Danny Lee believes the basin plan is illegal and that there are better solutions to the water issue.
THE controversial Murray-Darling Basin Plan has come under further pressure after it was revealed yesterday that the plan could be deemed illegal.
An article published in the Australian Environmental Review has raised questions as to whether the basin plan violates the nation’s obligation to comply with the Ramsar Convention, as required by the Water Act 2007.
The convention, which provides framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources, protects local sites such as 12 of the wetlands at Hattah Lakes.
The basin plan already outlines that 2750 billion litres of water a year could be returned to the river systems from 2019, but environmentalists are saying that more needs to be recovered.
Australian Conservation Foundation healthy rivers campaigner, Jonathan La Nauze, said that when computer models simulated the recovery of 2750GL of environmental water, “targets for eight out of 16 Ramsar sites were not met”.
While concerns linger about the health of the basin’s wetlands, irrigators are continuing to claim reducing water allocations will kill farming communities.
The deputy chairman of Murray Valley United, Danny Lee, stands for people’s legal right to water, and that irrigators are a part of that.
For more of this story, purchase your copy of Tuesday's Sunraysia Daily 9-10-2012.