Running the river dry
Latest News
Restrictions after drop in Menindee Lakes water level are ineffective, expert warns
Recent Submissions: Inland River Network advocates for better water sharing plans in the Namoi, Lachlan, and Macquarie Rivers
Recently the NSW Natural Resource Commission sought public comments on their review pf the Upper Namoi and Lower Namoi Regulated Rivers, the Lachlan Regulated Rivers Water Sharing Plan and the Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated Rivers Water Sharing Plan.
Go to the to the top menu of our website> Campaigns and click on ‘submissions’ to read our comments on these three water sharing plans.
Upholding water laws, because the government will not!
Media Release
14 November 2017
Community group takes legal action to enforce water laws because the Coalition government has not
The Inland Rivers Network is taking legal action to force Peter Harris, a big irrigator in the state’s northwest and a Nationals Party donor, to return more than five billion litres of water he took, allegedly illegally, from the Barwon-Darling River. [1]
“It should not fall to community groups to enforce our water laws, but the Berejiklian’s government’s inaction has left the Inland Rivers Network no option,” said Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski.
Full Details at the EDO NSW website: IRN v Harris and Another
Thermal Pollution of the Murray-Darling Basin Waterways – 2001
The Thermal Pollution Workshop was held at Lake Hume, Albury on 18 – 19 June 2001, and those in attendance represented a broad cross-section of interests, stakeholders and professions. Importantly, the workshop bought together a diversity of expertise from scientists to engineers, professionals in water resources, fisheries and conservation management, and people with first hand experience of the thermal pollution problem.
The Way Forward on Weirs – August 2000
The Way Forward on Weirs was the first conference to address the ecological, engineering, economic and social aspects of reducing the environmental impacts of weirs in Australia. Hosted by the Inland Rivers Network on 18 and 19 August 2000 in Sydney, it was the first large-scale gathering of stakeholders to address the issue. The papers presented here arose from the Conference and address four key themes:
– What are the effects of weirs on the environment?
– How can weir operations be altered to reduce environmental impacts?
– How can weirs be removed or modified? and,
– Thinking laterally about water supply options and management.
Farmers are frustrated over years of delays for the Wyangala Dam wall raising project
ABC Central West / By Hugh Hogan March 22nd, 2023
Excerpt:
With the state election this weekend, NSW Labor said it needed more details before it could commit to the project.
“We don’t know what it’s going to cost. We don’t know clearly what the benefits are. We don’t know what the environmental impacts are going to be,” Labor water spokesperson Rose Jackson said.
“What Labor is doing is being honest about the processes that we’re going to follow … we haven’t seen the documentation, we haven’t seen the business case so we’re unable to make commitments.”
Environmental concerns
Not everyone is in support of the project which could have a price tag north of $2 billion.
Bev Smiles from the Inland Rivers Network said the environmental cost, including reduced water for wetlands, was too high.
“It captures the really important floods for the wetlands in the Lachlan Valley that are listed on the national list of important wetlands,” she said.
Ms Smiles said a bigger dam would not have had any effect on last year’s floods as operators were currently required to store as much water as possible for downstream users.
“New South Wales really needs to look closely at its dam management policy both for critical human needs in extreme drought … and the way they currently manage dams to keep them full as much as possible,” she said.
Water recovery and ‘over recovery’ in the Macquarie valley
The NSW Coalition government and the local fibre growing industry groups are making a controversial claim – that there is too much water in the Commonwealth’s environmental water accounts in the Wambuul/Macquarie and Gwydir catchments.
So how can the claim be made that these rivers are ‘over-recovered’, when the internationally significant wetlands they contain are rapidly declining?
This is a tale of how the convoluted nature of water management, and the deceitful abuse mathematical formulas and data can score you a big payday, if you’re prepared to stoop that low.
If you think it’s ludicrous to suggest that rivers can be too recovered, then please, read on!
Growing calls for water recycling in drought-prone regional cities
ABC News
February 17, 2023
Parts of regional Australia are experiencing a population boom, but there are concerns some of the fast-growing inland cities are ill-equipped for the next drought.
Some of the communities which ran out of water, or came close, at the height of the last drought are growing impatient for solutions and want water recycling to be among the options.
More Information
Featured:
Simon Murray, former mayor, Armidale Regional Council
Graham Carter, Tamworth Water Security Alliance
Kevin Anderson, Tamworth MP and NSW Water Minister
Dungowan Dam EIS submission guide
Attached is a submission guide for the Dungowan Dam project Environmental Impact Statement, written with contribution from the Tamworth Water Security Alliance.
Please use this guide to help you write a submission – due Friday 9th December
Dungowan Dam Summary Business Case
The proposed Dungowan Dam & Pipeline project is a National Party promise for the electorate of Tamworth. It is economically unviable and has been questioned by Infrastructure NSW and the Federal Productivity Commission.
The summary of the final business case passed by NSW Cabinet in March 2022 demonstrates bias and a lack of analysis of alternative options to secure Tamworth water supply under future climate change predictions.
Inland Rivers Network 