How To Fix the Water Crisis - Lay A Pipe Across Victoria

In this article published in the Herald Sun, Bill Shorten outlines the case for fixing the leaking Goulburn Murray irrigation system, and sharing the water savings.

IF TIME travellers from 40 years ago paid us a visit, they would find it to difficult to equate our vibrant, internet-connected, cosmopolitan society with the early-closing, black-and-white television and Bakelite phone culture they knew.

Let's look at 1967. It took a referendum to allow Aborigines to be counted in the land they had inhabited for thousands of years.

Earlier that year, Victorian premier Henry Bolte authorised the hanging of Ronald Ryan, who became the last person to die by capital punishment in Australia.

And on a lighter, though no less astonishing, note -- in 1967, the only women allowed in the front bar of pubs were barmaids.

But time travellers would have no problem recognising one hangover from 1967.

In 1967, premier Sir Henry Bolte said that ``not a drop of water will cross the divide to meet the needs of Melbourne''.

It probably played well to regional voters who viewed the big, bad city with great suspicion.

But I suspect even Sir Henry would be astonished that his decree is followed 40 years later.

Why do people seem to believe that solving our water crisis comes down to a choice between supporting the country or the cities?

It's not my water or your water. It's not the city's water or the country's water. It's our water.

So let's add Sir Henry's ``not a drop over the divide'' line to the scrapheap of history and get moving on some solutions.

The best solution from where I'm sitting is a north-south pipeline. But before we can do that, we need to invest in our future.

The Goulburn Murray irrigation system is so old it is not so much leaking as gushing.

A huge amount of water goes into that system, about 2400 gigalitres a year. But 20 per cent of that is lost through evaporation or leaks. That's about 450 gigalitres a year.

Melbourne's annual water supply is about 427 gigalitres and Sydney Harbour holds about 500 gigalitres. That, to put it mildly, is a lot of water to waste when Melbourne and Victoria are parched.

So let's fix it. Let's invest the money needed to waterproof the Goulburn-Murray irrigation system.

That is going to cost $1-$2 billion dollars. That money will build a pipeline to Melbourne, but the key point is there will be no loss of water for regional Victoria. There will be more than enough water for everyone.

That additional water will meet Melbourne's needs to 2050 and provide more water for irrigation to farms in northern Victoria.

There will also be increased environmental flows to the Murray River.

We cannot afford to have public policy on water dictated to by a country vs

city argument.

A GROUP of northern Victorian business leaders, the Food Bowl Group, sees the value of this.

These business leaders want the Government to invest in their irrigation system in return for a pipe sending water to Melbourne.

Northern Victorian Irrigators supports the plan and the Bracks Government is looking at the proposals.

But we need more people on board. The Victorian Farmers Federation should be able to see that this plan can only help its members.

And they need help. A few showers might have turned a few parts of the state pale green, but everyone knows the drought is far from over.

Scientists say we are likely to face more severe droughts.

We have to future-proof our water supply.

There are other solutions, including desalination and water recycling plants.

But the water we need is there. It's evaporating before our eyes in the Murray-Goulburn irrigation system.

Put a stop to that and all of Victoria will benefit.