Adapting to a drier Australia: The challenges facing water resources

The low rainfall across South-Eastern Australia has exposed serious flaws in the way we manage water. Because the environmental assets are so run down the effect of the last few years of drought in South Australia has had major environmental consequences. Hypersalinity and loss of biodiversity in the Coorong, acidification around the lower lakes and struggling foodwebs in the main River Channel are some of the symptoms of low flow. Consistently we turn to engineering solutions to address conservation issues in the River Murray but these don't address the cause of the problem. The water crisis and low Murray flows will result in more than $2billion being spent on infrastructure to ensure Adelaide's water supply but no environmental benefits will be realised. Will we make the tough decisions on water use upstream and sustainable diversion targets to realistically address environmental degradation or are we in a cycle of spending to patch a broken system?