Sydney,
Australia - WWF-Australia has called on all owners
of the Snowy Hydro Scheme to meet the objectives
set out under the National Water Initiative.
The Government backdown over
the sale of the Snowy Hydro Scheme today does
nothing for improving current environmental flows.
“Existing commitments to environmental
flows will leave the river system flowing at just
above one fifth of its original flow - today’s
announcement still means that even that relative
trickle isn’t a certainty,” said Averil Bones,
WWF-Australia Freshwater Policy Manager.
“The Snowy is the first link
in the Murray chain. If Governments aren’t willing
to enforce appropriate limits on extractions at
the top of the river system, the whole Murray
planning regime becomes little more than an exercise
in managing decline,” Ms Bones said.
Flows must be restored to at
least 28%, as recommended by the 1994 scoping
report commissioned by NSW and Victorian Governments,
and the 1998 Scientific Reference Panel of the
Snowy Water Inquiry conducted by NSW and Victorian
governments.
The National Water Initiative
signed in 2004 committed State and Commonwealth
Governments to:
“ensuring the health of river
and groundwater systems by establishing clear
pathways to return all systems to environmentally
sustainable levels of extraction.” (Preamble -
Part 5)
Flow release must be timed for
the best possible outcome for downstream ecology.
