My grandparents lived in Mildura and as a kid visiting there in the 60s and 70s I can remember being in awe on occasions when the Murray and/or Darling were in flood and the almost limitless expanses of water that would be in that area. I remember one summer my pop put us on a boat at Wentworth and took us down the Darling towards the Murray and showed us a mark on a gum tree where the water level had risen to when both rivers had been in flood. It was hard to wrap your head around the volume of water required to reach that high up and even harder to imagine that one of the rivers responsible for that spends most of its time dry now. Living in Melbourne and putting up with all the crap inner city greens try to push on us, it's a bit of a worry the first I've heard about this plan for the Menindee Lakes is due to a video I stumbled across on youtube. Hopefully you guys are doing a lot more to promote this issue because if inner city councils in Melbourne think going around checking people's bins to see if their cardboard is folded properly is so vital to our future, there should be a hell of a lot of outrage over this issue. Good luck!
We worked on a new vineyard of about 300 acres for about a year, 30 years ago; all gone now We camped on the side of lake Pamamaroo and the water was right up. There was commercial fishermen working and a lot of tourism, people who had been coming for years. A magic place it was. When I heard of massive fish kills, I mourned the loss. When I heard that Dick Cheney, the ex-Vice President of America (Also ex-CEO of Halliburton, the company who made money out of supplying the American army during the Gulf war...)was buying water rights from South Australia....I knew we were.........'d .No need for a paddle, there's no water up shitcreek.
710 likes and not one comment ? We know better than to grow Cotton ( a "thirsty" crop ) on the driest place on Earth. We know nature is NOT inefficient and these Ecosystems are vital to all life on Earth . . . .
Ahaha well thanks to this comment Rosemary we figured out that the settings on our channel automatically hid them 😅 Can't thank you enough for pointing it out!
The whole problem is the Murray-Darling Commission, too much power in Canberra and Sydney, and too many idiot public servants who have no clue what it's about, running the show. Trouble with the cotton industry also is there are too many big acreage foreign owned farms with no thought to the enviromental havoc they create. As some one just said, "Too many straws in the water". I really hope the Menindee system can be saved, so our grand-children can marvel at this natural wonder and because it is an important system to the health of the Darling River over all.
This people are right. I was there and I saw it. It is very depressing site to look at or be around. The government is responsible for this fuck up. They should be held liable.
Interesting Video! I note the CEO walking in the Darling-Baaka riverbed and the current debate surrounding the ephemeral nature of the system. Has the NCC ever considered core sampling of the Darling-Baaka riverbed to gain an understanding of historical conditions in the system?
This nightmare is exactly what California did to its inland lakes. That is, wipe them out for farming. I will also reference the Aral Sea - one of the largest freshwater lakes on the planet. The Aral Sea was destroyed by the Russians by diverting almost all of its water for cotton farming back in the 50/60's. I hope you study what happened to the Aral Sea and please do NOT let that happen to the Menindee Lakes and Darling-Baaka River. I thought the Aussie Government was way smarter than the Russians and the Californians. Please save this entire eco-system.
It's a crying shame that the Australian National Government would allow or condone such levels of greed and corruption that causes this kind of atrocities!!!! I would have thought that they were better than this!!! God bless you people and may GOD tend to those who are creating the atrocities there!!!
This will destroy so much native activity. The lack of water in the river system is due to too much usage by the users in the top part of the water system. Also, too much mining close to the main water source depletes the ecology of the whole natural system.
It gets so complex. These lakes evaporate so they will be left to dry up. Lake Alexandrina evaporates so we send MORE water down to maintain the level and salinity of that. To save water we drain the Winton Swamp. Part of the goal is to keep the Murray flowing year round to the sea rather than seasonal flows. From the very first Murray Darling basin report there was not sufficient water to meet all the demands and that was without factoring in global warming and drying. But the environmental flows have been massively increased without more water available. So where should they come from?
Wetlands all around the world have been decimated by human activity with disasterous consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services.The whole world needs to stand by the Menindee community to save the lakes.Think about all the animals,fish,insects,plants and international bird life.And think about groundwater recharge.Get the place onto the RAMSAR list!
A crying shame to watch and listen to this video showing what has happened to the Menindee lakes and the Darling river, and the eco-system it once supported. What is the future, is the question being asked, but there is no answers or solutions. To look towards governments, politically, appears to be of little or no help.
This is a disgrace, let all the rivers run, I've camped at the Menindee lakes, it's a beautiful place, love watching the bird life, I am planning on another trip soon, only hope theirs water in these lakes, on my next trip
Drying out the Menindee Lakes will dry inland Australia further. Only New Guinea can provide the water for the irrigators and so let the floodwaters run free into the Menindee Lakes. Australia alone cannot solve the mess created by the NSW government. Do you have a petition?
