SAVE THE LOWER LAKES

KEEP OUR WATERS ALIVE

Updated 18-08-2009

Rann told to keep hands off river

August 19, 2009 01:39pm

Two hundred protesters have stood on a kilometre-long sand bar in the middle of the river at Swan Reach to demand the Federal Government take control of Murray-Darling Basin once and for all.

Their call to put a stop to all State Government controls on river water - including powers to veto and make constitutional challenges - was made on the 95-metre wide Greiger's sand bar.

This morning's river meeting, organised by local irrigator David Peake, was to show there are hundreds of people along the river, from the Lower Lakes in the south to across the border in Mildura in the north, who are fed up with the slow action in getting more water.

Media helicopters landed on the sandbar, where water would have been more than 2m deep just 18 months ago.

We Mourn The Death of The River Murray

Pictured above Photo 16 - taken late evening on 12/August/2009 at the closure of the mighty River Murray, a very sad day. Photo 1 - taken 12/August/2009 - the now completed wall that has stopped the flow of water from Lake Alexandrina to the mouth of the River Murray forever.

Pictured above  Photo 2 - taken on 12/August/2009 - view upstream with mud on the down stream side of the wall. Photo 3 -taken 12/August/2009 - black mud every where.

Pictured above - Photo 5 - taken 12/August/2009 - looking upstream from old Clayton on the down stream side of the wall. Photo 17 - taken 12/August/2009 - the finished wall that should NEVER have been built.

Pictured above - Photo 18 - taken 12/August/2009 - pumping of water from upstream side is suppose to start on the 13th August to put more water into the down stream side of the wall, pumps will be at Hindmarsh Island end of the wall. Photo 19 - completed wall with house boat stranded at Hindmarsh Island on further side of the photo on upstream side of the wall.

Pictured above - Photo 4 - taken 12/August/2009 - looking upstream after the wall had been finished. Photo 6 - taken 12/August/2009 - another view looking upstream.

Pictured above - Photo 7 - taken 12/August/2009 - the sun setting on the completed wall, looking towards the Island. Photo 8 - taken 12/August/2009 - leveling the top of the wall, they are spreading it flatter now starting on the Hindmarsh Island end.

Pictured above - Photo 9 - taken 12/August/2009 - thick black mud on the down stream side of the finished wall, channel 9 helicopter in background hovering above taking photos. Photo 10 - taken 12/August/2009 - Mud every where, 2 scoops on top of the wall far end plus 2 bull dozers still working.

Pictured above - Photo 11 - taken 12/August/2009 - down stream view showing black mud and silt. Photo 12 - taken 12/August/2009 - thick black mud on down steam side of the wall.

Pictured above - Photo 13 - taken 12/August/2009 -  Photo 14 - taken 12/August/2009 - rough surface of the regulator wall done in a hurry before knock off time!

The Murray Flows No More.

(Pictured above) : It is now right across the river, now there is no more flow to the Murray Mouth. This has stopped it for ever.

(Pictured above) Flags flown at half mast, in sympathy of the death of the River Murray. From Left to right, Aboriginal River Flag, the Australian Flag and the Lower River Flag. These flags are flown every day at Clayton, opposite the construction site by the locals protesting against the construction of the regulator wall.

(At Left) Thick mud right up to the mainland (At Right) Looking down stream towards Goolwa

(Pictured at Left) Looking towards Lake Alexandrina, with mud every where

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE THE KEY

Lower Lakes and Coorong Infrastructure Committee Chairman Neil Shillabeer was an irrigator on the Narrung Peninsula until March, 2007 when he had to abandon the potato, carrot and lucerne growing he and son Ben had developed over many years. Water access and quality became major barriers to their business. It was the climatic character of the area that attracted them to the area from the Adelaide Hills; not too hot in the summer and quite temperate in the winter, which provided ideal growing conditions. Neil is also a board member of the SA Murray Irrigators and sits on the SA Murray Darling Basin Natural Resource Management Board's River Murray Advisory Committee.

The Narrung Peninsula has not suffered from seasonal drought in my time in the district. The drought has come from upriver, with successive years of low flows causing the problems in our region. However, it is the Lower Lakes that are suffering most. It is distressing to most residents in the region that a proposal to flood the lakes with sea water remains an option.

Letting sea water into the Lakes creates two major problems:

1. It is virtually impossible to get out again (without a 1956 type flood event) creating a compounding effect on salinity levels. Whilst it initially covers and ameliorates acid sulfate soils it soon changes and exacerbates the situation enhancing the manifestation of sulphidic ooze. So without being able to freshen the sea water we're back to where we started from and aquatic and plant life will die.

2. It immediately negates other options to save the Lakes. Nature's successful bid to regenerate vegetation on exposed lake bed areas would be killed off. Small fresh water volumes to maintain levels above the critical acidification threshold would be rendered useless. Last year direct rainfall over the lakes and local tributary inflows provided significant recovery to the environment. Bioremediation programs also would no longer be an option because of hyper-saline conditions.

