Snowy must be managed according to National Water Initiative commitments
21 Feb 2006
WWF-Australia has called on the Commonwealth government to make plain details of how future owners of the Snowy Hydro scheme will meet the objectives set out under the National Water Initiative.
"Existing commitments will leave the river system flowing at just above a fifth of its original flow, and given the recent quiet re-commissioning of the Mowamba aqueduct, it appears even that relative trickle isn't a certainty," said Averil Bones, WWF-Australia's Freshwater Policy Manager.
"The Snowy is the first link in the Murray chain. If governments aren't willing to enforce appropriate limits on environmental 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.
The Intergovernmental Agreement on A 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)
WWF-Australia believes flows through Lake Jindabyne must be restored to at least 28 per cent prior to any sale, 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.
Flow release must be timed for the best possible outcome for downstream ecology.
"WWF also calls on the three governments interested in the sale to ensure previous commitments to establish a Snowy Scientific Committee are fulfilled," said Ms Bones.
"If governments fail to provide for basic scientific monitoring of river health according to required flow, what checks and balances will exist?"
For more information
Jacqueline McArthur, Media Communications Manager, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1242
Mobile: 0408 626 780
