is clearly not in the interests of NSW to exceed 640 GL and it is impractical to do so given the state of the bottom two lakes.

So we have between 700 and 900 GL in the system as the water comes through the Menindee Lakes and 610GL of that could be retained but those operating the lakes say they will not hold more than 480GL. So do the arithmetic. At the lower end of the scale there is 220 GL that could come down the Darling to the Murray and thence to Lakes Alexandrina and Albert and 420 at the higher end.

The outlets from Lakes Pamamaroo and Wetherell are open and water is already coming down.

South Australia is promised 148 GL into Lakes Alexandrina and Albert as an environmental flow.

The pollie and the professor consider it was a worth while trip.