Advocates of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan say changes to water extraction rules, which allow irrigators to pump large amounts of water from the Barwon-Darling system, have undermined the efforts of the plan.
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An ABC Four Corners investigation, which aired last night (July 24), has found that billions of litres of water purchased by taxpayers is instead being harvested by some cotton irrigators under NSW government rules.
Changes to extraction rules since 2012 have meant irrigators can take environmental water from the Barwon-Darling system, with the changes also ramping up the value of water licenses. Two irrigators now own 70 per cent of licensed water in the Barwon Darling. The Barwon-Darling system flows from Mungindi to towns such as Collarenebri and Wilcannia, making up 13 per cent of the Murray-Darling Basin.
Farmers' advocate Mal Peters, a former chairman of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) statutory committee that looked at the Barwon-Darling system, described the rules as "bloody disgusting" to the ABC. "It rendered the whole plan, in my mind, completely null and void because the amount of water that could be taken out was huge," he said.
Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association executive officer Zara Lowien said these extraction rules did not directly impact people within the Gwydir. “The Barwon-Darling is a different system to Gwydir,” she said. “It’s not like here where we have water in a dam, they only get water when there’s a rainfall event or excess water flows from connected systems upstream. Because it’s unregulated, flows can’t be controlled as much.”
Ms Lowien said water licences provide owners with a right to access water under certain rules and conditions.
