THE federal Murray Darling plan is grossly biased, writes PETER HUNT

Murray Darling Basin's irrigators should be outraged by the Federal Government's obsession with delivering 2000 gigalitres a year to the Murray River mouth.

Any honest analysis of the basin plan shows it is heavily biased towards delivering water to South Australia.

It takes only two gigalitres a day to keep the Murray mouth open - 730 gigalitres a year.

The remaining 1270 gigalitres is "lost", mainly through evaporation off lakes Alexandrina and Albert.

These massive lakes cover 84,000ha and are artificially regulated via a line of barrages at Goolwa and where they meet the Coorong.

The Murray Darling Basin Authority's own publications state the main reason for the barrages is to maintain Adelaide's drinking water supply from Mannum, about 60km from where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina, near Wellington.

Yet South Australian governments have refused to move Adelaide's offtake further upstream, to above Loch One.

While the cost of building a new offtake and pipeline to Adelaide would be high, the savings would be immense.

The barrages could be removed or modified to allow seawater to move in and out without risking Adelaide's supplies.

Yet neither federal Labor nor their Liberal counterparts will debate the issue, due to fears of an electoral backlash in valuable marginal South Australian seats.

That refusal means the MDBA and the rest of the basin community must do all the heavy lifting.

It means NSW and Victorian governments will be forced to scrape together environmental works programs to cut the volume needed to water wetlands along their own share of the Murray and its tributaries.

It means irrigators and their communities will be drained of water that forms the foundation of their economies to recover and deliver an extra 2000 gigalitres to the Murray mouth.

The Federal Government will spend $3.1 billion buying up NSW and Victorian irrigators' water and another $5.8 billion on irrigation infrastructure to deliver 2000 gigalitres.

Imagine if just part of that money was spent on moving Adelaide's offtake above the lower lakes' system.

NSW and Victorian irrigators have repeatedly tried and failed to ignite debate on the issue.

Most lobbyists and industry leaders have resigned themselves to the "political reality" of the lower lakes debate. Yet now is the time to demand South Australia does its share to secure the basin's future.

  • Peter Hunt is The Weekly Times' state political reporter