INTRODUCTION
After several dry years a leak in the fish farm has caused the water level in the river to drop dramatically.
The developer of the fish farm’s water license quota has ran out and she stole water from the river to top up her fish farm canals.
The Murray Cod and the animals in the wetlands have
left because of the shortage of food.
If the problem is not dealt with it will continue
down stream meaning the fauna will disappear.
BACKGROUND
The floodplains and wetlands of Billabong Creek are an important part of the river. Fish and birds get food and breed on the wetlands and the floods drop the rich nutrients on the floodplain.
Water flow is the key to the cycle of life. Before settlement by Europeans the natural cycle was seasonal low and high flows that give and realy on important wetting and drying phases needed for a happy environment. Rain and no dams made the flow natural with rain in winter and dry hot summers.
The stopping of the natural high and low flow by damming and other changes altered the rivers environment. The high water couldn’t reach the wetlands because it was not high enough.
The wetlands dried up and shrunk affecting the food chain of the creek community.Without their wet muddy woodlands habitat, the birds started disappearing. Fish stocks disappeared.
These changes to the environment affected communities like Conargo up and down the creek.
In 2001 the long hot summer with unusually hot dry winds and no rain . This was followed by a cold winter with little rain. The Creek level dropped to unbelievable low levels.
In the middle of winter the water level in ‘The Pond’ also dropped because of a leak. The developer used her full water license and she topped up The Pond with water from the Creek. But the next day the water level was down again.
Each night the fish farm was topped up and this caused a continual lowering of the water level in the creek. At the time same time many water users used their full allocation of water because the weather was so dry further lowering the water level.The creek was now well below its usual spring level so the wetlands didn’t get much of the needed water.
The wetlands didn’t bloom in spring. Aquatic plants were not able to germinate so the insects, plants and other fauna did not produce in huge numbers as needed. The wetland animals were starved of food so they moved away if they could. Animals that couldn’t move like mussels stayed but didn’t breed.
We want the Murray Cod to come back to the Billabong Creek. We want the flow to be higher so the flood plains and wetlands are replenished. Then the fish won’t swim away.
We want the wet lands to be moist so the flora and fauna from the area will return. We also want people to cut water consumption and turn their sprinklers off in the winter so the creek fills up.
We also want to maintain the tourist businesses and when the tourist come to stay we want them to have restricted water use. This way we maintain water for businesses to stay in industry
EFFECTS OF FLOW
Flow has changed from the winter flood / summer drought pattern to fairly even low flow all year round.
This has been caused by...
1 Many dams and weirs across the river and tributaries
2 Pumping water from the river to agriculture and fish farms
3 Low rainfall over recent years
With †he lower winter flow the river does not flood over the flood plains and wetlands. The flooding used to flush out the area, drop silt on flood plains and refill the wet lands.
The wetlands are now dry and much smaller so the native flora and fauna is reduced. This means less food for smaller animals and then less food all the way up the food chain. With less food the animals moved away, as the Murray Cod have done.
SHORT TERM SOLUTIONS
We want the tourists to keep on coming and the fish farms and all restaurants to keep operating.
We want all the fauna to return to the area.
We also need to increase the flow of the Billabong Creek.
We will achieve these goals by:
-Restricting licensed users to night time use.
-Reduce license quotas by 25%
-Restrict water use by home owners
-Order repairs to canals in such a way as to block off damaged section so repairs can be done without closing down tourist attractions. Government asked to fund repairs.
-Security patrols to check on water use.
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS
The following long term steps will make it less likely that the problem recurs....
-Water Wise education programs in school, on TV and bill boards
-Set standards for building fish farms to ensure efficient use of water
-Develop a future water use plan involving the public and water users with environment
considered as the major user
-Support farmers to change to less water using products and types of farming
-Fence off water ways to keep stock out
-Develop new waste control plans - stop by tourists feeding fish.
CONCLUSION
By managing the use of water more carefully and considering the environment as a major user of water we can overcome the current problem and prevent it from reoccurring.