People around the Lakes are witnessing significant regrowth of vegetation on exposed lakebed areas, even where acid sulfate soils are visible.

We urge the Government to immediately release funds already set aside for the long term management of the Lower Lakes, so bio-remediation can be implemented, to further the work that nature has already started.

Local LAP and community groups are "bursting at the seams" to get involved with seed collection, propagation, planting, mulching, applying lime and other activities that could prove useful. By working in conjunction with Government agencies, a great deal could be achieved before any environmentally disastrous decisions are taken. Acidification of the water body in the Lakes is a major concern so recovery in Lake levels will need to be managed very carefully.

If some exposed lake bed areas turn to acid then re-wetting needs to happen slowly so pH levels in the water body aren't affected by rising water levels and associated wind tides dragging the acids back into the main body of water. Fortunately it is more than likely that when improved flows return they won't be of any great magnitude initially, because the whole system is so parched, that they can be managed accordingly..

Suggestions that an additional 1000 gigalitres of water from upstream would be needed to return the lakes to pre-drought conditions is a gross misrepresentation of what we are asking for. Much lower volumes over and above the 350 gigalitres of dilution flow that passes Wellington are all that is required to get through to the winter of 2010.

There is no need to fill the Lakes up again right now. Many Lower Lakes residents believe that it is only the lack of political will that is preventing the lake from receiving small, but critical inflows to survive. Building weirs and structures in the Lakes and Lower River, breaks down the linkages in the ecology of the system. For every engineering solution there is another impact that has to be dealt with. Each structure built leaves a damaging environmental footprint which can never be restored to its former status.

Generations of local knowledge exists in the Lower Lakes region. Local people work closely with and understand their environment better than outsiders. I hope the Government is listening to them. It is their future at stake. I fully understand the pain and hardship communities are experiencing along the whole of the Murray and that there is limited water in the system, but I also understand that if we don't look after the health and well being of the whole river, then none of us will have it.

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Pictures : Top Row Far Left : "Won't be long and this will be blocked off completely, this is the main channel into Lake Alexandrina for ever" : Top Row Far Right : "view looking down stream towards Currency Creek River, Finnis River and Goolwa" Bottom Row Far Left : Mud every where, looking towards Hindmarsh Island - total environmental vandalism, this should not be happening at all" Bottom Row Far Right : stream near the pile of mud at front of wall and the water near the grass are both flowing back into Lake Alexandrina".

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I have spent my life in detailed observation of the environment and what I now am being asked to accept is madness. I know these waters. I see the damage being done to the environment on a daily basis. How can the bureaucrats and scientists who are charged with caring for the environment have got the management of the Lakes Alexandrina and Albert so wrong?

If the decision makers said that they are going to build the Clayton, Finniss and Currency Creek weirs to provide water to float boats in the Goolwa area, because the Heavens sake Goolwa does need water, it would be easier to take. But to say that these weirs will save the environment makes no sense to me or to many others. The weirs will cut the system into pieces. Break up connectivity with weirs and there will be major fish kills.

Let there be no doubt the Finniss River and Currency Creek are the safest havens in the Lakes for endangered species because they are spring fed and the springs run all the year round. In the lower reaches, where there are acid sulfate affected areas, it would make sense to treat the "hot spots". There are a number of options including mulching, planting, controlled wetting and liming and we have already seen the success of Mother Nature in covering acid sulfate soils around the Lakes.

In July and August of 2008 good rains in the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges enabled good environmental flows down both the Finniss River and Currency Creek. These flows saved the Lakes last year, provided relief for turtles from the dreaded deadly tubeworms, and induced many native species including birds, fish and invertebrates to breed. The proposed weirs will stop this natural flow that Mother Nature has designed, a flow that keeps our Lakes alive and healthy. The weirs will provide a perfectly designed pond where introduced carp and redfin will flourish. Carp that will devour all the food and redfin that will eat the endangered species.

Irrigators from upstream of South Australia are pleading to sell their water at reasonable prices but our State Government has shown no interest in buying that water to save the lakes. Australians can be wonderful. We have seen that in the help for Victoria's bush fire victims. But our magnificent Lake Alexandrina is being abandoned by Australia including our Governments. It is a slow and painful demise. I wait with baited breath for Australians to come to the rescue of Australia's river and to help our Lake.

Henry Jones, Clayton

Photos above (1) Far Left This photo was taken on the 25th July 2009, looking downstream towards Goolwa, now more than ¾ way across now. (2) Centre :Three semi trailers loaded with soil and two bull dozers on wall. (3) Far Right : Hindmarsh Island in back ground.

Photos above (1) Far Left : South East view with all the silt and mud oozing up. (2) Centre : Mud that has come up as they are pouring soil in ..... what a mess. (3) Far Right : Southern View

(All photos courtesy of Yvette Holdsworth)

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