Officials raised concerns water level targets would not ensure river health or meet needs of downstream communities, documents show
environment minister, James Griffin, signs off on any changes to water sharing plans.
While there is general agreement flood plain harvesting should be regulated, critics have called for rules that ensure harvesting can only occur after water needs for areas such as Menindee Lakes and Ramsar wetland sites, such as the Macquarie Marshes, are met.to protect “first flush” events from being extracted by irrigators.
A briefing produced in June by Griffin’s department said the environment and heritage group “considers the proposed in-catchment targets to be too low to protect key environmental assets outside extreme dry periods”. Another email between officials on 11 February showed them discussing the potential for downstream targets that would prevent extraction when there were critical human and environmental needs.
They said the 195 gigalitre target for Menindee Lakes – the site of mass fish deaths in 2018 and 2019 – was so low that the volume stored at Menindee had only fallen to that level six times in the past 43 years, always during extreme drought.Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
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