A 50 per cent cut to environmental flows to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River will cause permanent damage and even the death of the river system, Greens MLC Ian Cohen said today.
“The Carr Government has today sentenced the Hawkesbury-Nepean River to a slow and ugly death.
“The Hawkesbury-Nepean system is already so choked with sewage and weeds that you can almost walk over it. Reducing environmental flows risks killing the river altogether.
“The Carr Government is panicking. The public has lost faith in its ability to deal with this crisis because it has failed to act on the obvious and harvest stormwater and pursue greater recycling of water.”
More than 450 gigalitres of wastewater flows into the ocean each year, almost as much water as Sydneysiders consume each year. So far, only 11 gigalitres of this is recycled each year.
Mr Cohen said the frequency and size of harmful algal blooms would increase unless environmental flows are improved in the Hawkesbury-Nepean system.
“The government now risks killing an iconic river in a desperate and chaotic attempt to halt further drops in dam levels,” Mr Cohen said.
“The Hawkesbury-Nepean River Management Forum only a year ago reported what many already know: there will be no future for our rivers unless we let them flow.
The impact on communities and industry would be devastating, Mr Cohen said, if the river’s health declined further.
“The Hawkesbury–Nepean River helps generate 70 percent of the goods and services produced in NSW.
“Oyster farmers, prawn fishermen and all other farmers along the river face a bleak future.”
Further Information: Paul Sheridan, 0410 516 656
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