On the 12 May 2010 the first drops of water bought with money raised from the Australian Conservation Foundation’s “Just Add Water” campaign were poured into the Murray River, beginning its three-day journey from the Murray through Boolungai Crossing to the Hattah Lakes wetlands near Mildura in northern Victoria at the other end.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) launched the Just Add Water campaign on 15 March 2010 in the hopes of raising enough funds to pay for 200 million litres of water to be given to the Hattah Lakes, a unique collection of 17 semi-permanent freshwater lakes, to address the issue of “over-extraction of water for irrigation”.
The campaign far surpassed its original goal of 200 million litres with a torrent of donations meaning there was money enough to buy 400 million litres of water a mere two weeks into the campaign.
The ACF donation of 400 million litres will be combined with the 11,000 million litres of environmental water made available from the Commonwealth environmental water holdings and the Living Murray Program. The collective delivery of 11,400ML of environmental water during autumn and winter this year will mean Lake Yelwell will receive water for the first time since the 1996 flood, while Lakes Roonkie, Arawak, Bulla and Maramook will be inundated for the first time since 2006.
“This year’s environmental watering program at Hattah Lakes is a truly collaborative effort, with all levels of government coming together with the Australian Conservation Foundation to protect this important area,” Mallee Catchment Management Authority chief executive Jenny Collins said.
The Murray-Darling Basin supports over 30,000 wetlands, and preserving wetlands is important because they clean water and serve as crucial breeding sites for bird and fish species. Wetlands have three significant functions:
- Storing water
by absorbing and holding water before releasing it slowly. In floods, an acre of wetland can hold in 1.5 million gallons of water. - Filtering water
by slowing water flow and allow harmful sediments to drift to the bottom. At the same time, plant roots and small fauna dispose of human and animal waste. - Promoting biodiversity
by providing habitats to plenty of endangered species.
Environmental watering has become necessary because too much water has been taken out of the Murray-Darling Basin over the last few decades mostly for irrigated farming. As a result, 90% of wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin are gone.
Interesting Facts About The Murray-Darling Basin
- The Murray-Darling Basin is an area 1,061,469 square kilometres in South-East Australia. It is 3,375km long. It is comprised of two rivers; the Murray River and the Darling River.
- It is so massive that it encompasses parts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Australian Capital Territory.
- It makes up one-seventh (14%) of Australia’s total land mass
- An estimate of the native fauna within the Murray-Darling Basin is as follows:
- 85 mammal species – 20 extinct and 16 endangered
- 53 frog species
- 46 snake species – 5 endangered
- 5 tortoise species
- 34 fish species – carp were introduced in 1851 and are now considered a pest because they stir sediment when feeding, thus reducing water quality. If you catch one, you are legally obligated to kill it!
- It is the most important agricultural area in Australia.
75% of Australian irrigated crops and pastures are grown here. These include wool, cotton, wheat, sheep, cattle, dairy produce, rice, oil-seed, wine, fruit, and vegetable farms that sell both locally and overseas. These farms produce over one-third of Australia’s food supply. - Over 2 million people live here. Major urban centres include Toowoomba, Bendigo, Albury Wodonga, Tamworth, Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Queanbeyan and Shepparton.
The Just Add Water campaign hoped to “help revive a thirsty wetland”. The ACF also hope that it simultaneously sends “a powerful message to Water Minister, Senator Penny Wong, that she should expand the Federal Government’s program of buying water and return it to the desperately dry rivers and wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin.”
You can make donations by visiting their website. However, as ACF have not announced plans to purchase more water, donations made now will go to campaign work “calling on governments to protect and restore the Murray-Darling” by way of sending petitions to Senator Penny Wong.
The ACF have a remote camera at Boolungai Crossing so you monitor the delivery of the water and the progress of this project by checking out the live images at www.justaddwater.org.au.
Written by Christabelle Tani
Editing and additional research by Suze Chalmers
Images:
- Top – Environmental Water in Lake Hattah
- Map – Murray-Darling Basin