This reminds me of the devastation I watched recently about the Arin Sea that is only now starting to very slowly expand with water again after being virtually completely drained for Agriculture I hope you can win this battle
The lakes should be retained. How about diverting some water from the Clarence River at Grafton through huge tunnels to the condamine river near warwick thus greatly increasing water volumes into the upper darling river system thus allowing more water to reach Wentworth junction! Thus saving the lakes in the process.
Would've thought if they are willing to spend 500 Million on these projects they could instead spend that money building desalination projects for water instead of drying up lakes and destroying loads of habitat.
Tell the arsehole politicians to leave the Menindee lakes and the whole Murray Darling river system alone. Let the traditional owners, our Australian indigenous peoples look after our whole ecosystem.
I'm not one of these moronic ecofools with the common sense of a rock but doesn't mean I don't recognize something when it foolish and short sighted. One should never be able to draw off more water than can be replaced by rainfall. This short sighted thinking needs to stop allowing commercial irrigated farming in semi arid and desert lands. Now if you want to set up seawater desal plants on the coasts and pipe the water to the drylands for farming , I'm fine with that. You aren't after all going to drain the ocean doing that. We have similar issues in the US. The Rio Grand river used to be deep and navigable by steamships before run away irrigation took hold. In the US, the farmers in the plains states have just about drained the undergrounds aquafers with over irrigation that took thousands of years of rains to accumulate in order to grow high water crops that should not be grown there in the first place. The central valley in California is the same way growing water loving crops that natural rainfall can not support. The land there has literally dropped 40 feet or more in many places as the water that literally holds up the overlying layers of rock and soil by hydraulic pressure has been sucked out of the ground like there is no tomorrow.
I did some research with Jim Bowler at lake Mungo in the Menindee Lakes area and it presented 'enlightening' finds. If the current Aboriginals hadn't whinged in Canberra and had archaeological reasearch banned in the area because it was their 'sacred site' ... but the bodies we found were not, on first analysis, of this current group but their predecessors. Not their 'sacred site', but maybe that of the real first Australians. We'll possibly never know because we can't have the 'first nations' narrative ruined by facts. We were not allowed to research further. I gave up doing archaeological digs in Australia ... you can't have facts contradicting a profitable narrative, can you?
Our government makes me sick. Conservationists Should look to the USA for some tips. They Have it down to a fine art. The lakes should be given to a fishing organisation for management.
These lakes seem to shallow, the water would heat up and evaporate to quickly. Warm water causes toxic algae growth. They need inflows and out flows to stay healthy. Solution : run a water pipeline from north western Western Australia
My grandparents lived in Mildura and as a kid visiting there in the 60s and 70s I can remember being in awe on occasions when the Murray and/or Darling were in flood and the almost limitless expanses of water that would be in that area. I remember one summer my pop put us on a boat at Wentworth and took us down the Darling towards the Murray and showed us a mark on a gum tree where the water level had risen to when both rivers had been in flood. It was hard to wrap your head around the volume of water required to reach that high up and even harder to imagine that one of the rivers responsible for that spends most of its time dry now. Living in Melbourne and putting up with all the crap inner city greens try to push on us, it's a bit of a worry the first I've heard about this plan for the Menindee Lakes is due to a video I stumbled across on youtube. Hopefully you guys are doing a lot more to promote this issue because if inner city councils in Melbourne think going around checking people's bins to see if their cardboard is folded properly is so vital to our future, there should be a hell of a lot of outrage over this issue. Good luck!
Barnaby and the Nationals have a lot to answer for.
We worked on a new vineyard of about 300 acres for about a year, 30 years ago; all gone now We camped on the side of lake Pamamaroo and the water was right up. There was commercial fishermen working and a lot of tourism, people who had been coming for years. A magic place it was. When I heard of massive fish kills, I mourned the loss. When I heard that Dick Cheney, the ex-Vice President of America (Also ex-CEO of Halliburton, the company who made money out of supplying the American army during the Gulf war...)was buying water rights from South Australia....I knew we were.........'d .No need for a paddle, there's no water up shitcreek.
710 likes and not one comment ? We know better than to grow Cotton ( a "thirsty" crop ) on the driest place on Earth. We know nature is NOT inefficient and these Ecosystems are vital to all life on Earth . . . .
Ahaha well thanks to this comment Rosemary we figured out that the settings on our channel automatically hid them 😅 Can't thank you enough for pointing it out!
@@NatureNSW YAY : ) So gratifying to read so many comments.
