THE Darling River is flowing no more, with the iconic waterway reduced in places to a series of interlinked pools.
Around Wilcannia, in far-western NSW, a combination of drought and upstream irrigation have brought the river to a standstill.
Neville Crisp, 76, used to water ski on the river during the 1940s and 50s. Now he is angry about the state of the river and says that the only solution is additional environmental flows.
"The Government has known about the problem since the 1980s," Mr Crisp said. "The river is a mess, it is a national disgrace. They blame global warming and everything else, but they do nothing.
"We haven't had floods since the 1970s, not a decent one. I am angry about this river and what has happened to it. It was a beautiful river and now it is a hazard."
Mr Crisp's wife, Betty, says their house on the edge of the Darling was a wonderful place to bring up children. "They would swing ropes into the river, go canoeing, fishing, catch yabbies," she said. "This was a magic place. Now there's nothing. When the kids come back with their kids, they don't catch anything."
The Darling has stopped flowing before; it didn't flow for 350 consecutive days during the intense drought of 2006 and 2007.
Local grazier Mark Etheridge, who is also president of the Australian Flood Plain Association, blames the level of extraction from the river for its poor health.
"This is quite a natural stoppage, this is one of the events where there is a lack of rain," he said.
"But with the advent of irrigation on this river, we are amplifying the drought. These are the worst conditions I have ever seen."
Mr Etheridge said stations upstream were taking out hundred of billions of litres. "Ecologically, it is doing a lot of damage within the flood plains, billabongs, creeks and flood runs."
He said successive governments had handed out too many licences from the 1960s to the 80s with no thought to the grazing industries down stream. "They allocated more water than it is possible to take out of the system," he said.
The CSIRO found 39 per cent of the flow in the Barwon-Darling was being taken out.
Across the Murray-Darling Basin, on average, 56 per cent of available water is being taken out, which the CSIRO described as an extremely high level of development.
The Australian Conservation Foundation wants the federal Government to purchase six big irrigation properties on the Darling system: Cubbie Station and Balandool in Queensland, Colly Farms on the NSW Gwydir River, Toorale and Darling Farms on the Darling near Bourke and Tandou on the Darling below Menindee.
The ACF estimates the purchase could cost up to $600 million, and return 400 gigalitres, or 400 billion litres, to the river.
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission said up to 80 per cent of the water released from the northern rivers would be lost in transmission, and not make it to the lower lakes at the mouth of the Murray.
It estimates the lower lakes need at least 1050GL, allowing for evaporation of between 750 and 950GL.
Cubbie Station's John Grabbe refuses to comment on whether the property is for sale, but he is happy to talk about his wheat crop.
"We have 15,000 hectares of irrigated wheat in, that looks absolutely magnificent. We often get tagged as just being a cotton operation - well, we are not.
"This year, we have grown sorghum, sunflowers, wheat. We will be growing some cotton at the end of the year, and it is highly likely we will grow some soybeans during summer," Mr Grabbe said.
It is a similar story on the big irrigation properties in the Darling system. "The demand for food is driving prices up, so it makes these other crops look quite attractive," Mr Grabbe said. "I believe our future is very bright."
Republished here:
Once-mighty Darling drying up
OCTOBER 1, 20097:57PM
THE Darling River is flowing no more, with the iconic waterway reduced in places to a series of interlinked pools.
Around Wilcannia, in far-western NSW, a combination of drought and upstream irrigation have brought the river to a standstill.
Neville Crisp, 76, used to water ski on the river during the 1940s and 50s. Now he is angry about the state of the river and says that the only solution is additional environmental flows.
"The Government has known about the problem since the 1980s," Mr Crisp said. "The river is a mess, it is a national disgrace. They blame global warming and everything else, but they do nothing.
"We haven't had floods since the 1970s, not a decent one. I am angry about this river and what has happened to it. It was a beautiful river and now it is a hazard."
Mr Crisp's wife, Betty, says their house on the edge of the Darling was a wonderful place to bring up children. "They would swing ropes into the river, go canoeing, fishing, catch yabbies," she said. "This was a magic place. Now there's nothing. When the kids come back with their kids, they don't catch anything."
The Darling has stopped flowing before; it didn't flow for 350 consecutive days during the intense drought of 2006 and 2007.
Local grazier Mark Etheridge, who is also president of the Australian Flood Plain Association, blames the level of extraction from the river for its poor health.
"This is quite a natural stoppage, this is one of the events where there is a lack of rain," he said.
"But with the advent of irrigation on this river, we are amplifying the drought. These are the worst conditions I have ever seen."
Mr Etheridge said stations upstream were taking out hundred of billions of litres. "Ecologically, it is doing a lot of damage within the flood plains, billabongs, creeks and flood runs."
He said successive governments had handed out too many licences from the 1960s to the 80s with no thought to the grazing industries down stream. "They allocated more water than it is possible to take out of the system," he said.
The CSIRO found 39 per cent of the flow in the Barwon-Darling was being taken out.
Across the Murray-Darling Basin, on average, 56 per cent of available water is being taken out, which the CSIRO described as an extremely high level of development.
The Australian Conservation Foundation wants the federal Government to purchase six big irrigation properties on the Darling system: Cubbie Station and Balandool in Queensland, Colly Farms on the NSW Gwydir River, Toorale and Darling Farms on the Darling near Bourke and Tandou on the Darling below Menindee.
The ACF estimates the purchase could cost up to $600 million, and return 400 gigalitres, or 400 billion litres, to the river.
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission said up to 80 per cent of the water released from the northern rivers would be lost in transmission, and not make it to the lower lakes at the mouth of the Murray.
It estimates the lower lakes need at least 1050GL, allowing for evaporation of between 750 and 950GL.
Cubbie Station's John Grabbe refuses to comment on whether the property is for sale, but he is happy to talk about his wheat crop.
"We have 15,000 hectares of irrigated wheat in, that looks absolutely magnificent. We often get tagged as just being a cotton operation - well, we are not.
"This year, we have grown sorghum, sunflowers, wheat. We will be growing some cotton at the end of the year, and it is highly likely we will grow some soybeans during summer," Mr Grabbe said.
It is a similar story on the big irrigation properties in the Darling system. "The demand for food is driving prices up, so it makes these other crops look quite attractive," Mr Grabbe said. "I believe our future is very bright."
Send your Murray-Darling pictures to online@theaustralian.com.au
Originally published as Once-mighty Darling drying up
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