Peter Cullen at the Schultz Oration
Peter Cullen gave an inspiring talk which has been podcast by Flinders University.
He presented the Schultz Oration supported by the Flinders Research Centre for Coastal and Catchment Environments, exploring water scarcity and futures for South Australia, held 16 November 2007.
Some thoughts from from Peter’s talk:
- We have run the storages nearly dry in the Murray Darling System. Salinity in River Murray is getting higher. This may mean that we may not be able to withdraw water for the city of Adelaide in 2008 or 2009, even though there is some water left in the River
- People upstream from South Australia are not necessarily wasting water. Most cotton and rice growers have not been irrigating for three years
- We are facing a hotter, drier climate and less water, unprecedented since European settlement
- The Murray Darling system has been over-allocated for the last 10-20 years
- We have a blue-print for coping with the over-allocation of water in the Murray Darling Basin, called the National Water Initiative
- In the recent biennial assessment of the progress against the National Water Initiative, South Australia was given a reasonably good score card, but is lagging in dealing with over-allocation of groundwater resources and creating an independent water regulator
- Many irrigators of perennial crops in the Murray Darling Basin will watch their crops die this year
- South Australian’s use over 400 litres per person per day, one of the highest rates in Australia
- The cost of water for all users is likely to increase
Peter’s analysis? Everybody believes that their need for water is the most important. It’s time to take action on these issues for the good of the resources, not just noisy interest groups. “Here, here” says I. Some actions could include:
- A single, simple, common registry of water entitlements across the Murray Darling Basin
- Creation of a single, independent water regulator in South Australia
- Adelaide creates a wider range of water supplies (such as desalination, recycling) to cope with greater uncertainty of supply
- Fast track the current water planning for Adelaide and the Mount Lofty Ranges
- Adelaide could do more in improving demand management of water during the current drought
- The $10B to fix the Murray Darling Basin could be used to transition the rural communities to cope with the new climate of less water, with greater variability of rainfall (less perennial crops, less dairy farms, shifting horticulture to more appropriate areas in the landscape, buy water out of the system) rather than fixing infrastructure that supports an agriculture of last century
- Let’s get used to less water and make the most of what we have
Peter and I had a bit of fun before and after the presentation, and he knighted me Knight of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists that Peter is a member of. Thanks Peter!
Register for this feed: http://feeds.ltifuse.com.au/litfuse
[...] Peter Cullen recently delivered the Schultz oration. Listening to the podcast of that talk really got me [...]
Learning with the Fang » Blog Archive » Adelaide water: Get out of the nile and choose a trainwreck said this on December 2, 2007 at 1:42 am |
It has been very evident to me living on the shores of Lake Alexandrina that the lake has been overallocated for many years, and I have listened with dismay as successive politicians have “given away” water to Clare, the Barossa, the West Coast and even very recently to Port Lincoln In fact the pipelines are still going in, and new areas areas are being developed with piped water. Because there has been so much water in the Murray Channel and lagoons, and the Lakes, I am sure all who have come to view the Lakes from interstate have gone away thinking there is a huge amount of water there, so there can’t be a problem.
South Australia would be wise to plan its water requirements carefully if is to double its population.
Unfortunately, and this will probably cause our downfall, humans love the buzz and new opportunities experienced in times of development, and become depressed at cutbacks, which involve loss and grief.
Overallocation of groundwater is another ‘not being addressed’ problem, and its use now will leave us more vulnerable in the future.
In a river with uncertainty and variability of supply, perennial crops make little sense. I was horrified to see recent plantings of olives and almonds continuing over hill after hill, on a tour of the river in SA, NSW and Victoriia a year ago, apparently driven by Tax incentives for managed investment schemes.
I have not heard talk about appointing an independent water regulator, so would like to hear more about this,
anneltest
[...] give the Shultz Oration, where he spoke about water scarcity and futures for South Australia (see blog). I helped organise the podcasting for this event with Michelle Freeman. While I was running back [...]
So long Peter « LitFuse said this on March 14, 2008 at 11:34 pm |
[...] Peter Cullen at the Schultz Oration [...]
Failed State « LitFuse said this on May 1, 2008 at 9:35 pm |