Environment News 23.11.14 Part III: Hmm I wonder why NSW lakes are disappearing or becoming unhealthy for birds? University of NSW’s Richard Kingsford has surveyed the water birds of his state 32 times and though many of the bird rich lakes, including Lake Cowal, are still ‘’hanging on’’ in these dry times he has dire predictions for the future. “Our annual survey has found that bird numbers have plummeted and we’re finding very worrying signs of decline in the health of the Murray Darling River.” Said Kingsford. “At Lake Cowal, for example, though there were still tens of thousands of water birds this year, the lake is not going to last much longer and other lakes have disappeared altogether.” He said, going on to describe the signs of decline. “Thousands of dead carp are littered around the edge of Cowal and the surrounding wetlands are getting shallower and the water quality is declining because of drought, dams a HUGE gold MINE nearby and the extraction of water from the rivers that feed the lake.” He said. “Since 1983 I have seen a decline of over 60% in waterbirds at the waterway.” Kingsford admits that, of course, these systems have always been like this – “…weve had these big boom periods and theyve been followed by long dry periods,” but, he added, “… we need to manage our river system sustainably and, that means putting more water back into these rivers so that during the dry times theres enough water. We cant go on thinking were going to build dams across the north.” He said. Fellow surveyor, Terry Korn agrees. “I believe that the closure of the National Water Commission by the Abbott Government could pose future problems because of the loss of a centralised watchdog.” He said. “Its critical that we still have that, especially in this eastern part of Australia, where irrigation industries are highly developed - we MUST have the balance right between irrigation and the environment.” abc.net.au/am/content/2014/s4134027.htm
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 22:09:35 +0000
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