The whole problem is the Murray-Darling Commission, too much power in Canberra and Sydney, and too many idiot public servants who have no clue what it's about, running the show. Trouble with the cotton industry also is there are too many big acreage foreign owned farms with no thought to the enviromental havoc they create. As some one just said, "Too many straws in the water". I really hope the Menindee system can be saved, so our grand-children can marvel at this natural wonder and because it is an important system to the health of the Darling River over all.
It’s sad to watch our country being destroyed for a dollar
Another national disgrace and an example of how we are our own worse enemy.
Good work reporting on these self destructive activities.
This people are right. I was there and I saw it. It is very depressing site to look at or be around. The government is responsible for this fuck up. They should be held liable.
Interesting Video! I note the CEO walking in the Darling-Baaka riverbed and the current debate surrounding the ephemeral nature of the system. Has the NCC ever considered core sampling of the Darling-Baaka riverbed to gain an understanding of historical conditions in the system?
Cotton is a big problem when grown in these arid areas.
This nightmare is exactly what California did to its inland lakes. That is, wipe them out for farming. I will also reference the Aral Sea - one of the largest freshwater lakes on the planet. The Aral Sea was destroyed by the Russians by diverting almost all of its water for cotton farming back in the 50/60's. I hope you study what happened to the Aral Sea and please do NOT let that happen to the Menindee Lakes and Darling-Baaka River. I thought the Aussie Government was way smarter than the Russians and the Californians. Please save this entire eco-system.
It's a crying shame that the Australian National Government would allow or condone such levels of greed and corruption that causes this kind of atrocities!!!! I would have thought that they were better than this!!! God bless you people and may GOD tend to those who are creating the atrocities there!!!
Cotton should not be grown in This part of Australia! We cannot eat cotton... :-(
Ban cotton growing in Australia, the amount of water and pestacides they use is ridiculous
This will destroy so much native activity. The lack of water in the river system is due to too much usage by the users in the top part of the water system. Also, too much mining close to the main water source depletes the ecology of the whole natural system.
This needs more coverage. Horrible.
Money speaks a far greater volume of influence on politicians than country folk. Always has because politicians are human and can be corrupted.
It's sad to see, and also amazing no one has commented on this important YT work yet.
It gets so complex. These lakes evaporate so they will be left to dry up. Lake Alexandrina evaporates so we send MORE water down to maintain the level and salinity of that. To save water we drain the Winton Swamp. Part of the goal is to keep the Murray flowing year round to the sea rather than seasonal flows. From the very first Murray Darling basin report there was not sufficient water to meet all the demands and that was without factoring in global warming and drying. But the environmental flows have been massively increased without more water available. So where should they come from?
Man this is sad. I don't know how they can get off with it.
Messing around with any lake system will affect other life in other locations along the way.
Gerard.
Where do I begin, and people wonder why we have no respect for Authority.
How can this be?????????????????????????????? GREEEEEEED!
Wetlands all around the world have been decimated by human activity with disasterous consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services.The whole world needs to stand by the Menindee community to save the lakes.Think about all the animals,fish,insects,plants and international bird life.And think about groundwater recharge.Get the place onto the RAMSAR list!
A crying shame to watch and listen to this video showing what has happened to the Menindee lakes and the Darling river, and the eco-system it once supported. What is the future, is the question being asked, but there is no answers or solutions. To look towards governments, politically, appears to be of little or no help.
Human beings can be so selfish the people upstream don't give a stuff about people downstream as long as they get the water.
This is a disgrace, let all the rivers run, I've camped at the Menindee lakes, it's a beautiful place, love watching the bird life, I am planning on another trip soon, only hope theirs water in these lakes, on my next trip
The Menindee lakes is a truly beautiful place, how do these people sleep at night? I feel guilty when my garden tap leaks.
Drying out the Menindee Lakes will dry inland Australia further. Only New Guinea can provide the water for the irrigators and so let the floodwaters run free into the Menindee Lakes. Australia alone cannot solve the mess created by the NSW government. Do you have a petition?
Hi yes we do! You can find it as well as other resources online here: www.savemenindeelakes.org.au/petition
All the scum involved in the destruction of this water need to be eliminated know before it's to late
Amazing place I visited the region back in 2013 and the lakes were full and the place was buzzing with wildlife
Cause ppl in power think they know better its a shame , these lakes need to be left alone
This reminds me of the devastation I watched recently about the Arin Sea that is only now starting to very slowly expand with water again after being virtually completely drained for Agriculture
I hope you can win this battle
It's a bloomin outrage
Not mentioned was the 1950s weir system to bolster the lakes. What were they like before then?
Burn the cotton fields blow up the pipes sometimes you gotta get aggressive for the cause
Cotton, all this destruction for cotton, an entire ecosystem that has worked for millions of years destroyed in one generation.
