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Water concensus – On Line Opinion – 7/11/2008

Water concensus
OnLine opinion Bruce haigh 7 Nov 08 “……………….

Water is essential to sustaining life and all other activities undertaken by man. As such it makes no sense that large companies, cartels and monopolies should control and allocate this vital resource. They have no interest, nor indeed mandate, in protecting or fulfilling public interest, so that the least powerful and often the most needy have diminished or no access to the vital commodity of water.

This is the situation that increasingly applies within the Murray/Darling Basin (MDB). However the problem of managing the sustainable use of water extends far beyond the MBD. The obvious problems of the Basin are the not so obvious problems of tomorrow in all other basins, rivers and tributaries in Australia.

The use and allocation of water in Australia is at crisis point. Water is both a hidden and visible export………………..The collapse of international financial markets and the move into recession, caused primarily by greed and lack of regulation, should stand as a warning to those similarly motivated in agribusiness, irrigation and mining with respect to water……………… It says little for the collective understanding of the crisis facing water in Australia that the pace of the federal government’s response has been slow, unco-ordinated, lacking courage and lateral thinking.

So far the states have prevaricated and the major users have bullied, it’s time to call their bluff and establish a regulated framework for national water sustainability.

Water concensus – On Line Opinion – 7/11/2008

November 7, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized