A loss of productive water and its high cost has impacted significantly on the Narromine Shire and Macquarie Valley in general, so much so local businesses have started to suffer.
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The Narromine Economic Development Group decided it was time to act and met with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority recently.
Members of the Economic Development Group (EDG) Phil MacInnes, Robert Handsaker and Craig Davies outlined the concerns of the local business owners and business communities operating in the Macquarie Valley.
The EDG members spoke with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA)'s chair The Honourable Neil Andrews along with Dianne Davidson and Frank Walker.
"The meeting was very productive," chairman Mr MacInnes said.
"It allowed the EDG members to outline a number of concerns and issues that are negatively affecting not only our shire but the entire Macquarie Valley."
EDG member Craig Davies agreed saying the management of the Macquarie Marshes was high on the list of issues discussed at the meeting.
"It was pointed out to the authority members the cost to the valley was in the order of $1.6 billion, this had a flow-on effect to every business in the valley along with the loss of hundreds of jobs,"
- Craig Davis, Narromine EDG
"We have a loss of productive water to an ecosystem that is drowning through over watering," Mr Davies said.
"Seven hundred thousand mega litres were allowed to run through the system into the marshes only a few years ago and was highlighted as negligence and an act that no regional economy could sustain.
"It was pointed out to the authority members the cost to the valley was in the order of $1.6 billion, this had a flow-on effect to every business in the valley along with the loss of hundreds of jobs."
The EDG members expressed their concern for staff being forced out of work and out of the area due to the lack of job security, significantly changing the community and in some cases resulting in higher crime rates.
The Flood Mitigation Zone was also on the agenda as a significant proportion of the water in Lake Burrendong is sent to ecosystems instead of the valley where it could create jobs, crops and income.
"The flood mitigation area of the dam holds approximately 40 per cent of the dam volume when full, and for this amount to be simply allowed to go the marshes with no benefit to the businesses and jobs within the valley is seen as being unproductive, inefficient and unsustainable," Mr Davies said.
Mr MacInnes said the allocations of the water were very one-sided.
"Current irrigation usage of water on the Macquarie River is 15 per cent of capacity whereas the environment has 73 per cent of the water," he said.
"The imbalance is a serious and unsustainable ratio that is in urgent need of attention before many more industries and businesses are forced to walk away from the valley."
The Economic Group members pointed out to the MDBA the unique situation of the Macquarie being an enclosed system.
"It brings no benefits to the efforts and charter of the MDBA to push some two million tonnes of salt out to the sea each year. Being enclosed, water in the Macquarie reaches its final destination in the marshes," Mr MacInnes said.
The question of how many rivers in the Murray-Darling have an environmental allocation of 73 per cent was asked on many occasions.
The EDG were delighted to meet with the MDBA and were thrilled the authority travelled to the areas discussed in the meeting.
"The EDG sees this as a matter of urgency, the imperative of visionaries and business people having much more influence in future decisions," Mr Davies said.
"The seriousness of the situation should be of concern to every business operator in the valley. This is one of the prime issues the EDG is concentrating its energies and others will be brought to the attention of the community as they further develop."
