‘Pathetic’: river group reacts to strategy

MEMBERS of the Friends of the Barwon have responded to the State Government’s Sustainable Water Strategy for the Gippsland and central Victorian regions, including the Barwon River catchment.

The document outlines the ongoing approach to the region’s water supply, to be carried out by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

Friends of the Barwon’s president Trevor Hodson said the strategy’s lack of support for water conservation is “pathetic”.

“The real problem is there’s not enough water being returned to the Barwon River,” he said.

“With growing demands on it with our burgeoning population, it’s unlikely it’ll get what it needs to survive.

“The river needs something like 29 gigalitres to function but it’s only getting five gigalitres from this strategy. There are widespread ramifications to not having enough water in the river.

“In the past, there’ve been parts where the river’s ceased to flow and then you get fragmentation, a lack of continuity so fish and platypus populations are broken up.”

The Barwon catchment includes the Leigh and Yarrowee rivers as well as creeks in the Otways region and the Morrabool river in Golden Plains Shire.

As part of the strategy, 100 gigalitres is set to be returned to the region’s major rivers over a 10-year-period.

The strategy aims to identify ways to supply 200 gigalitres of water over the next decade, and Mr Hodson offered a suggestion that could take less from the catchment.

“The treatment plants at Werribee and Cranbourne discharge something like 300 gigalitres a year. About 80 per cent of that water at the moment is being wasted,” he said.

“It should be being used for drinking, if proven feasible and safe, so we can take the pressure off the rivers which are not the primary supply of drinking water which is how they’re treated.

“There are practical, achievable things people can do in the meantime to use less water like making better use of rainwater, having both a water tank and solar system and more efficient appliances.”