Public battles between farmers and the environment movement must end, the Commonwealth’s water agency says, warning a unified response is needed to tackle the damaging impacts of climate change in the Murray Darling Basin. A joint study by […]
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Plans to fast-track two dams in NSW have prompted calls for Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley to apply biodiversity protection laws to help save ecosystems that would be threatened by the projects. The appeals come as Prime Minister […]
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A call from senior NSW Nationals for Commonwealth-owned environment water to be redirected to farmers is set to sink almost as quickly as it was floated with Victoria and South Australia opposing the move, and experts declaring it […]
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The NSW government will not take into account the latest drought in calculating how much water should be available to irrigators under draft plans condemned by regional councils and a Nationals MP. While dams that supply some of […]
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Temporary earthwork dams along the Lower Darling will be removed in coming weeks to ensure powerful river flows can flush all the way down to the Murray. NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey said four so-called “block banks” were […]
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A stoush is brewing on the state’s inland rivers over the proposal for a new weir that could reduce flows to the “degraded” Macquarie Marshes just as the wetlands start to recover from drought. WaterNSW has begun consulting […]
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At least four of the state’s 13 water-sharing plans are not taking the Millennium Drought into consideration when calculating how much dam water to quarantine for towns at the expense of irrigators. A further four are planning to […]
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More than 6000 megalitres released from Chaffey Dam is unaccounted for, according to Water NSW. The Peel Valley’s recent water balance report breaks down where the water from the dam went during the 2018/19 financial year. The 6090 […]
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Millions of dollars in funding for regional water projects are being withheld by the Commonwealth because the Berejiklian government has failed to complete basic Murray-Darling river management plans more than six months after they were due. Correspondence from […]
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Rural NSW mayors concede they did not move quickly enough to secure their towns’ water supplies ahead of the worst drought in living memory. The state government has threatened to intervene directly in some shires to ensure water […]
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Water Resources Minister David Littleproud has lashed federal MPs backing a 1930s plan to divert floodwaters inland from Australia’s coast, suggesting they are clutching to a “discredited” relic and setting back the water infrastructure cause. Mr Littleproud made […]
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Sydney and Melbourne face rising threats to their water supplies from climate change as higher temperatures diminish inflows while pushing up demand, according to new research. A paper published by Environment Research Letters shows a “substantially” amplified risk […]
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Immediate changes are needed to avoid the “collapse” of Australia’s longest river system, with a government agency finding over-extraction brought forward drought conditions for parts of the river by three years. In a highly critical draft review of […]
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Debate over the viability of the $13 billion Murray Darling Basin Plan is likely to intensify in coming months as the region’s drought deepens, scientists and stakeholders say. Fears that the plan – backed by the Morrison government […]
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Farmers along the Darling River are resorting to using sulphuric acid to counter high salt levels as attention turns to the quality of the water that remains in the drought-hit system. One in three native fish species in […]
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Humans have contributed to increased global risks of drought for more than a century, scientists say, in findings that also point to “severe” consequences ahead with climate change. The research by US-based scientists and published in Nature journal […]
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The recovery in the health of major river systems such as the Barwon-Darling is likely to be delayed well after the return of good rainfall because of policy changes under which irrigators will get the first right to […]
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If you want a salutary example of the taxpayers’ money that can be wasted and the harm that can be done when governments yield to the temptation to prop up declining – and, in this case, environmentally damaging […]
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The nation’s pre-eminent science agency has cast doubt on the environmental benefits claimed under the Morrison government’s main climate policy, raising concerns Australia is overstating its contribution to the fight against global warming. Despite concerns over the scheme, […]
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Sydney households will have up to $35 added to their annual water bills to cover the restart of the city’s desalination plant, the Berejiklian government says. On Tuesday, Sydney and Wollongong’s dams were 60.3 per cent full, marginally […]
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