‘Cordial’ meeting of water ministers determines pathway for flows

BIG Adelaide water users and stormwater will be targeted to get more water in the Murray, Water Minister David Speirs has told The Advertiser.

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BIG Adelaide water users and stormwater will be targeted to get more water in the Murray, Water Minister David Speirs has told The Advertiser.

Mr Speirs attended his first Ministerial Council on the Murray yesterday and said the group had mapped a “pathway” to ensure South Australia gets the 450 gigalitres it needs for the river.

The focus was on both compliance with the plan in NSW – which has been hit with allegations of water theft and rorting – and how to make sure the water flows without hurting river communities.

MP David Speirs. Picture: David Mariuz

Mr Speirs said the states had started outlining initial projects to save water, mostly focused on “off-farm” strategies, meaning industrial and urban water users.

“We’d look for big industrial takers and see if we can reduce their take,” he said.

“There’s everything from desalination to stormwater harvesting. “

He said SA had the smallest part of the river and had already done the heavy lifting on water savings, but would do its part.

“But the big savings will come out of NSW and Victoria,” he said.

Those two states were hostile about the savings, saying farmers would be hit, but are now on board with the condition that communities would not be worse off.

“The plan’s not perfect and there will always be back and forth,” Mr Speirs said.

He added that the off-farm measures were “definitely the lower hanging fruit”.

The council agreed that the 450GL could only be delivered by projects with neutral or positive socio-economic benefits.

Federal Water Minister David Littleproud said the council had taken “a leap of faith in one another” and agreed that by Christmas they would have a list of projects that could deliver the 450GL without negative social or economic outcomes.

“In the meantime, let’s get cracking on the off-farm, urban and industrial projects and begin delivering water towards the 450GL total from those projects,” he said.

NSW will put more compliance officers on the beat, and make sure irrigators are metered to track their water use.