MOORABOOL River advocacy group People for a Living Moorabool have responded to a funding announcement in the 2022\/23 State budget that will go towards supporting the waterway.<\/p>\n
PALM\u2019s coordinator Cameron Steele said the backing is \u201cheartening\u201d and will allow pressure to be lifted from the Moorabool, currently regarded as Victoria\u2019s most flow-stressed river.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly not all the answers we need for the river, but hopefully that will come when Geelong and Ballarat go towards a manufactured water source,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that means a recyclable alternative or desalination, it will allow pressure to come off the Moorabool, so we hope this is a good first step to recovering the river.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt it\u2019s currently dying. The water assessment report showed a 20 per cent less inflow over 15 years. Fish are depopulating in some parts, and vegetation\u2019s still encroaching onto it because of the lack of flow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Moorabool River is just one of the waterways that will be supported as part of $30 million allocated for the draft Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy, which aims to support rivers and catchments across the State.<\/p>\n
A further $26.6 million is pencilled in for the strategy next financial year, and Mr Steele said the group has been involved in the document\u2019s drafting for about three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we\u2019ve been asking for more environmental flows, and there\u2019s an indication that our requests will make its way into the document,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping once the draft goes through that it\u2019ll help claw back some of the Moorabool\u2019s water that\u2019s been taken out of it with an upgrade to the Melbourne to Geelong pipeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be very critical if we think it\u2019s fallen short.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Steele said the Moorabool has been \u201cdammed to death\u201d along the northern regions and that 400,000 megalitres would be required to properly fill the river to accommodate for the region\u2019s growing population.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it really needs is more water, and it needs that water left in it. You turn a tap on, and a lot of that water comes from rivers like this so we need to make sure we can continue to provide for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOORABOOL River advocacy group People for a Living Moorabool have responded to a funding announcement in the 2022\/23 State budget that will go towards supporting the waterway. PALM\u2019s coordinator Cameron Steele said the backing is \u201cheartening\u201d and will allow pressure to be lifted from the Moorabool, currently regarded as Victoria\u2019s most flow-stressed river. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly […]<\/p>\n