A FAR West NSW water action group are pushing for an injunction on water extractions from the Darling River.
Nearly 300 people gathered in Broken Hill last week to discuss the water shortage in the region and possible steps to take to resolve the situation.
The majority of the group signed on as members of the new Broken Hill & Darling River Action Group (formerly the Broken Hill & Darling River Residents Association).
The incorporated body now has a membership of more than 500 people, who decided at the meeting to proceed with the class action against the NSW government and the Murray Darling Basin Authority for financial losses and health problems incurred from the water shortage.
Association president Tom Kennedy said a number of other motions were also passed at the meeting, such as demanding an injunction to stop any water being pumped out of Copi Hollow by local landholders for farm production.
The approved limited access of about 240 megalitres was announced on February 19 by NSW DPI Water general deputy director Gavin Hanlon because it was thought it would not significantly impact the longevity of the pool.
“This small amount can no longer be utilised for town water supply, but will help farm production and assist the local economy,” he said.
But many resident agree that the remaining water at the tourist site was better than none at all.
“That water is the only thing left for our local tourism industry,” Mr Kennedy said.
“The township of Menindee is suffering because of a lack of tourism to the area, shops will start to close soon if the area has completely no water.
“Enough is enough.”
Mr Kennedy said the group would also push for an injunction on any water being taken out of the length of the Darling River to allow the system to flow and recover all the way down to the Lower Darling.
Last week, the Lower Darling Horticulture Group were left feeling disappointed following comments by NSW Water Minister Niall Blair that "the construction of short-term bores to supply water to Broken Hill in the state's Far West means there is no need to embargo any flows in the Darling River".
LDHG spokesperson Rachel Strachan from Tulney Point Station on the Lower Darling, said this showed the government’s priority for annual crops like cotton upstream over the need to provide water for domestic use along the river, as well as to keeping high-value permanent plantings downstream alive.
Ms Strachan said there had been no flows in the Lower Darling since December and the only water that remained was in natural pools and shallow pools created by block banks.
"Surely replenishing the river and providing water for stock and domestic use and for permanent plantings has to be the highest priority for the government,” she said.
Ms Strachan said the security of water supply in the Lower Darling River had been reduced by successive policy decisions of government during the past 20 years, including reducing storage levels in the Menindee lakes by about 25 per cent, and by releasing high flows to meet downstream environmental outcomes.
"This has made our long established family farms that are dependent on high security water increasingly unviable,” she said.
“To allow water extraction upstream for cash crops before providing water for our established trees and vineyards, just rubs salt into the wound."
Ms Strachan added that the high security irrigators on the Lower Darling River have discussed long-term options with the Commonwealth and NSW governments over the past 18 months but we have been told to keep farming as we have been doing until any decision on the future management of the Menindee Lakes is made.
"That is a big ask if all the water is extracted upstream and no flow reaches the Lower Darling River,” she said.
"Just as we have done previously, we are asking the NSW Minister responsible for water, Niall Blair, to make sure that flows in the northern NSW rivers that pass into the Barwon-Darling can flow through to the Menindee Lakes and are protected from diversion until the immediate needs of the river and higher priority uses is guaranteed."
In a statement, a spokesperson from the office of the NSW Primary Industries, Lands and Water Minister said the government’s number one priority was “to ensure the people of Broken Hill had a clean and secure drinking water supply, to help its economy to prosper”.
“We are well on track to present the final business case and preferred option shortly,” it said.
However Menindee Tourism Association president Karen Page said this still didn’t address the long-term future plans for the Menindee Lakes and the townships that depend on it.
Mrs Page and other representatives from Menindee and Broken Hill are meeting with the government and local water representatives next month to discuss the future of the Menindee Lakes.
“I am told that once the long-term water solution for Broken Hill is announced, then they are focussing on the future of the lakes,” she said.
“Menindee is presently being serviced with bore water, which broke down last week – we can’t continue to experience what has happened, it’s ridiculous.”
