Friday, March 29, 2024

CATEGORY

Water

Water security high on council agenda

Last week, Toowoomba Regional Council resolved to investigate two key water security measures for the region. At Tuesday’s Ordinary Meeting, Council resolved to investigate the possibility of increasing water capacity of Cressbrook Dam as part of the critical Dam Safety Improvement Project as well as supporting a comprehensive investigation of the potential Emu Creek Dam by the Queensland State Government.

Blue green algae warning for Kialla Lakes

Greater Shepparton City Council is warning the public to avoid direct contact with water in Kialla Lakes after detecting high levels of blue-green algae in the first lake ... They contain toxins that are harmful to humans and animals.

Mildura Weir named best maintained and managed asset along River Murray: MDBA

The 2023 JS Collings Trophy for excellence in maintaining major water management infrastructure on the River Murray has been awarded to Mildura Weir by the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) ... "Mildura Weir comprises 24 steel trestles, each weighing approximately 11 tonnes, that can be winched from the river to allow maintenance, or to allow the safe passage of flood waters": MDBA’s Executive Director River Management, Andrew Reynolds.

Washing the decks

When ministers drop media statements in the days leading up to Christmas, it’s usually a sign that they want to wash the decks of bad news. One such release was by WA Water Minister, Simone McGurk, who issued a carefully worded statement that ‘water priorities reset to focus on practical measures.’

“No long-term plan”

How do we fix Naracoorte’s drainage problems? This is the question we asked former mayor David Hood, as the recent rain event put the township’s drainage systems under immense pressure. Mr Hood claims the “drainage problems” had been expanded through the years by the Corporation of Naracoorte...

Florence gets on the move

A tunnel boring machine (TBM) working on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project is operational again, 12 months after getting stuck in soft ground creating a large sinkhole above it.

The jury’s in: Fresh lakes a death sentence for Murray-Darling Basin

Goolwa South Australian resident, Ken Jury, sees a better way forward for the basin and believes that governments are risking the viability of the whole basin. Ken, an investigative journalist with a passion for marine and aquatic ecology ... is an expert on the South Australian Lower Lakes and Coorong ...

Community advocates tour with Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder

Currently, 4,622 gigalitres of entitlements is held by government as environmental water, and Australia’s largest irrigator, Dr Simon Banks, Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, was joined by Central Murray Environmental Floodplain Group, community representatives and Paul Madden OAM of Arbuthnot Sawmills for a tour of local farms and forests. John Toll farms at Gunbower ...

Managing floodwater associated food safety risks in melon production and postharvest handling

Sukhvinder Pal (SP) Singh. Floodwater is known to be a carrier of biological, chemical and physical hazards affecting food safety during production and processing of fresh horticultural produce. Runoff from livestock, industrial, residential and sewage treatment areas into waterways and their overflow can contaminate water sources, production fields and postharvest processing facilities.

Farmers have their say – Net Zero Sector Plans

Most Aussie farmers say climate change is the single greatest threat to their business, according to Farmers for Climate Action’s online survey on the Net Zero Sector Plan for Agriculture and Land. Farmers for Climate Action created the survey to make sure farmers … could easily have their say as part of the Federal Government’s Sector Plan consultations.

Mighty Murray

The Murray River holds a special place in many hearts and minds of locals. The river brings life to the landscape and the people who live and rely on her. After a trip down the Murray River from Barham to Wellington in South Australia and back, retired land surveyor David Laughlin was left with reflections of natural beauty, lessons from the past and current management by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

Signs ‘green shoots’ of optimism returning to Australia’s farm sector: Rabobank

Australia’s farmers are approaching the end of the year with a hint of improving optimism as rural confidence levels nudge slightly higher in the latest quarter. The Q4 Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, found net level farmer confidence across the nation edged up marginally…

Weather for November

Highest temperature was 43.8C on Saturday 11th compared to the record of 45.4C on the 29th in 2012 ... November rain was 28.4mm ... Highest November rain was 95.4mm in 1992 ... The river has remained reasonably steady a with current level of 0.85 metres and a flow of 769 ML/day, exactly the same as reported last month.

Draining red tape

Government red tape had to be addressed before Naracoorte Lucindale mayor Patrick Ross could take up his position as a local government representative on the SE Water Conservation and Drainage Board (SEWCDB). Operating under special legislation, the SEWCD Act mainly provides for the conservation and management of water and the prevention of flooding of rural land, among other things.

Amendment to federal environment laws trigger good news for Barkly’s future

The new laws update the ‘water trigger’ under Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) (the most important legislation that protects the environment in Australia), so new unconventional gas projects, like shale gas fracking, will be assessed by the Independent Expert Scientific Committee for their impact on water resources.

Water Bill opens old wounds

Communities who carried the burden of a Basin Plan corrupted by politics are once again looking down the barrel of mass buybacks. The impacts of water buybacks cannot be understated as communities were ripped apart, football clubs closed, huge areas of food production and habitat provision were dried out, industries retracted, driving increased costs and undermining sustainability, and the price of water was sent out of reach of many young farmers.

Water wars: Labor and Greens unite to drain rural communities

The environmental, economic and social value of water to our floodplain communities is once again washed away under a tide of political games ... Once again, South Australia leads the Feds around by the nose while glossing over the impacts of the barrages, the south east drainage scheme, the topography and even the estuarine nature of the area. 

Basin Plan deal: Let the ‘Hunger Games’ begin

The fate of regional communities in the Murray-Darling Basin now rests with a handful of Senate crossbenchers after the Labor and the Greens struck a deal to enforce another 450GL in water buybacks from farmers within four years ... "The Minister’s insistence that buybacks are not the only option is disingenuous at best ... To add insult to injury, it is well documented that any water recovered cannot physically be delivered where it is intended to go ... ": NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller.

Premier Minns urged to distance himself from Albanese Government: NSW Farmers Association

The Albanese Government has allowed the Greens to dictate water policy that jeopardises the vitality of rural and regional towns across the Murray Darling Basin ... “Politicians have failed to listen to locals who have been warning them about the detriments of water buybacks": NSW Farmers Water Taskforce chair Richard Bootle.

Making bore water fit for dialysis

Making scarce and impure bore water in The Centre’s outback fit for use in medical dialysis has earned Alice local Michael C Smith a Distinguished Alumni Award from Flinders University in Adelaide. “I’m proud that one of my designs is working today in Kiwirrkurra, Australia’s most remote Aboriginal community,” says Dr Smith.

CMA on the lookout for natural drought refuges

The North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is on the lookout for drought refuge pools – natural bodies of water that stay full, even during dry times.

QFF joins a growing chorus of industry and community voices calling on a carbon and capture storage project proposed for the Great Artesian Basin...

A proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) project that would see liquified carbon dioxide injected into a water producing aquifer (the Precipice Sandstone) within the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) has industry and community alarm bells ringing, not only in Queensland, but across the nation.

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