"Continued drying and warming in Australia will cause water availability to decline even further, deepening the hurt for communities, irrigation businesses, animals and the environment."that be probably mean less water for irrigation and farming."The federal Water Minister Keith Pitt has been arguing that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is on track to meet the 2024 deadline to recover water for the environment.
“There's $1.33 billion available to fund projects that generate water savings off-farm through the state-led Off-farm stream that will count towards the 450 gigalitres of water the Basin Plan requires to deliver enhanced environmental outcomes,” Mr Pitt said. Rosalie Auricht, general manager of the Renmark Irrigation Trust, said the Riverland in South Australia had already done its part when it came to water upgrades.
The southern part of the Murray-Darling Basin is showing a big decline in the amount of water flowing past the regional town of Wagga Wagga each day, according to a UTS study. "We believe they've got enough water. They just need to be more efficient, the same as the community and the farmers."Claire Miller from the NSW Irrigators Council doesn't think environmental water targets will be met.