NOT A DROP: Keep The Clarence Mighty - PT II

IT'S time for Clarence Valley residents to reignite the campaign to protect our water as inland councils list diversion as priority number one.

NATURAL FLOW: The Clarence River at Rainbow Falls at The Gorge during more plentiful times. Picture: Debrah Novak

TAKE your gloves off and dig your heels into the muddy (edit: crystal-clear rocky) banks of the Clarence.

We're going in for round two of the Not a Drop: Keep The Clarence Mighty campaign and this one could be an epic battle for the ages.

Views on how best to manage water vary greatly depending on whether you watch sunrises over sea or sunsets over dusty plains.

Those inland dwellers living in the rain shadow of the Great Dividing Range and sparse expanses beyond are in the grips of despair, pondering ways to manufacture reliable water supplies to ensure their longevity.

Southern Downs councillors voted in favour of submitting a project to divert water from the upper reaches of the Clarence River west as top priority in a list of significant projects to the Federal Government.

They see a seven per cent water allocation with large volumes flowing out to sea as a waste.

We know natural river flows are imperative to sustain fish stocks that drive our tourism industry in the upper and lower catchment, as well as commercial viability in the estuary.

• Councils will have long wait for Clarence water says Mayor
• 'BLOODY DISASTER': Grazier, community opposed to diversion
• 'LEAVE OUR RIVER ALONE': Councils' plan met with disdain

They perceive that piping water inland will have little impact on coastal communities while rescuing the economic viability of Australia's food basket.

We know a dam would have a disastrous impact on farmers living downstream in a Valley where primary production - which includes beef, sugar cane, aquaculture, prawn trawling, fishing, macadamias and blueberries - is worth almost $500 million to its annual economy.

The Southern Downs region incorporates councils from Toowoomba, Western Downs and Southern Downs in Queensland as well as Tenterfield Shire in NSW and has "a major deficit in access to secure water supplies for urban consumption and for agriculture", according to Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio.

"New sources of water can include diversion from the headwaters of the Clarence River basin via the Maryland River," Cr Antonio said.

"Nothing short of a visionary, nation-building initiative led by the Commonwealth will solve this problem."

When the Darling Downs was last gripped in severe drought in 2006, then-editor of The Daily Examiner Peter Ellem launched the Not A Drop: Keep The Clarence Mighty campaign and successfully resisted the federal push to investigate options.

Last year, as a Clarence Valley councillor, Cr Ellem deflected new calls for water diversion in true Darryl Kerrigan fashion:

"Tell 'em up there in Toowoomba they're dreamin'," he said.

As droughts get harsher the waves of pressure inevitably become stronger and a government desperate to find solutions to combat the climate disaster may turn to drastic measures.

If we have to go to war with the Federal Government again, the Clarence River could become little more than a red trickle after that bloodbath.

As we've seen with Adani and other coal-mining projects in Queensland, not even the Great Barrier Reef - a World Heritage area with a tourism industry worth $6.4 billion a year - can stand in the way when this Government sets its mind to something.

At a meet-the-candidates forum for the state election earlier this year, all five Clarence candidates stood firm against the idea of sharing our water. It's that kind of solidarity that will be needed in the fight to keep our pristine waters unsullied.

As the leading and most trusted local media source, we reach a greater audience in the Clarence Valley than anyone else and are your most effective mouthpiece.

What do you think about ideas to divert water west? Or proposals to build dams, mines and ports in our river system?

Join the debate, send me an email and have your say as we fight protect our most valuable asset: water.

Originally published as NOT A DROP: Keep The Clarence Mighty - PT II