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July 25, 2009
The city of Mildura, Victoria sells itself as the Mediterranean on the Murray, and, unlike the depressed Riverland region in South Australia, it has the appearance of there being a limited crisis of the river.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, house boat, River Murray, Mildura, 2009
The dogs and I walked along the Murray River early this morning in Mildura and I noticed that there was water flowing over weir number 11. And it was still flowing over Lock 10 at Wentworth, where the Darling and the Murray join, when I was there latter in the day on our way to Broken Hill via the Silver City highway.
Sunraysia growers are responding to the drought by continuing to reduce the area of crops watered. Who cares if the river has stopped flowing at the mouth of the River Murray? South Australia is another state.
The purpose of weirs 1 to 10 (from Blanchetown to Wentworth) and the associated locks is to provide:
(1) permanent navigation between the Murray Mouth and Wentworth for the large number of houseboats, tourist cruise boats and other recreational craft.
(2) relatively constant pool level to facilitate pumping for irrigation and water supply.
There is nothing about ecological health in this. So it is no suprise that no water is reaching the lower lakes of Alexandrina and Albert. Where has the flowing water gone? Has the water been allocated to the irrigators in Sunraysia and Riverland regions? Where else would it go?
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