Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #murraydarling

Most recents (13)

Rivers carry the living impressions of civilisations that have settled on their banks since the dawn of time, are home for unique flora and fauna. How can we better understand and protect them? #Vigilife has launched the #30sentinelrivers program with #eDNA. A thread 1/n ImageImage
By building an international network of partners and sharing #eDNA know-how, #Vigilife is establishing long term #monitoring programs, which will become a precious tool for safeguarding freshwater biodiversity.
1. The #Amazon: born out of the drying up of an inland sea, I am one of the longest rivers in the world. Together with my tributaries, I contain nearly 20% of the #biodiversity of all the rivers on earth and play an essential role in the global water cycle. Image
Read 33 tweets
1/ Last Friday, @MelindaPaveyMP gazetted 3 new floodplain harvesting regulations. One of which allows for the exemption of rainfall run off collection under the Water Management Act 2000

legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/pdf/asmad…
#MurrayDarling #NSWpol #NSWFPH
2/ Under this regulation, land holders can use tail water dams to capture rainfall run-off from an irrigated field without a licence, and use that water to irrigate.
3/ The problem is, once water is in a dam, there’s no way to distinguish whether it fell as rain on the property, or was captured from the floodplain.

It means large volumes of water can be captured without any monitoring or measurement. Sound familiar?

#FloodplainHarvesting
Read 6 tweets
1/ Our full report into the growth of private storages, and by extension floodplain harvesting is available here:
irnnsw.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/21022-…

The bottom line is private dam storage has grown 2.4 times in the Northern NSW MDB since 1994
#Auspol #MurrayDarling #NSWPol #NSWFPH
2/ With publicly available satellite data we mapped the surface area of water storages and used LiDAR technology to determine cross-section and depth. We calculated growth in number and capacity of on-farm storages on the NSW Northern Basin floodplain.
3/ We found an increase in capacity from 597 GL in 1994 to 1,443 GL in 2019/20.

Or using the MDB’s official unit measurement, on-farm dam storage increased from 1.2 to 2.9 Sydney Harbours in 25 years.

But what’s the significance of 1994?
#NSWFPH
Read 6 tweets
#BREAKING!!!...THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, IT HAPPENED LAST SUMMER, AND IS PLANNED AGAIN THIS SUMMER!!! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FARMERS ARE HELD TO RANSOM AND NOT ALLOWED WATER ALLOCATIONS, BUT THE MURRAY-DARLING AUTHORITY STILL RELEASE 'ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS'!
THEY ARE KILLING THE VERY NATIONAL PARKS THEY SET ASIDE FOR POSTERITY!!! AND THEY ARE KILLING ALL THE ANIMALS IN THEM!!! AND Lily D'Ambrosio MP reckons #BARMAH IS A GREAT NATIONAL PARK!!! LUNATICS IN GOVERNMENT!!!
Scott Morrison (ScoMo) Senator Bridget McKenzie David Littleproud
MP Barmah Brumby Preservation Group Dan Andrews Neil Mitchell 60 Minutes Australia Weworktogether The Weekly Times Murray Willaton #MURRAYDARLING Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Victorian National Parks Association Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
Read 13 tweets
Murray Darling Basin deception

**UPDATE** E petition is now closed, however due to the severity of this issue we are applying for a second petition and will combine the signatures. We want to give every Aussie the chance to sign and have their voice heard.
Comment your name in the original post and we will reply when it’s up, so you can continue to share and spread this message. (Second petition ETA is Wednesday 16th October)
This petition is addressed to the House of Representatives who have the power to call for a Federal Royal Commission investigation into corruption of the Murray-Darling Basin. Closing date for signatures: 09 October 2019 (11.59pm AEST)
Read 21 tweets
Chris Corrigan, chairman of agri-giant Webster Ltd, made a number of disingenuous claims on @RNBreakfast this morning in the response to our @4Corners story about the $41m it received from the taxpayer... #murraydarling #auspol
1) Corrigan claimed the money it received from the taxpayer is not a grant - the Commonwealth Govt calls it a grant...
2) Corrigan said Webster only received $18.8m under the scheme. No. Webster received $41m and traded in $22m worth of water licences. This is how the funding is counted under the scheme. The taxpayer provided $ for dams so that it could store water it was unable to access earlier
Read 8 tweets
For the record. @4Corners spent weeks gathering 1st-hand evidence from farmers in the Murrumbidgee who had concerns about how the #murraydarling grants scheme is operating... 1/5
We spoke to farmers & irrigators who have received the funding or been involved in its expenditure, scientists & economists who have gathered & analysed data on its effects, community leaders, former government officials and current and former Murrumbidgee Irrigation staff... 2/5
We requested an interview with Member for Farrer / Environment Minister Sussan Ley, whose electorate covers the taxpayer funded projects we investigated. Her spokesperson told us NO-ONE in the govt would be providing an interview... 3/5
Read 5 tweets
1/ This is a MEGATHREAD. 👇🏻

That's not a Jamaican Doom Metal band name. It's a list of LNP issues & scandals for:

💥LNP VOTERS REVIEW💥

I’d like to present evidence to show they’re voting against their interests.

