The Murray River is reaching levels not seen since the 1970’s, and local councils are getting concerned. Numerous meetings have been held between the town’s councils, along with SA Water, in order to find a solution to deal with the increased water coming into the Murray.
“It’s really quite simple,” claims SA Water spokesman Mark Rivera.
“We need to be using more water than what is currently flowing into the Murray. With 73,000 people in the Riverland, each resident only needs to use around 2.7 million litres of water per day to offset the expected 200 gigaliters of daily flow. With a few extra glasses of water per day and some extra-long showers, I think this is a pretty reasonable step we can take to protect our towns from the flooding,” he continued.
However some residents have taken issue with this strategy, claiming they can’t afford to be using 2.7 million litres of water per day.
“With the current water prices, that’s not something I can afford,” says Berri resident Bill Reed.
“To use 2.7 million litres would cost me well over $8000 per day, it’s just not realistic to spend that much on water, even for a good cause. SA Water is absolutely clueless if they think anyone here can afford that,” he continued.
SA Water has taken these criticisms into consideration, and are proposing a temporary 20% reduction in water usage charges.
The Riverlanderer will update as this story develops.
The Riverlanderer 