SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has hit the ground running, championing the Murray River at a town hall meeting in Berri last night.

Mr Weatherill and Water and River Murray Minister Paul Caica hosted a meeting about the controversial Murray Darling Basin plan to save the river.

AdelaideNow reports that he addressed an attentive crowd of about 100, saying South Australia had been dudded by other water-hungry states.

Mr Weatherill said he would fight for the appropriate management of the Murray and said getting it right was "an incredibly important, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

He said South Australian people had always had an enormous respect for the river and understood its important place in our lives.

Mr Weatherill said he had concerns that the plan was inadequate and said he held the meeting in the Riverland town because local residents were hurting.

He appeared relaxed as he arrived, shaking hands and chatting with local growers.

Mr Caica said he felt South Australia needed to secure an adequate amount of water across the entire river system, and not differentiate areas of the system but see the river as a complete system that needed help.

"We need to treat the system as a whole," he said.

Lower Murray irrigator and former vice-president of the National Irrigators Association Ian Zadow said before the meeting he believed the Government should not focus as heavily on securing water, but invest in the infrastructure required to deliver it more efficiently.

He said the Government needed to act because the current situation was hurting growers.

"The money's been put aside and they're still buying water. I mean it's not as if all the irrigation industries are going gangbusters," Mr Zadow said.

"I mean, we've got citrus growers down here in Mypolonga that aren't even picking because they can't cover the cost of picking."

Local residents were thankful the Premier was concerned about the welfare of the river system, but said they still had reservations over potential future action to rectify the situation.

Read more at AdelaideNow