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Pages tagged "Rivers"

Working for Water Justice in the Murray-Darling Basin

The Barmah-Millewa Collective has been working closely with Indigenous and environmental organisations to push for a fundamental reform in water management: recognition of the water rights of Australia's First Nations. Read on for an article by campaigner Will Mooney that appeared in the most recent Chain Reaction magazine

 

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This week, help Indigenous people campaign for water rights.

Last December the Victorian government released the Water Bill Exposure draft, outlining a new water act for the state. This was an important opportunity to update Victoria's legislation to include greater recognition of Indigenous water rights.As Traditional Owners and long-term custodians of natural ecosystems, Indigenous people have a right and a responsibility to use water resources in their Country. The Victorian Government has a responsibility to improve Indigenous participation in water planning and provide access to water resources.

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Phillip Islanders Exposed to Possible Carcinogenic Compounds in Drinking Water

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth has today released a report highlighting the presence of disinfection byproducts in drinking water on Phillip Island and surrounds.

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Eastern Golf Course Spray Hundreds of Hectares of Critical Melbourne Water Supply Floodplain

Friends of the Earth is alarmed that construction of the highly controversial Eastern Golf Course will start in the very near future.

Aerial photographs obtained by Friends of the Earth reveal that approximately 170 hectares of the site have recently been sprayed with the herbicide Glyphosate. The spraying was required to kill off existing pasture on the site.

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Water used for export cotton dwarfs Cubbie entitlement: new study

Twice as much water as Cubbie Station’s giant 460 gigalitre (GL) water entitlement is effectively sent overseas every year in the form of irrigated cotton from the Murray-Darling, according to new research released today by Friends of the Earth.

The analysis compiled Australian government data on annual cotton exports and irrigation water use from 2005 to 2011 and calculates the volume of water embodied in Australia’s export cotton crop.

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Voluntary water buybacks must continue to save the Murray-Darling

Victorian environment groups have called on the Federal Government to stick to its election promise to ‘bridge the gap’ and save the Murray-Darling river system by buying back water entitlements from willing sellers.

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Barmah-Millewa Collective

The Barmah Millewa Collective is currently campaigning on the Murray Darling Basin Plan - a once in a life time opportunity to safeguard water for the rivers, wetlands and forests of over 14% of Australia's landscapes! We also continue to collaborate with Traditional Owner Nations throughout the Murray-Darling Basin to protect and care for this unique and threatened landscape.  Our work ranges from on-ground revegetation projects through to campaigns for Aboriginal land and water rights.


Modelling shows permanent ecological decline under current Plan

We've been busy highlighting the true ecological impact of the disastrous draft Basin Plan. Our lead Murray Darling Campaigner, Jonathan La Nauze,spent days pouring over dozens of publications to piece together the truth of what only 2750GL of extra environmental water would mean for the Basin's ecosystems. Our modelling shows what lives and what dies under the draft Basin Plan and clearly outlines that the draft fails to meet Australia's requirements under international obligations and does not satisfy the requirements of the Water Act.

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Basin Plan "Off the Rails"

As the deadline for public consultation on the draft Basin Plan draws near, twelve peak environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, are increasingly frustrated that the Basin Authority seems unprepared to use the best-available science to fix the serious problems of the draft Plan. “Instead, they are persevering with a flawed process, incomplete data and limited modelling,” said Jonathan La Nauze, our Murray-Darling Campaigner.

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Coal Seam Gas - a threat to Basin Rivers

In the last few weeks, the impact of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) mining on Murray-Darling Basin rivers has become a whole lot clearer - and a whole lot more worrying.

We commissioned independent testing of "treated" water being discharged from a Santos CSG mining operation in NW NSW. Toxic chemicals in the Bohena Creek just downstream from this discharge were excessively high - ammonia levels were 3 times the safe level for drinking water.

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