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It is now trendy for city greenies to have pretend mini floods along different parts of the Murray Darling system. They achieve this by pumping thousands of litres of precious water into dry flood plain creeks. Politicians like to have their photograph taken alongside the pumps in a desperate effort to be seen to be doing something about something.
Having observed this sort of activity for some time I believe the biggest benefits accrue to rabbits. The weed growth after the water has dropped is phenomenal. The rabbit numbers are more phenomenal. Mozzies by the million emerge from the stagnant water left to dry out as summer approaches. Ross river virus here we come.
These creeks have been formed from the run off in years of severe flooding. The people advocating this mini flooding appear to have no concept of the volumes of water involved in a real flood.
There are benfits to be seen with improved water fowl habitats but unlike in a real flood it is all too short and inadequate. Fish breeding in these waters will die. There is no flow back to the main river channel.
An audit of all off basin water users should be made public. A Dr Paul Sinclair, who lives far from the river, attempts to blame agriculture for the low water levels but little mention is ever made of cities such as Whyalla, hundreds of kilometres from the river, receiving its water supply from the Murray. The Victorian Labor Govt has announced it intends to steal more water from the basin for Bendigo, a large off river regional city.
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