Hurry Save The Murray!

‘No thanks,’ said those who understand the way in which water moves around the ecosystem of Lake Alexandrina, the lower River Murray and Murray Mouth.

Dunn’s Lagoon, an ecological hot spot, a site of enormous vitality for birds, fish and plants ran dry as levels fell in Lake Alexandrina. The regulator at Clayton Bay prevented the fresh waters flows from reaching the lagoon. The shores were exposed. An eerie silence fell.

A group of land owners sought an allocation of water to ’save’ the site. Plans moved apace. Before we knew it, there were ‘consultants’ swarming over the region, sampling and planning a blocking dam to hold water within the Lagoon. The ‘Dunn’s Lagoon management plan option for pumping water into the lagoon’ had been hatched.

As one local wrote: ‘I am not entirely convinced about the benefit of creating another small, artificial puddle of shallow, stagnant water, disconnected from the main buffer volumes and subject to evaporative salination. It would emphasise a rather different ecosystem balance than previously (e.g. oxbow pond weed), reinforce the trend to engineering solutions, and further deflate the resolve to address the root problem facing the main channel and Lake. I am inclined to let the lagoon be, draining any temporary seasonal acid runoff from the lagoon floor to the adequate buffer of the main lake (so long as this is maintained and remains meaningfully connected).’

Why is proper procedure not being followed asked another. ‘If planning for this project is to proceed, I would ask that it go through a proper EPBC Referral process and that way all aspects of the project can be considered. The action will have ramifications beyond the footprint of the proposal. It is part of a Ramsar site and thus should attract that level of scrutiny. The bund at the Narrung Narrows was completed without a Referral and thus without any possibility of an EIS and it has been an ecological disaster. Let’s not repeat that mistake’

Yet another local expert wrote: ‘We believe that the long term future of Dunn’s depends on the health of Lake Alexandrina and any water available, no matter how small should be reserved for Lake Alexandrina. There is no need to maintain Dunn’s as a nursery or refuge as there are adequate nurseries and refuges elsewhere that will enable the repopulation of the Lower Lakes on recovery of flows and lake levels.

The resolution came with the determination of the Lower Murray Local Action Planning Group, who, having finally heard the diversity of opinion on the matters, took seed samples and declared that if the seed bank germination trials were unsuccessful, the option of blocking banks and pumping would not be pursued. The trials showed little to no degree of seed bank germination and so the option of establishing blocking banks and pumping water into the lagoon was off the agenda. Honour preserved. Local knowledge vindicated. A community divided yet again.

The rain came. The winds blew. The lagoon filled. The birds returned. The banks are green.

Here is a photograph taken in April this year.

Compare to the changes in the photos of the dry lagoon and the rewetting lagoon. Remember to pass the cursor over the pic to see the caption.