Murray-Darling Basin states are squaring off in the lead up to the COAG meeting this Friday which will  discuss the revised Murray Darling Basin Plan that was released at the end of May.

 

Speaking at the Irrigation Australia 2012 Conference and Trade show in Adelaide on Tuesday, the South Australian Premier,  Jay Weatherill, said upstream irrigators had taken too much water and that 4000 billion litres of water should be returned to the Murray River.

 

The revised Basin Plan proposes that 2750 billion litres be returned, but both New South Wales and Victoria are fighting for less than that. The Victorian Government has released modeling that it will present at the COAG meeting which supports its argument that 2100 billion litres would be sufficient.

 

New South Wales irrigators are claiming that returning 2750 billion litres to the river would destroy their communities.