This makes sense to me. It is wrong for upstream irrigators to have water taken away to continue the artifice of the barrages. I find it slightly weird that the Coorong and Lower Lakes have natural heritage listing when they would have already been substantially transformed without human intervention. I'd guess those people would have intervened to repair the sea stack in Victoria (one of the nine 'Twelve Apostles') that fell into the sea. It would have become heritage listed fibreglass.

I recall sailing a flat bottomed boat up to a hand operated lock on one of the barrages. After negotiating the lock the boat promptly ran aground on the Coorong side. That was the barrage at melodic sounding Tauwitchere. Talking of melody I think the interventionists should sing along with Cher 'if I could turn back time I would find a wa-y'. Retain or build weirs on the river proper but dynamite the lower barrages and let nature run its course.

Can you imagine the screams of anguish from the environmentalists if someone , Govt etc proposed something like that situation today for example shore off Lakes Entrance to create a fresh water reservoir.

I totally agree with your statement.

How does the Coorong work ? Do the sand Banks keep the fresh water in or do they keep the salt water out ie; will the tide and outflows from the Murray fill the area to its current depth ?

Good idea, allow the river mouth to do it's own thing like it was meant to. The trouble is after the barrages being there for so long, people would have infastructure to suite the changed situation.
There was plans for locks and weirs right along the murray, but only some were ever built. Mildura has lock 11, the next one is lock 26 at Torrumbarry and thats it till you get to Yarrawonga weir wich does not have a lock.

Because of claims the Lower Lakes are ruined and closure of Murray Mouth is the fault of upstream irrigators the potential cuts may cost the taxpayer more than they bargained. Not only the cost of the water buy back but also the cost to the upstream communities, jobs, housing, schools etc. The MDBA plan is focused on the environment - Lake Alexandrina has been made an environmental priority but it is really just a large evaporation basin full of carp.

Have a look at this satellite map of the area while reading Jennifer’s detailed description of the region, http://www.lakesneedwater.org/maps/crisis-map . It will help to put things into perspective. Notice how there is no way to control water levels between Blanchetown and the barrages, over 274km away. The usual distance between other weirs/locks on the River Murray ranges from 30-80km apart.

For over ten years there has been talk about the need for another weir/lock at Wellington (sometimes called Pomanda Point). Sometimes scientists have referred to it as 'moving the barrages back to Wellington'. Looking at the map, and you can see why that's a very logical idea. Lake Alexandrina is, or should be, an estuary, it's not really part of 'the river'.

Regarding water levels should the barrages be removed. Historically the Lakes would be topped up to about +.7 AHD then evaporate to +.4 by the end of summer. This is what people are used to in pre-drought days. During the drought, Lake Alexandrina hit a low of -1.5m below sealevel. So, a rough estimate is that operating the Lakes at ‘sea level’ of 0, plus and minus tidal variation. For some people that means the difference between being able to boat up to their front verandah, or not, or tie up to their private jetty. There would be enough water in the main channels for boating and recreation, but people would need to learn how to adapt to the change in tides.

The Peel-Harvey estuary in WA is another example of what could be done with the Lower Lakes. http://www.lakesneedwater.org/maps/peel-harvey-estuary .

If any change happens, it's going to require some very strong leadership. And Jennifer is right by recommending assistance to help people adapt to a new environment.

Bush Telegraph on ABC Radio National recently interviewed a Coorong dairying family. They had to give up irrigation because there was no water and have now switched to non-irrigated organic dairying with fewer cattle. They seemed pleased with the new system.

There isn't a lot of difference between not irrigating because there is no water and not irrigating because the water is salty. A scheme to help Coorong farmers change to non-irrigated farming might be the solution.

Those barrages just seem so wrong.