Please Distribute & RT. #auspol #ausvotes19
2/ If you hate your internet, it’s entirely LNP fault. The Labor NBN fibre to the premise model was world class. It was hobbled by Turnbull to serve Rupert Murdoch. The lost productivity / opportunity cost for Australia is likely TRILLIONS. #NBNfail innovationaus.com/2018/02/NBNs-a…
3/ If you are a woman LNP voter - Why? What the heck? LNP have a huge issue with women. Their best PM candidate was not considered for the role and that’s why Julie Bishop quit, among many others. Add your examples in comments. #auspol #ausvotes19 theguardian.com/australia-news…
Read 25 tweets
Love #auspol but don't quite understand the @Barnaby_Joyce/#watergate/#RonniSalt thing?

Always had Qs re #MurrayDarling politics, but were too afraid to ask?

This thread's for you.
Current excitement is about an $80m ‘strategic water purchase’, which Joyce made as water minister in 2017.

@AngusTaylorMP's old company Eastern Australian Agriculture made a $52m profit on the deal.

Taylor was not involved in EEA in 2017 & I allege no wrongdoing on his part.
Taylor's involvement isn't the point - point is that EEA is a well-connected corporation.

To understand the #auspol of the #MurrayDarling you need to realise that it isn't about upstream vs down, farming vs env, or ALP vs LNP.

It's about the powerful vs everyone else.
Read 15 tweets
For your amusement #MurrayDarling followers, I made another segmented flow-duration curve. Again, data freely available from WaterNSW, here: realtimedata.waternsw.com.au/water.stm

You might recall that I previously made one for the lower Darling River, at Wilcannia. Here's the WaterNSW map:
The Wilcannia one looks like this; with calculated flow stats. Yes folks, that's an *80% reduction* in median flow over the last 30 years.

(Remember flow is plotted on a log scale.)
The checked-and-rechecked stats there look like this:
Read 12 tweets
The first of many reports on the #fishkill - New South Wales has released its interim investigation @politicsabc #mdb dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/habita…
The report says they cannot yet say with absolute certainty what caused the fish deaths at Menindee
Scientists have examined the ear bones of the fish and found specimens up to 25 years old. Amazingly they also might be able to use the ear bones to establish where the fish came from originally.
Read 17 tweets
While the PM wants to blame the Darling River fish kill on drought, @theausinstitute found over 100 reports of maladministration of the #MurrayDarling Basin Plan in our report The Basin Files vol. 1 – THREAD >

tai.org.au/content/basin-… #auspol

img: @TolarnoStation Farmers Rob McBride and Dick Arnold holding two enormous dead Murray Cod
1/ Since Four Corners, barely a fortnight has passed without a new report of serious mismanagement, agency cover ups, political and regulatory capture, dodgy water deals or alleged fraud @lb_online #MurrayDarling #auspol

abc.net.au/4corners/pumpe…
2/ There are multiple allegations of water theft.

WaterNSW took *nearly a whole year* to act on accusations 7 billion litres was taken during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 water years *without authority* #MurrayDarling #auspol @p_hannam

smh.com.au/environment/su…
Read 21 tweets
The #Menindee mass fish deaths bring to mind the time @Nat_Irrigators successfully lobbied @GregHuntMP to disallow Critically Endangered listings for the #MurrayDarling and #MacquarieMarshes (nominated by @hsi_australia and made by @Mark_Butler_MP) in 2013 abc.net.au/news/2013-11-0…
We made the submissions for both back in 2008 and their assessments by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee began in 2008 and 2009 respectively. After years of workshops, expert research etc. the TSSC delivered the advice that both should be listed as Critically Endangered
This advice was delivered to then Environment Minister @Mark_Butler_MP in 2013, and to his credit he acted on the TSSC's advice and made the listings. @Nat_Irrigators, led at the time by @tomchesson01 (former adviser to Nat Shadow Water Security Minister John Cobb) weren't happy
Read 9 tweets

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