According to National Water Commission Chairman Ken Matthews:
“Ground water, in my view, is the sleeper issue in Australian water management, and indeed all over the world,” Mr Matthews said.
“Ground water is very poorly understood in Australia and overseas.
“It is being over-exploited overseas and in some areas of Australia, and we need to improve our understanding and management.”
Mr Matthews sounded the alarm during a speech to the Australian Water Summit in Sydney on Monday.
He said a lack of knowledge of water resources was hampering water planning and that the quality of Australia’s water accounting was “not good at all“.
It is actually much worst than this. Reports prepared under the National Land and Water Audit have been wrongly claiming groundwater levels are rising.
It is now six years since the Natural Heritage Trust funded National Land and Water Audit published its report Australian Dryland Salinity Assessment 2000. The 129-page glossy warned that because of rising groundwater, including in the Murray-Darling Basin, the area with a high potential to develop dryland salinity would likely increase from 6 million hectares in 2000 to 17 million hectares in 2050.
Yet data did not support the notion that we had a situation of rising groundwater in the Murray-Darling Basin. Groundwater levels in the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Coleambally irrigation areas – the regions considered most at risk in eastern Australia – have generally fallen over the past ten years. They were rising in the 1970s but falling by the late 1990s.
In 2004 the CSIRO provided me with the following reasons for the general fall in groundwater levels: improved land and water management practices; relatively dry climate over the past ten years and increased deeper groundwater pumping and higher induced leakage from shallow to deeper aquifers.
How could they be so incompetent at the National Land and Water Audit? Or where they just too focused on salinity and generating worst case scenarios?
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
They obviously didn’t want any facts to get in the way of a good story. They picked a good season and extrapolated from it.
They lined up some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country and demonised them in a way that, if specific names had been mentioned, would have seen the entire senior executive doing a stretch for criminal defamation. They ran with the pack because that was their nature.
The big question is, why didn’t our self proclaimed water Guru, Mr Cullen, find it in himself to grace us with expert knowledge and understanding of these issues?
It is quite simple, after all. In the main irrigation areas, either you have a rising water table and a salinity problem or you have a falling water table and no salinity problem.
Bad science is becoming the order of the day.
We had a report on our little juvenile Logan river, which was obviously a “typed over” version of a mature river [Eg Murray} report.
We are getting departments, staffed with environmental scientists, from “B” grade courses, filled with students with well below average OP scores.
I have seen the course notes of some of this rubbish, & its frightening that it entitles one to a B Sc.
Of more concern, Hasbeen, are the PhDs who spend a relatively limited time “adding to the sum of knowledge” under direct supervision and then spend the rest of their life peddling misinformation.
Still it could be worse. Like a Degree in Journalism.
You have Gotcha really nice blog
Promoting Products to Preserve our Creeks and Rivers – Free Water!
Water Harvesting Rain Catching
A new innovative product.
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Australia is in crisis, our soil is damaged, and our dams are dry. A lot of water is wasted, and rain isn’t falling in the most desperately needed areas. Following weather patterns rainfall can be tracked, we believe this capacity can help people on the land.
Only 3% of the worlds rain fall is caught and contained, with our products we can increase that percentage significantly. Capturing drinkable fresh water, before becoming storm water is a great idea.
Due to the limited supply of water, people and plants have a significant demand for an increasingly scarce resource. The products I am promoting are called Rain Catchers. These products come in various sizes and have various applications.
Australia is the driest continent on the planet, it is critical for our survival that efficient and effective water strategies are put in place. These strategies must be able to store water efficiently and promote effective use of this water. However over most of the country rainfall is not only low, but highly erratic.
Australia is also currently in a very serious drought – the worst on record, following a run of very dry seasons. As a result many farming families are under significant financial and emotional pressure. This situation has implications for not only the families involved but for there regional communities and, given the economic contribution agriculture make to the nation economy, the nation as a whole.
Rain Catchers are aimed particularly at those areas that are unable to store or retain large quantities of water. People are now more aware of the need for water and the effect it has on the economy and household incomes. 2005-06 farm income was $26 billion and is projected to fall for this next year.
Following recent rains, the farming sector is feeling more confident anticipating further rainfall. Our designs aim to “drought proof” properties as both town and on farm water sources become more expensive. These products will have applications in all areas and be a cost effective and versatile alternative to rainwater tanks.
We have had a lot of interest from both Australia and countries overseas. We wish to gain support for this initiative, if you are interested or would like more information, please visit our website.
http://www.waterharvestingraincatching.bigpondhosting.com
Please e-mail any comments to: blundell2006@bigpond.com
0433704661
With thanks
Michael Blundell