Rivers are not just for boats

ABC Rural

Topic: Murray-Darling Basin

Kamilaroi elders Ron Waters and Sam Saunders

The Balonne River is important for the town of St George

The river provides water for drinking and fishing

St George is known for its fishing

The river has been important for the Kamilaroi people for thousands of years

The river is part of the Murray-Darling Basin

There is a plan to save the river system

Some people think the plan should focus on water quality

The Balonne River was low earlier this year

'10 years of doing nothing'

Uncle Sam Saunders and Ron Waters are Kamilaroi elders

They hoped the national plan would improve the river's health

But that hope is fading

'It's been 10 years of doing nothing'

Sam Saunders and Ron Waters grew up fishing on the Balonne River

The plan was created to manage the river system as a whole

The plan included buying back water licences from farmers

Water licences allow farmers to take water from the river

A map of the Murray-Darling Basin

The target was to recover 100 gigalitres of water

But Mr Waters is concerned the type of water licences bought has not helped

'That environmental water was going to go down over the border'

The latest round of buying back water licences

Those licences allow irrigators to use floodwater

EJ Beardmore Dam at 13 per cent capacity

Retaining water

St George has a hot and dry climate

Farmer Ian Todd's operation will grow chickpeas, wheat, and cotton

It's been challenging with low rainfall and river levels

'We've got limited water, so we have limited acreage'

Ian Todd is a water harvester

He relied on 'residual' water to keep his crops going

'It probably is one of the driest growing seasons we've had'

He wants the review to consider the impact on local economies

'There's less farm production, so there's less money to go around'

St George is in the Balonne Shire

Mr Waters thinks irrigators should be able to use their water

'It's the rules that the government make that are at fault'

MDBA chief executive Andrew McConville

'It will buy water that represents the right value for money'

Andrew McConville is the chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority

The authority has worked to engage with Indigenous communities

The review will explore doing more to engage with communities

The mayor of the Balonne Shire wants the plan to prioritise people

Warroo Bridge over the Balonne River

'No more buybacks'

Samantha O'Toole is the mayor of the Balonne Shire

The impact of buybacks has been felt beyond farming

The focus should be on water quality and human needs

Balonne Shire Mayor Samantha O'Toole wants human needs to be a focus

The community is anxious about the review

'I feel like Balonne Shire has just begun to hit its strides again'

'We've just reached that stage where there's a lot of optimism'

'People are trying to recover, adapt, and move forward'

National Farmers' Federation president Hamish McIntyre

He wants an end to water acquisition

'It needs to be given time to see the ecological effect'

National Farmers Federation president Hamish McIntyre

The review will look at the effectiveness of environment water

The current recovery programs will continue

The discussion paper is open for public submissions

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