13 October 2009
Dear Ms. Wong:
Thank you for assigning this new panel of experts. There is a great need here in SA for federal leadership on the complicated issues of water management of the RIver Murray.
I would like to point out to you that in addition to the lack of fresh water, the Lower Lakes and Coorong suffer because the barrages have created an artificially fresh environment. I believe the sustainable
solution to the issues facing the Lower Lakes and Coorong is to ultimately restore the Lower Lakes and Coorong to a single vast estuary it once was pre-barrages.
This difficult and heart-wrenching 'solution' seems to me to be the only solution with any hope of a 'win-win' for the environment and the people living around it.
To accomplish this sooner rather than later, and to address the pressing issues of acid sulphate soils at the same time, I believe that this new expert panel should have several experts in the marine, estuarine and tidal sciences.Â
Unless you have people with marine and estuarine knowledge at the table, we will continue to see only what the freshwater and environmental scientists put forward to us as our options.
Sincerely,
name withheld upon request