Cod company eyes off Victorian expansion
A Murray cod producer has its sights set on Victoria after huge growth took the company from five to 80 employees.
Water
Irrigators facing millions in fines for water offences
Five irrigators are facing massive penalties for water offences, with one former vineyard operator alone facing $4.4 million in fines.
Water blowout: $100m spent on consultation, bureaucrats
Money is flowing into consultants’ pockets rather than watering wetlands and removing constraints on Murray River flows.
Plibersek fails on water promise
A promise to consult Murray Darling Basin communities by the end of 2022 on buying more irrigators’ water has been broken.
Murray River politics choking irrigators $230m per year
The Barmah choke has been narrowing for 40 years, but state and federal politicians’ failure to take action will cost irrigators dearly.
NSW Labor cracks on basin buybacks
A Labor win at the NSW state election is set to open up water markets to federal water buybacks — as a “last resort”.
Canberra preparing to enter water market
Canberra’s bureaucrats are rushing to buy water in the New Year, stripping Murray Darling Basin communities of their most precious resource.
Basin irrigators primed for 2023-24
Murray Darling Basin irrigators have used almost no water this season, leaving storages primed to deliver high 2023-24 allocations.
Brokers call for irrigators to sell to federal government
Waterfind has called on irrigators to lodge the volume and price of water they are willing to sell to the federal government.
‘Frustrating’: Levees not repaired until an emergency
Emergency services in the Lower Murray have been left scrambling to patch gaps in flood levees that have not been maintained since 2016.
Hume Dam releases increase twice with big rain coming
The Murray River set to reach major flood level at Albury next week. See how much rain is forecast above Hume Dam.
$31.8m for water market reform
Australia’s competition watchdog will spend $12m regulating brokers trading $1.8 billion in Murray Darling Basin water each year.
Shing shrugs off water buyout
The federal government may target NSW to buy water for the environment, but Victorian and NSW irrigators say everyone will suffer.
Floodwater brings bacteria cocktail
Floodwater travelling through the Murray-Darling Basin is bringing with it a cocktail of potential health risks and slowing down water treatment.
Government free to strip irrigators of water
Federal water bureaucrats can now walk into irrigator water markets to snap up their entitlements for the environment.
David Littleproud on water buybacks
The threat of water buybacks will threaten Murray Darling Basin communities, the Nationals leader says. Listen now.
Flood peaks heading for Wentworth
At least 2000 gigalitres is flowing into the Darling River, leaving Wentworth locals at its junction with the Murray River eyeing river gauges.
Hunt: More dams not the answer
OPINION: Building more dams is not a solution to floods, nor drought, writes Peter Hunt.
Plibersek: Budget funds set aside for irrigator buyouts
The amount of money the Albanese government will spend on buying irrigators’ water has been hidden to get “good value for money”.
Farmer anger over water stored ahead of floods
Questions are being raised about why so much water was left in Murray Basin storages as a wet winter approached.
Basin target: Man-made flood plan
A man-made flood every five years, similar to what we are experiencing now, is “madness” says the Victorian Farmers Federation.
Melbourne Water’s river gauges fail
More than 200 river gauges across Melbourne’s catchments stopped automatically reporting this morning, but most are now back online.
Murray-Darling trade clean-up
New market reforms will force water brokers to comply with a new mandatory code of conduct.
‘Accelerate’ Murray Darling Basin buyout
Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s bureaucrats want her to strip away irrigation community protections, to “accelerate” water recovery.
Plibersek: Narrow report lacks benefits of water recovery
Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has responded to a recent Victorian report on the negative impacts of federal MDB buyouts.
‘We need to do better’: Gippsland Lakes
MP Darren Chester has called for more to be done to protect East Gippsland’s waterways, following concerns about odour and fish deaths.
MDB water theft cases revealed
The number of water theft offences in the Murray Darling Basin catchment areas has increased. See the breakdown of cases in NSW and Victoria.
Labor silent on its Basin plans
Despite years on the Opposition benches, Federal Labor has failed to answer key questions on Murray Darling Basin water recovery.
Murray River farms record once in a lifetime rain
Corowa airport’s January daily rainfall record was bettered by a nearby farm where 200 millimetres was recorded on Saturday night.
More storms on the way as Geelong cleans up damage
More storms are forecast for Victoria today ahead of a ‘brief reprieve’ for parts of the state on Saturday.
Irrigation: NSW pumps missing compliant meters
More than a quarter of NSW’s biggest irrigation pumps aren’t compliant with new rules, one year on from a government deadline.
Water users face thousands in meter upgrade costs
Small water users in five NSW catchments are facing thousands of dollars in costs to comply with water metering rules.
Aerobic rice growing method could drop water use by half
A new trial growing method could open previously unprofitable areas of land up to rice production.
‘Gun to our head’: Farmers on edge over flooding
With Hume Dam at 99 per cent capacity downstream farmers are worried they could be exposed to flooding for months.
‘On tenterhooks’: Rice growers nervous as big season gets going
See how this year’s rice crop is faring after heavy rain and flooding in the Riverina.
Murray Darling Basin food bowl brimming
Australia’s cotton crop forecast surges to 5.1 million bales as La Nina pumps ever more water into the Murray Darling Basin.
Rice and cotton plantings to rise
Summer crop plantings are looking strong, as water allocations hit a 20-year best.
Family farm charged $20,000 for water theft
A Lake Meran family farming business has been charged $20,000 for water theft.
Riverina landholder to face court for alleged water theft
A Carrathool farmer will face 13 charges for allegedly taking nearly 1100 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water from an at-risk source.
Super funds wade into water
Australian super funds have been reluctant to buy the nation’s scarcest resource – water. But overseas investors see its value.
Landholder fined for stealing water from Murray River
A Wentworth landholder has been fined $2250 and ordered to pay for $50,000 worth of stolen water – the equivalent of 175 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
SES boat stolen as floodwaters approach Menindee
Community members in Menindee are “panicking” as the town prepares for its biggest floods since 2011.
Flood plain harvesting regulations imminent
The NSW Water Minister will announce new flood plain harvesting regulations on Friday, two days after a report into the practice urged caution.
Investors seek huge profits from MDB water market
An offshore fund is urging investors to pour millions into the Murray Darling Basin’s water markets, pushing entitlement prices up by 53 per cent.
Floodplain failure: Environmental group blocks MDB flows
Massive levees on an internationally-recognised environment group’s Riverina properties are blocking the Lachlan River’s flow. See the satellite images.
Murray water right price spikes
Murray River water entitlements prices have jumped 30 per cent in five weeks. See why.
Farm dams: How small changes can reduce carbon emissions
An untapped resource can reduce on-farm carbon emissions. See how you can make the changes.
New plantings spark water fears
New data shows one horticulture crop in the lower Murray has increased in size by 20 per cent in three years.
Farm dam limits in limbo
The Government is wrestling with how it will limit the impacts of Victoria’s 450,000 stock and domestic dams on downstream uses.
Lake Argyle: Untapped potential or damp squib?
A massive freshwater sea in the nation’s far north shows the potential – and peril – of investing in new irrigation developments in Australia.
Original URL: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/water/page/3