There are strong flooding concerns surrounding the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
New water recovery targets proposed as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will replicate devastating floods experienced in the region in the last two years, according to the Murray Group of Concerned Communities.
MGCC chair Bruce Simpson said the MDBA’s new modelling will place many communities at risk, with recommendations 40,000 megalitres (ML) of water be delivered into the system each day.
He also said the impact on the communities during those floods - impacting most on Kerang in 2011 and Wagga in 2012 - have been down-played in a recent Floodplain Association report.
Mr Simpson pointed out that the flows investigated in the most recent modelling released by the MDBA, which recommends relaxed system constraints, were the same as the flows in the River Murray System during the peak of the floods in 2011.
‘‘On February 23, 2011, at the same time as the township of Kerang in Victoria was a virtual island, the MDBA reported flows in the Murray system downstream of Yarrawonga Weir of 40,000ML/day - four times the normal operating flows for that time of year - and flows into South Australia of just over 80,000ML/day.
‘‘The relaxed constraints modelling targets flows downstream of Yarrawonga Weir of 40,000ML/day and flows at Riverland-Chowilla floodplains on the South Australian border of 80,000ML/day – the same as the floods.
‘‘We do not argue with the Floodplain Association’s report about the land use of inundated area, but we believe it is important to point out that the record floods, that inundated mainly grazing land, also devastated communities, disrupted people’s lives and caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage to homes and public infrastructure.’’
Mr Simpson said he believes these impacts on communities have been overlooked in a recent study into land use in areas inundated by recent floods, commissioned by the Australian Floodplains Association.
He said it fails to identify the devastating community impacts that resulted from the recent floods.
The study used satellite imagery to look at the agricultural use of inundated land and found that less than five percent of land falls under irrigation.
It says five percent is National Parks or nature reserves, with the majority being used for grazing.
Mr Simpson said the issue of flood flows is not just about irrigation, dryland cropping or grazing area but about the impact on the communities.
‘‘In the devastating floods of 2011 towns throughout north west Victoria were inundated with damage to roads, homes and businesses from Shepparton to Kerang and further downstream,’’ he said.
‘‘In 2012 the Murrumbidgee system wreaked havoc in Wagga, Yenda, Darlington Point and other communities.
‘‘While these towns do not make up a large portion of land area, they are the population centres where floods cause the most damage, disruption and cost.
‘‘You cannot look at floods in the Murray-Darling Basin and somehow excise the towns and communities that live along the river,” Mr Simpson said.
The MGCC has called on Federal Water Minister to reject increased water recovery and high flow targets in the absence of a thorough constraints management strategy, including a cost benefit analysis, has been completed.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan sets in place a management plan for the long-term health of the river system. It proposes diverting between 2750GL and 3200GL of food producing water for environmental projects.
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