the nsw water crisis

Walgett, meaning “a meeting of two rivers” in Gamilaroi language, is a rural town in Western NSW. The bodies of water referred to in the town’s name are the Namoi and Barwon Rivers, both of which ran completely dry in 2019. Residents have been left without access to safe drinking water and natural relief from the heat that these rivers once provided. The town has been forced to rely on warm bore water that damages gardens, stains basins and exposes residents to excessively high levels of sodium, as well as the potentially fatal risk of amoebic meningitis. Air-conditioning units, which rely on water evaporation, are now defunct for residents facing temperatures consistently rising above 40º Celsius. Alarmingly, conditions worsened last year in Walgett when the bore system broke down, leaving residents reliant on crowdfunded campaigns to access bottled water.

At best, the government has negligently failed to protect the complex river system due to inadequate investment in ecological research programs.

These problems are not limited to Walgett. The Burrendong dam on the Macquarie River is the main water source for cities including Dubbo, Wellington, Cobar, Nyngan and Warren. It is at 4.5% capacity, and rapidly depleting. Even in Sydney, water storage levels are likely to reach emergency lows this year. The Warragamba Dam is expected to run dry in 2022. And the scale of injustice only worsens upon investigating the causes of these water shortages. While rising temperatures have greatly contributed to the drought, the government’s flagrant mismanagement of waterways has proven to be a more immediate cause of this environmental destruction.

In 2017, a landmark Four Corners investigation revealed that billions of litres of water set aside for environmental purposes in the Murray Darling Basin Plan were instead being exploited for irrigation heavy industries. Evidence in the program suggested that textile and agricultural industries have tampered with water meters to avoid licensing restrictions. In particular, the cotton industry uses the largest volume of irrigation water, making up 26% of the national average as demand for fast fashion remains high. At best, the government has negligently failed to protect the complex river system due to inadequate investment in ecological research programs. At worst, the mass fish kills and droughts along the Murray Darling Basin represent a complete failure to monitor and enforce water restrictions in the name of corporate profit.

013 For too long industries have profited from the destruction of stolen land, while First Nations People — who have lived sustainably in their communities for thousands of years — have been challenged

with unemployment and poverty. Now, the traditional owners of the land do not even have access to a viable source of water.

Importantly, these rivers are sacred Indigenous sites often referred to as bloodlines. Not only do these rivers sustain life as the arteries of the land, they are also an important place of ancestral connection for many First Nations Peoples. North of Lightning Ridge, newborn babies have been washed at the Narran River for generations, as parents and children formed sacred ancestral bonds by the water. Dreamtime stories have been passed down between generations in an ancient oral tradition on the Narran River’s banks.

Indigenous residents, devastated by ecological destruction, have reported that the river’s banks have now become a place of death and mourning, rather than a place to celebrate birth and new life.

Ultimately, the NSW Water Crisis represents an ongoing regime of colonialism that prioritises corporate interests over the rights of First Nations Peoples to access water and connect to country. The flowing rivers that accompanied these stories have now run dry. Wildlife that once relied on the rivers to survive has fallen silent. And residents have been left to mourn by the dry banks.