What about all the floods that have just been happening in nsw and qld over the last couple of months surely that will help the rivers flow.
Never quite been able to get my head around “Carry Over” on a water licence 🤔
The lakes should be retained. How about diverting some water from the Clarence River at Grafton through huge tunnels to the condamine river near warwick thus greatly increasing water volumes into the upper darling river system thus allowing more water to reach Wentworth junction! Thus saving the lakes in the process.
Shame, an it's being repeated all over the World. As the guy say "too many straws in the glass"
Cotton seems like a ridiculous crop on the driest habitable content....
why did the greens force the release of the water out of the lakes 3 years ago
This makes my blood boil
Hello Murray river South Australia. You should have put a link to your website in your drop down.
Just for reference: the aral sea is a disaster at least 20x the size of this mess. We all know how that ended. So why do we need to repeat this?
Sad how human greed is destroying our earth.
Any water get here with all the rain and flooding in nsw/qld?
Would've thought if they are willing to spend 500 Million on these projects they could instead spend that money building desalination projects for water instead of drying up lakes and destroying loads of habitat.
Menindee Lakes, Australia's version or the Aral Sea both died from over-irrigation. We are such a smart people, lol not!
So how's that going lately .
Tell the arsehole politicians to leave the Menindee lakes and the whole Murray Darling river system alone. Let the traditional owners, our Australian indigenous peoples look after our whole ecosystem.
Not by accident but by design. Who made the decision and change their mind.
This is a bloody disgrace
Really,!,,,,,,!what the hell!!! come on people
This is bullshit this needs to shared and put out there this is so wrong good on you to the action group..
bloody stupid politicians stop selling there water let the river be
Leave it natural... It seems they never learn!
I'm not one of these moronic ecofools with the common sense of a rock but doesn't mean I don't recognize something when it foolish and short sighted. One should never be able to draw off more water than can be replaced by rainfall. This short sighted thinking needs to stop allowing commercial irrigated farming in semi arid and desert lands. Now if you want to set up seawater desal plants on the coasts and pipe the water to the drylands for farming , I'm fine with that. You aren't after all going to drain the ocean doing that.
We have similar issues in the US. The Rio Grand river used to be deep and navigable by steamships before run away irrigation took hold. In the US, the farmers in the plains states have just about drained the undergrounds aquafers with over irrigation that took thousands of years of rains to accumulate in order to grow high water crops that should not be grown there in the first place. The central valley in California is the same way growing water loving crops that natural rainfall can not support. The land there has literally dropped 40 feet or more in many places as the water that literally holds up the overlying layers of rock and soil by hydraulic pressure has been sucked out of the ground like there is no tomorrow.
Water not managed well. What a scandal. You want money first and after the desert.
Hemp not Cotton !
Total Corruption!.
This is horrible, water is supposed to flow
Only 31k views.... are you all serious
lnp handy work
Such illogical changes not for people, just money, again.
AND NOT ONE COMMENT ??????????????
No comments? Whats up in down under? Greatings from Germany.
Time to deregister the Liberal & National Parties.
If only the hole truth could be spoken without during the digital gulag
Stop Them!!!
😢😢😥😥😓😓😫😫
Real problems deserve better than this click bait title...
This is very wrong cotton growers should hang there heads in shame but i bet thay don't greedy dogs
Sydney and Canberra don't care they just want the money from the upstream growers
WTF Australia, are you guys trying to out-do the US for environmental stupid?
I did some research with Jim Bowler at lake Mungo in the Menindee Lakes area and it presented 'enlightening' finds. If the current Aboriginals hadn't whinged in Canberra and had archaeological reasearch banned in the area because it was their 'sacred site' ... but the bodies we found were not, on first analysis, of this current group but their predecessors. Not their 'sacred site', but maybe that of the real first Australians. We'll possibly never know because we can't have the 'first nations' narrative ruined by facts. We were not allowed to research further. I gave up doing archaeological digs in Australia ... you can't have facts contradicting a profitable narrative, can you?
keep voting NLP
Man-made storage lakes.
Typical Australia... nobody gives a toss about the environment.
These would be conservative and Farmers region. Its seems you are concerned about nature and climate change. Wont change unless you vote against it,
Our government makes me sick. Conservationists Should look to the USA for some tips. They Have it down to a fine art. The lakes should be given to a fishing organisation for management.
O.o
These lakes seem to shallow, the water would heat up and evaporate to quickly. Warm water causes toxic algae growth. They need inflows and out flows to stay healthy.
Solution : run a water pipeline from north western Western Australia
Keep voting independent liberal/nats and this is what you get.
Maybe its about time they put a dam somewhere 😁
Start using salt desalination plants !
All the more reason to build the Bradfield Scheme .