As the co author of the document I respond to several posters.
Sarnian,
Your personal attack on Jennifer is obnoxious and your claims false.
The original state of the rivers that you long for was one of flood and the wetlands were in abundance, only to be followed by drought when most of the rivers in the system ran dry and the aquatic species were decimated.
Just try reading some history.
While it is true that Aus. is the dryest continent, it is a meaningless claim unless we consider we have a miniscule population compared to other continents.
If we look at the availability of water per head of population we find we have an abundance.
Water is our most abundant renewable resource.
Thinker,
Here is something to think about.
The rice grown in the Riverina has all been bred locally to suit an ideal climate for the japonica types grown there.
The growers are the most efficient in the world and rice is a very efficient plant at turning water into cheap food.
kartiya jim,
Contrary to your claims farmers have for generations recognised the value of the wider environment and have steadfastly improved it ever since the second world war. (prior to that our land and environment were going backwards.)
The Authors of the MDBA report and obviously some posters here seem to have the idea the "The Environment" is some Garden of Eden Utopia that exists somewhere down the Murray where uniquely all aquatic native species breed and thrive in a watery heaven.
Truth is the environment obviously covers the entire region and it is a fact that not only is there more wetlad now than before the arrival of Europeans, but that it is more permanent and productive.
The water drought is thankfully for the time being over.
Sadly the much more damaging drought of truth is still with us.
Pikey.

Doesn't 'decimate' mean kill one in ten?

Pikey,
I must admit that I do not usually attack the person rather than the article but I have read some of her blogs over the years and it is obvious that she is either in a financial arrangement with “big business” or is not too bright and is a follower of the denialist group.
You say *The original state of the rivers that you long for was one of flood and the wetlands were in abundance, only to be followed by drought when most of the rivers in the system ran dry and the aquatic species were decimated.
Just try reading some history.*
Well of course that is correct but when the rivers did run in flood, it was allowed to overflow and replenish the wetlands, so they could survive for another spell. They did not have the water diverted into enormous paddocks, where a huge amount evaporated and did not replenish the river all the way to the mouth.
*While it is true that Aus. is the driest continent, it is a meaningless claim unless we consider we have a miniscule population compared to other continents.*
The population is so miniscule that Desal plants are having to be built in most of the major cities and some of the river towns were on the brink of going without water quite recently and could have had to close down because of that.

Part 2
*The rice grown in the Riverina has all been bred locally to suit an ideal climate for the japonica types grown there. The growers are the most efficient in the world and rice is a very efficient plant at turning water into cheap food. kartiya jim,*

I repeat what I said in the earlier post, most of this is sent overseas and is not used to feed Australians. It is a purely for making a profit (mostly by agribusiness) and is in effect exporting water. Surely the health of the river system is more important than profit for big companies?
*The Authors of the MDBA report and obviously some posters here seem to have the idea the "The Environment" is some Garden of Eden Utopia that exists somewhere down the Murray where uniquely all aquatic native species breed and thrive in a watery heaven.*

Possible some do think like that but I am sure that most would be just content to see the whole system in equilibrium and not detraining towards the death of the system.

*Truth is the environment obviously covers the entire region and it is a fact that not only is there more wetlad now than before the arrival of Europeans, but that it is more permanent and productive.*

How can there be “more permanent and productive wetlands” when the whole system has been in crisis for quite a few years, including the river mouth?

Indeed it does Cheryl.

It just has been misappropriated (by those with even less latin than me, and that's saying something) as a surrogate for destroy or annihilate.

I've even heard of constructs such as 'one fifth decimate' Que? That'd be: 'select by lottery one in fifty to be put to death'?

And don't get me started on the misuse of 'carnage' to describe a scene devoid of shattered flesh...!

sarnian, i didn't mention Rice - I believe that was pikey .
While there is water about here in Northern Victoria, the Irrigation area has probably 1000's of kilometres of drains made 20 years ago that snake through the country from swamp to swamp to take saline water up to the Murray and eventually out to sea [that was the plan].
Very little of the main irrigation creeks and channels water is allocated and dedicated to the Environment ,although due to the good season ,more is available this summer.
I was told by Goulburn Murray Water that Environmental Water wasn't in calculations for the frogs or any other aquatic life on farm land - in fact because of sprays and pollution the water was not fit for drinking.
I have never seen my 2ha swamp flooded in over 20 years ,after our last big rain the water stayed contained by the salt drain banks and flowed north.
I am also telling my house dam frogs to keep their heads down because of the imminent locust spraying .
Farmers all over the Murray Catchment need a dedicated Biodiversity Allocation urgently from the Buyback and Water Cuts if the MDBC is serious about the Environment and Biodiversity ,otherwise they are having another lend of us, and simply concentrating water in the Murray for future Population Growth north of the GD Range and in South Australia.