FARMING 

IRRIGATION AND WATER DISTRIBUTION

As we were in a crisis of an extended drought and now of significant floods with potentially further heavy rains through out the rest of this year, it is unwise to radically change directions of our water policies at this stage other than to return water to the river systems so that they become healthy again. However the development of plans to be implemented in the good times so as to preserve water in the difficult days that will come during the next extended drought that we can pencil in for a future date. There needs to be effective research on methods of irrigation and as such we recommend having discussions with the Israelis as to their methods to discover what we may be able to adopt here as well as other potential water saving ways of producing the best crop outcomes. As water is a strong problem we are of the view that the mining companies water use needs to carefully monitored and possibly directed to re-cycled water as far as possible. We also wish to note that when some areas flood there are other areas that continue to experience drought or next to drought conditions; all this must be addressed if we want to have a stable food supply, and that must be the goal of a farming policy.

Policy:

• Drought times are not the time to impose new rules on water use. but rather to manage water better.

• A full review of all water catchments to ascertain the water needs and problems facing the catchment areas including distributions.

• Plans to connect catchment areas so as a flood in one area may assist the drought conditions in another.

• Huge consumers of water to be audited so as to establish their need over the sustainable supply of water.

• Mining and earth works in catchment areas must not adversely affect the water in the catchment areas.

• The potentially dangerous practice to water catchments of fracking to be banned from all catchment areas and areas near artesian water basins.

• Wherever possible off-river dams are to be preferedover on river dams.

• Water to be protected at all costs.