Why not just buy water to save the Coorong and Lower Lakes?
The Australian Government is committed to buying back water entitlements over the next 10 years as part of their Water for the Future program. $3.1 billion is set aside to buy back water to give Murray-Darling Basin rivers and wetlands a greater share of water when it becomes available. The South Australian Government has also committed $80 million for purchasing water entitlements, as part of the Murray Futures program, funded by the Water for the Future program. Water purchased for the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth region will be held by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and will improve the health of the region, which is under extreme stress due to years of over-allocation and drought across the Murray-Darling Basin. However, to give some perspective to the volumes of water involved, the flow to the lakes in 2008-09 was 350 gigalitres. An additional 450 gigalitres would be needed to maintain lake levels, that is, to balance evaporation losses. To flush the salts th
