Irrigator slams 'hypocrisy' of stripping water from wetlands for rivers

Goulburn Murray Water's Central Goulburn Water Services committee chair Peter Hacon said there were projects that did not require environmental water, either stored in dams or bought back from irrigators.

"If we wish to be environmentally conscious, we have to assess the impact of the Murray Darling Basin Plan across the entire landscape," Mr Hacon said.

"The reality of the Murray Darling Basin Plan is it's stripping water from permanent wetland habitats across the wider landscape to concentrate solely on the rivers.

"But, simply put, the losses in wetland habitat are far greater than the gains in the river system and therefore, the environment, as a whole, is not actually profiting."

Mr Hacon said "political point scoring" was all those in positions of authority were interested in, when "they feed the public and media this select information.

"It is environmental hypocrisy," he said.

Mr Hacon said claims of "environmental gains" masked the significant losses in permanent wetlands.

In three of the last six years, environmental bodies had carried over more of the Victorian Murray water share than irrigators.

In the Murray System, 448,241 megalitres of environmental water were carried over on July 1 2023. In total, 998,116 ML were carried over in the system.

In the Murray System, the seasonal allocation for environmental water holders (for the 2023/24 water year) is 522,034 ML.

Private water holders seasonal allocation is 963,141 ML in total, and water corporations is 95,056 ML.

In the Murray System, 141,126 ML of water has been used for the 2023/24 water year by environmental water holders.

"It's quite evident the environment simply cannot use the water it has already without causing permanent damage," Mr Hacon said.

"Why strip water from a wetland to store it in reservoirs?"

He said Yambuna Creek, which now had an intermittent flow, was a prime example of restoring wetlands in northern Victoria.

"It was dried out in order to save water for the environment," Mr Hacon said.

He blamed the $2 billion Goulburn Murray Water Connections water saving project for lack of flows down the creek.

A GMW spokesperson said Yambuna Creek was not part of its delivery network.

"The Connections Project did not take actions to reduce flows in Yambuna Creek," the spokesperson said.

"However, the project did lead better control of Goulburn-Murray Water's channels through automation, which may have reduced outfalls to the creek and returned it to a more natural state."

Any decision to deliver environmental flows in Yambuna Creek would be made by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder under a request from the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority, the spokesperson said.

Decisions on carrying over environmental water stored in Hume and Dartmouth were made by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder.

Mr Hacon said said farmers in and around Yambuna Creek had been pushing for environmental water flows to restore its wetlands and those in the Kanyapella Basin.

Now, Mr Hacon said he was hopeful high flows from the Goulburn River could be diverted back down the creek, negating the need to use environmental water, stored in the dams.

"All we are trying to do is change the doors on the Goulburn around, so we can take water back out of that river during high, unregulated flows," he said.

"It's very simple and doesn't cost a lot - and to do environmental projects like that we don't need any more environmental water."

Redgums Red Angus stud co-principal Cliff Downey, Yambuna, said a group of farmers in the Kanyapella Basin had lobbied for environmental flows in Yambuna Creek.

"Landholders could see how the environmental values, in the area of the creek and Kanyapella Basin nearby had deteriorated and they didn't feel good about that," Mr Downey said.

Because it had dried out, farmers along Yambuna Creek no longer had access to stock and domestic water, he said.

"We have gradually gone from a situation 40 years ago, when there was permanent water there, where we had a diversion licence and we could pump water and irrigate the land," he said.

But he said the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority had been responsive to calls for environmental flows.

"As a group we've been able, over a few years, to get a 1000 megalitre flow down there and seen some real positive benefits for animals and vegetation," he said.

The creek had gone from "bone dry" for the whole year, to a relatively small flush of water that resulted in significant improvement, he said.

"We saw lots of response, quite a lot of wildlife and bird life returning, even within a couple of months," he said.

"We've noticed plant and animal life such as curlews, night herons, many water birds, echidnas, goannas, turtles, kangaroos and wallabies."

But he said he was conscious of how "tight" the water budget for catchment management authorities was.

"Water is not filtering through to the actual people who manage its delivery," he said.

Another producer with creek frontage, Mark Haydon, Yambuna uses bores to irrigate cereal and run beef cattle.

He was part of the group that pushed for environmental flows in the creek.

"The latest changes to the Plan are not going to make a huge amount of difference to us, because we don't get any water down that creek anyway, unless a flow comes through the environmental water holder," he said.

Bore water, used for stock and domestic purposes, drew "a huge amount of kangaroos" from the Kanyapella Basin.

"The only source of water for them is from our troughs," he said.

"To be able to get some water through the creek, down into the Kanyapella Basin, through Echuca Village and back into the Goulburn is pretty good for us."

It comes at a time when northern irrigators say they have grave concerns about potential buybacks, particularly their influence on investments.

Meanwhile, Tongala dairy farmer Andrew Tyler said he had to change how he operated, because of the environment he was working in.

"Quite clearly the two biggest environmental disasters in the last 10 years have been fish kills, that's gained a lot of headlines in the cities, but no amount of water is from the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District is going to stop that problem," he said.

"You can't run water uphill - so let's be a bit smarter in our river management, authorities have to be smarter with the water they do own."

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder said carryover was a critical management tool, used for early season water delivery and retain some for early use in droughts.

"The volume of Commonwealth environmental water carryover makes up only a small percentage of the total water currently available in the southern-connected Murray-Darling Basin," the spokesperson said.

"The CEWH also uses Commonwealth environmental water strategically and carefully to support the health of Ramsar listed wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin."