Under this kind of governance the low water levels were just accepted as normal. It’s the cost of doing business, which was shifting to high value crops that required large amounts of water (cotton and almonds).
That meant opposing any plans to increase the environmental flows for the River Murray through water buybacks in order to restore it to some kind of ecological health. Water is big business and as the river is squeezed by a profit driven system, the Basin’s extensive wetlands do not receive the water required to keep them healthy.
The history of the Murray-Darling basin is one of development at all costs and flawed environmental management. It’s a wounded country.
Nourishing Terrains 
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