The Independent Member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram, has condemned the use of the Thomson Rivers environmental entitlement for consumptive use by Melbourne.
Mr Ingrams comments follow an announcement by the State Government this week that an extra 10,000 megalitres from the Thomson will go towards supplying water for Melbourne.
The impact of taking 10 billon litres from the already stressed Thomson will seriously affect the river and have a flow-on effect all the way through the Gippsland Lakes catchment, Mr Ingram said.
Melbourne is clearly in a water crisis and hard decisions need to be taken, but to suspend environmental flows before other options like further water savings or moving to Stage 4 bans in the city is the wrong option.
Just last week in Parliament, all sides of politics contributed to the debate on the health and future of the Gippsland Lakes. Now, the government has taken a decision that will have a serious negative impact on our regions most important asset.
Mr Ingram said it was hypocritical of the Labor Party to campaign against the coalitions proposed damming of the Mitchell River, and then support the suspension of environmental flows to the Thomson River.
The Thomson decision comes after the government has already committed water from the Goulburn reserve and Snowy and Murray water savings for the first year of the north-south pipe operation, he said.
This decision is a direct result of the lack of adequate water planning by this government over the past decade.
For the past decade I have been raising the issues associated with Melbournes poor water use, lack of planning and real action in demand management and highlighting the realistic alternative water.
Gippsland is continuing to suffer from prolonged drought and this year is shaping up as another difficult season with low river flows.
The Gippsland Lakes system needs to have a protected fresh water entitlement to ensure that the health of its rivers and can be maintained to ensure we pass on the lakes in a better condition to the next generation, Mr Ingram concluded.
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