Propaganda – Victorian style
Did you get your state propaganda today?
We received ours in a sealed envelope – with no address – in our mailbox and presume everyone in the ‘Food Bowl’ also got theirs. This state propaganda is designed to convince the food bowl population that the sharing of the food bowl’s irrigation system with Melbourne is to our benefit.
The original proposal was a pipeline from the Goulburn to Melbourne. When did that change?
Let’s analyse what it says.
“Water is central to our local economy. When the Food Bowl’s irrigation system is modernised, less water will be lost and more water will be available for the region’s farmers. This project will create economic growth that will generate more local employment and prosperity”
Water may escape the irrigation system but is never lost. It either drains into the water table or evaporates. Either way, it is regained through natures water cycle. The economic and employment growth will certainly be local to Melbourne.
“Compared to a future in which the Food Bowl’s old irrigation infrastructure is not fixed, modernisation will mean more production, processing and tourism.More business activity will lead to more education and entertainment facilities. Most importantly, by creating a strong local economy, young people will have more options that enable them to remain part of the community they grew up in and raise their own families here.”
That is all ‘feel good’ rhetoric. There is no evidence of more business activity or entertainment facilities … and our kids will still have to leave home at 18 to advance their education and career prospects.
“With all the challenges of climate change and long-term low rainfall ahead, we simply can’t afford to have such a high proportion of our total water supply being lost in the system.The savings already achieved in other areas suggest that between 50 and 60% of the water currently being lost throughout the Food Bowl can be saved. It will not be irrigators’ water that goes to Melbourne, it will be water that is currently lost from the system.”
So there you have it! The water currently evaporating and leaking into groundwater will be the water that Melbourne gets. We have already noted that water lost ‘from’ the system is returned to nature’s water cycle. By saving removing that water from the water cycle, the evaporation and groundwater system loss will cause localised climate change of the rain pattern in the affected food bowl area. If that 225 billion litres of water saved each year does not re-enter nature’s water cycle in the Murray Goulburn area, there is a great risk of turning the ‘food bowl’ into a ‘dust bowl’ over the longer period.
“The vast majority of the funding for the project will come from Melburnians. Overall, Melburnians will contribute more than three quarters of the project’s total cost in return for up to a third of the water saved – or even a smaller proportion if the savings are greater than expected. On average, 225 billion litres of water will be saved each year, and shared equally between irrigators, rivers and Melbourne. The restored flow in our natural waterways will also benefit communities further downstream and help improve the health of rivers and lakes that all Victorians use and enjoy.”
Does anybody really believe that? The brochure goes on … and on … and on … with more rhetoric but finishes with the statement that:
Melbourne’s daily per person water use is down from 423 litres per person in the 1990’s to 303 litres in 2006-07
There are 2,000,000 of the buggers!
That’s where the water savings can really be made.
