I could never accept the assertion that somehow 430 Gl of water slipped through the fingers on its way to delivering 2000 Gl of high security entitlements annually.
I recently heard the Minister for Police and Water on the ABC Country Hour claim that this 430 Gl is just a portion of the "estimated 900 Gl lost per year", which, if true, could only amount to criminally negligent inefficiency, and is not physically possible without a flood.
Everyone deserves to see some reputable evidence from some reputable scientists to support the claim of an annually consistent loss of even 0.43 litres per two litres delivered on farm. Does it exist and why is it secret?
The major variables affecting the "losses" of Goulburn-Murray Water water are seasonal variability and its related supply and demands.
The highest proportion of losses occur at periods of both high demand and low supply, or low demand and high supply (drought or flood), and are least as a percentage, when supply and demand are in balance, once in the proverbial, blue moon.
It is called a bell curve and every year occupies a different place on this curve, depending on the rain, and where it falls, and this then determines efficiency, or its very human calculation.
The human variable is the management of the irrigation system and its maintenance, and is more of a line than a curve between good and timely, or poor and none, with a large scope for change or improvement.
More important is the fact that every drop lost by G-MW was a gain by something or someone else, either locally around Shepparton or downstream, or being released from the grip of gravity only to fall somewhere else.
It is why we call it the hydrological cycle, because like the rissole, it all goes round and around.
Where, I ask, is the paper bookwork and the double entry accounting to reflect the reality of both the losses as well as the gains?
Does it exist and what water went where? Are the books cooked?
Who lost and who gained from spending $2 billion of very public money on these hideous and dangerous black plastic channels?
Definitely not the public, again.
Tim Price
Strathmerton
