Who owns the rain?
The question that we should be asking in regards to rain, who owns the rain?
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It has been said that in principle we do.
Theoretically, Australians own all the rain that falls in Australia, that rain becomes a lake, rivers and streams that flow over the land and the underground water that flows beneath it.
That's our water.
It's our common property, our birthright and water stored in dams.
If you have a rain tank that the rain falls on your roof it is your property.
Water has become a complicated issue.
Every few years we have droughts, in 2001 it lasted for nine years and then the rain came in 2010, 2012 floods that devastated Yenda and other towns in NSW, Victoria and in 2016 more rain and floods only this time Yenda was spared.
The Darlington Point Road to Hay had water lapping the side of the road and the Murray River was in flood and all the dams were overflowing and farmers along the Murray River went under.
The story goes that the farmer was about to lose his sheep and out of the night, people came in their boats to help by cutting the fences and lifting the wet sheep into the boat and taking them to higher ground and then we have the invisible drought in 2018 that no one saw coming, only the people living in the bush where it has not rained and the soil and dams have dried out and the rain tanks run empty.
Then you have the other side of the coin where Murray irrigators have zero per cent water allocation and the MIA water allocation is six per cent.
The Hume Dam was built in 1936 and Eildon in 1955 and then in 1973 construction of the Dartmouth Dam was built by Victoria Rural Water Commission and was completed in 1979 and for the past 40 years it has staved off droughts and has saved the nation and today is operated by the Murray Darling Basin Authority.
On August 25 the Dartmouth Dam stood at 90 per cent, Hume 50 per cent inflow 1,200 megalitres, Blowering Dam 75 per cent water release 5,500ml inflow 4,960ml.
Who owns the water in the dams?
It was wrong to have separated water from the land and have made water to be traded and sold like shares, price $370 per megalitre and in times of drought irrigator's are held at ransom.
The dams were built to produce food and in times of drought to store water for the communities.
Fran Pietroboni
Griffith
We need to be sustainable
When asked about energy, Morrison said he wanted it powered by “stuff that works when the sun's not shining and the wind's not blowing.”
How about We the People reclaim our right to a future planet that is sustainable for our survival, and put this Denyosaur wind-bag somewhere where the sun don’t shine instead?
Olivia Noto
Wodonga
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