Deal or No Deal: Snowy must be managed according to National Water Initiative
02 Jun 2006
WWF-Australia has called on all owners of the Snowy Hydro Scheme to meet the objectives set out under the National Water Initiative.
The Government backdown over the sale of the Snowy Hydro Scheme today does nothing for improving current environmental flows.
"Existing commitments to environmental flows will leave the river system flowing at just above one fifth of its original flow - today's announcement still means that even that relative trickle isn't a certainty," said Averil Bones, WWF-Australia Freshwater Policy Manager.
"The Snowy is the first link in the Murray chain. If Governments aren't willing to enforce appropriate limits on extractions at the top of the river system, the whole Murray planning regime becomes little more than an exercise in managing decline," Ms Bones said.
Flows must be restored to at least 28 per cent, as recommended by the 1994 scoping report commissioned by NSW and Victorian Governments, and the 1998 Scientific Reference Panel of the Snowy Water Inquiry conducted by NSW and Victorian governments.
The National Water Initiative signed in 2004 committed State and Commonwealth Governments to:
"ensuring the health of river and groundwater systems by establishing clear pathways to return all systems to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction." (Preamble - Part 5)
Flow release must be timed for the best possible outcome for downstream ecology.
Find out more
For more information, contact:
Averil Bones, Freshwater Policy Manager, WWF-Australia
Mobile: 0437 864 153
Jacqueline McArthur, Media Communications Manager, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 9281 5515
Mobile: 0408 626 780
Email: jmcarthur@wwf.org.au
