At last! Here is someone who really understands the Australian climate and how sensible our forefathers were in the way they organised irrigation. The "mob" acceptance of the conventional wisdom that our rivers are "unhealthy" due to excessive extractions needs to be challenged. We should stop confusing the results of a typical Australian dry period with "ill health". In wet periods such as now, the need for more storage capacity is clear.

Yes, some sense at last.

However don't expect this to get to any of the urban greenies, sipping their lattes in that sidewalk cafe. The only stuff you will see in the usual media is the ranting of greenie activists, & B grade scribes.

" Then given that Adelaide and adjacent towns will have to continue to rely on water from the Murray, we put in place an interstate agreement that provides for this." This given should no longer be considered as a given, for the following reasons:

Adelaide's water should be sourced from its desalination plant. If capacity is insufficient, then it should be expanded. Environmentalist ideology (there is no scientific evidence to prove that global warming has been caused by anthropogenic gas emissions) should not stop full-time operation of such a plant.

Other States should not be expected to subsidise the supply of Adelaide's water ad infinitum.

There is no strong economic argument to justify giving Adelaide preference in Murray-Darling Basin water allocation over the residents of the Basin.

The quality of the drinking water that Adelaide receives from the Murray is atrocious in any case.

The folly of locating and supporting a population centre at the semi-desert location of Adelaide, should not be perpetuated. Now is the time to act to stop Adelaide sponging off the Murray Darling Basin. It must be weaned off Murray-Darling water.

"Truth is that the flow in the lower Murray has little to do with the Coorong."

Whilst it is true that the lower lakes and the Coorong are now somewhat separate, the river and the Coorong do share a common entrance to the sea and before the advent of the barrages, particularly the Tauwitchere barrage, it was connected to Lake Alexandrina.

See http://www.coorongcruises.com.au/pano_map.html

It is highly likely, that because of the negligible flows through the mouth, because of the presence of the barrages, there has been no flow of seawater into the Coorong, hence its current state.

I would also suggest that Ron Pike gives some attention to the deteriorating state of the artesian basin which he and his fellow irrigators have been drawing down for the past ninety years.

Dvaid

There seems to be a fair bit of fanciful opinion masquerading as "Truth" in this article. I note that former rice farmer Ron Pike doesn't allow for any environmental flows in his plan, but that's no great surprise.

Personally, I attach much greater credibility to the truths presented by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Wentworth Group and other scientifically based organisations, than to the unreferenced assertions of a retired irrigator. Or is this another case of those evil scientists manufacturing research data in order to advance some amorphous UN-inspired socialist plot?

Nah. Personally, I think it's more of a case of 'he would say that, wouldn't he?'.

Dear CJ Morgan

You can't dress up the premis these groups (the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Wentworth Group) make in their "scientific" studies as scientific or the truth. That is, preserve a limited set of environmental assets created by the building of dams, weirs, and irrigation as well as the sedimentation resulting from a rabbit plague, all during a period of historically high rainfall, at the expense of the community.

As a resident of the murray-darling basin, I believe it is valid to regard the irrigation, farms, and jobs as equal to the other built environment, such as many of these wetlands and the resulting flora and fauna, and deserve balanced support during water allocation decisions.