WHEN Victorian Premier John Brumby told a COAG meeting that there is very little water in the Murray-Darling Basin he was stating the obvious, writes farmer Chris Harrison.

At the time he was justifying Victoria’s apparent reluctance to aid South Australia and provide more water for the Coorong.

This year for the first time in the state’s history the urban population of Melbourne will consume more water than is allocated to the farmlands of Goulburn Irrigators.

Water allocations in the Goulburn are at just 9% of normal.

The Government knows full well the acute shortage of water in the Murray-Darling Basin but is still proceeding with the construction of the north-south pipeline. This project has deservedly been widely condemned by grass root populations, scientists, think tanks and the leaders of every non-labor political party.

The Victorian Government maintains the north-south pipeline is a vital component of Victoria’s emerging water grid. The use of the term “water grid” to describe the pipeline is a misnomer. The pipeline is a one way street. Water can flow in only one direction - from the Murray-Darling Basin to Melbourne.

However, the term water grid is valid in the sense that the pipeline allows for the development of privatized water markets in the non-agricultural sector.

The pipeline allows investors to purchase water in the Eildon Dam and sell it to Melbourne via the north-south pipeline, to Geelong via the Geelong interconnector and to Bendigo and Ballarat via the Goldfields Superpipe.

This network of pipelines gives over 4 million people access to water from Eildon. This population base is expected to double over the next forty years.

The north-south pipeline is strategically important to the Government’s plans to allow urban populations to source there own water, in turn divesting them of a core governmental responsibility.

If in the future your town needs water you will be told to go into the market and buy it. The Government will claim they have built the infrastructure to enable you to do this.

The Wonthaggi desalination plant is also a key component of the Government’s plans as it underpins the security of the water for these populations and the developing market. The Market cannot function when there is no water and functions poorly when there is abundance.

The failure to understand some basic principles of water has led the Victorian Government to drive the development of the water grid. This policy will place the state’s urban, environmental and agricultural sectors in competition and at risk.

The neo rationalist economic mantra of water must move to its highest value use has been a monumental failure. The idealism of this mantra has been replaced by the reality, water moves to the place where it can achieve the most financial and political leverage. The Goldfields Super Pipe has already shown us some of these failings.

The Goldfields Superpipe and associate infrastructure was built at a cost of $280 million but it remains essentially dry because the water purchased by water authorities has the same security as in the agricultural sector.

The 9% allocation means that of the 20 billion litres of water purchased by Ballarat and Bendigo, less than 2 billion litres of water for use.

The Goldfields Superpipe experience represents a historic and fundamental change for urban authorities. For the first time urban water security is linked with rural water supply. Urban populations are suffering the same fate as irrigators and the environment.

The government is creating water markets forcing rural and urban populations to compete for water. The outcome of this competition will be determined by the relative political and financial strength of each sector. How the environment will fair is unknown.

Last year the temporary price of water hit a record high of $1,200 per ML when Adelaide entered the market. The market dramatically fell to just $400 per ML weeks after Adelaide and horticulturalists stopped buying. There was no doubt about the effect of competition.

The editor of the Bendigo Weekly has suggested Bendigo purchase more water than is needed to improve the City’s water security. The futility of this approach parallels Penny Wong’s experience.

The Federal Government has just spent $50 million for a cited 28 billion litres but just enough to fill ten swimming pool of water was available to contribute to the Murray Darling Basin.

Ballarat and Bendigo are looking for 38 billion litres of water from the Superpipe. With water allocations from the Goulburn standing at 9% they will need to purchase 420 billion litres of water entitlement to receive their objective of 38 billion litres of water.

Of course in wetter times when less water is needed, hoarded "virtual" water materializes into "real" water. Perhaps this could be sold through the water market offsetting costs to urban water authorities and possibly government coffers.

The temptation urban water authorities have to over secure supply will effectively lock away vast amounts of water from both irrigators and the environment.

The Goldfields Superpipe experience is a blue print for the north-south pipeline and Melbourne.

Both the north-south pipeline and the Goldfields Superpipe will be tied to irrigation water availability. With Bendigo its allocation percentage is the same as irrigators.

With Melbourne its allocation is tied to water savings generated from the irrigation areas. As Victorian Planning Minister Justin Madden said a month ago if it is dry, the north-south pipeline may not have any water.

Conditions have worsened since the minister made that statement, however small amounts of water will only be available to north-south pipeline in dry years regardless.

The coalition’s flip flop on using the North South Pipeline is somewhat academic as the Eildon Dam is predicted to take at least seven years to recover should normal rainfall return. Sufficient water from savings generated by irrigation infrastructure modernization will not be achieved under the scenarios experienced for the past five years.

The CSIRO predicts water availability to become scarcer in future. Melbourne will be forced into the market and that will be to the detriment of urban communities, irrigators and the Murray Darling Basin.

The government has failed to understand that cities along with irrigators and the environment need real water, not virtual water.

About the Author
Chris is a 5th generation farmer on a 134-year-old irrigation property. He has been continuously involved with various community elected Water, Land and Salinity Management programs since 1986.