Victoria, S. Australia Premiers Snipe On Murray Basin Emergency Water; Last Traces Of Consensus Gone

[hatrack]

THE Labor premiers of Victoria and South Australia are at war over an emergency Murray River water reserve, killing off the last remnant of consensus on the issue. In a sharply worded letter to his Victorian counterpart, South Australian Premier Mike Rann accuses John Brumby of threatening the viability of the entire Murray-Darling Basin agreement.

"We believe the Victorian Government's uncompromising position is not in the national interest," Mr Rann writes. Mr Brumby immediately hit back, saying Victoria would not agree to a contingency plan to share water with South Australia. At stake is a critical reserve of water, which could be needed for South Australia next year if the drought does not break.

Mr Rann warned yesterday that Mr Brumby's position could see Adelaide's "water supply being significantly compromised", a claim disputed by Mr Brumby, who said "there is no immediate threat to Adelaide's water supply". "It is completely unacceptable to expect Victorian irrigators to give up 200GL of water for what might or might not be required next autumn in South Australia," he said. "What the commonwealth wants is to take 200GL of water, worth up to $300 million on the open market, from Victorian irrigators without compensation and give it free to South Australia for next year."

As hopes for heavy rain in southeastern Australia fade, the Victorian Government is looking at further tightening its four-stage system of household water restrictions.

EDIT

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22483450-5006785,00.html

[donsu]

1. wait until this happens here - waiting won't be long though

better learn how to retrieve rain water and purify it. water will go to industry/crops first.

don't wait to learn until it is too late.

[NMDemDist2]

2. if they had any rain, they wouldn't be in this mess

but your point is taken none the less....

[depakid]

3. It's already happened- and still happening

See, e.g.

Arizona v. California: The Case Of The Century

http://scarymonsters.net/~corleyj/azca/index.html