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Tropical solution for farm irrigation
20 Oct 2003
Calls for water to be piped from northern Australia to the intensively farmed south would be too expensive to meet, Agriculture Minister Warren Truss says, but taking irrigators to the water instead of the other way round could be viable.
The minister announced details of a CSIRO study of tropical Australia's potential for more irrigated farming. The study will focus first on irrigated farming prospects for the Lower Burdekin in Queensland, the Katherine-Daly river system in the Northern Territory, and the West Kimberley in Western Australia.
The $800,000 project aims to come up with a plan for the sustainable development of irrigation across the tropical north. More than 60 per cent of the nation's run-off occurs in the north but is hardly used. This is 10 times the run-off that occurs in the Murray-Darling basin, where 40 per cent of Australia's food and fibre is produced.
All Australians must strive for water sustainability, Mr Truss said. Too often irrigators face low allocations while urban users have no restrictions. National water markets are vital to proper water management, but careful overview by regulators is essential to prevent speculators from exploiting the market.
The Australian, 20/10/03, page 3.
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