Lachlan a river of gold for business, a dust bowl for communities - 10 March 2010

A Freedom of Information request by Greens MP Ian Cohen to access the minutes of the Lachlan Critical Water Advisory Committee has revealed the extent to which profits, not communities, are what drives decisions to allocate water.

“The decisions of the Committee reflect the commercial interests of the area, such as Barrick Gold and Jemalong Irrigation, not the critical water needs of communities,” said Mr Cohen.

“At a time when Wyangala Dam was at 6% capacity, the Advisory Committee recommended a 10% allocation for high security users because, in the words of the Committee, ‘the mines rely upon trading’ and ‘the available water for purchase would be high security’. The Committee also recommended that Jemalong Irrigation Ltd be provided with a conveyance allowance of 1000 megalitres so it could trade surface water - upstream only - to the mines and reduce the impacts on the groundwater that Barrick Gold extracts from.

“According to Minister Costa, Barrick Gold has used approximately 17 percent of the 2.6GL allocated to high security water access licences in 2009/10, almost one fifth of all the water allocated to these users. As at November 2009 Barrick Gold had purchased 603.3ML of water off high security users including Jemalong Irrigation and others totalling over $300,000 dollars. Over the last 4 water years Barrick Gold has spent over $3 million dollars on acquiring 6821.9 ML of water from both high security and general security water users on the Lachlan. This water is in addition to the significant water Barrick extracts from groundwater sources.

“The Advisory Committee has had representatives of Jemalong Irrigation and Barrick Gold influencing decisions yet no voice has been listened to from the lower Lachlan, aboriginal communities or environmental organisations. This Committee has no process for managing conflicts of interest, inflaming perceptions that Committee members may directly or indirectly benefit financially through water trading markets.

“In November 2009, Orange Councillor for the Greens Jeremy Buckingham and I called for an urgent Inquiry into Water Management in NSW to improve the governance mechanisms of our water management framework. Two days later Parliament’s Natural Resource Management (Climate Change) Committee decided it wanted to investigate sustainable water management in the context of climate change scenarios.

“I encourage all communities on the Lachlan and other regulated rivers to participate in the Inquiry and pursue transparent and accountable water management in NSW.”