Why make a jigsaw puzzle of the lower Murray?

Why then are we presented with piecemeal plans to address the Lower Lakes crisis? Members of the public have been asked to respond to several proposals launched in rapid succession over the holiday season.

Why is there so little indication of how one proposal might impact upon another? The case for the Pomanda weir, for example, will gain strength if seawater is also brought into Lake Alexandrina, because saline intrusions could contaminate water intended for domestic supply.

Crisis or not, we need an integrated plan for our responses. How credible can the process of environmental impact assessment be without it? How might the plans for seawater and weirs limit our options for better management in future?

Onus’ painting from Yorta Yorta country signals the dangers of fragmentation of the environment and our relationship with the land and water. The government’s proposals to overcome the Lower Lakes crisis are questionable because they have been developed in haste and fail to see that the goal should be to engineer not the environment, but our relationship with the environment.

Other, less draconian solutions could ensure that we can all enjoy “the big picture” for years to come. Some possibilities are outlined in a Low Intervention Strategy developed by the River, Coorong and Lakes Action Group Inc.