Farmers living in the north and south of the Murray-Darling Basin fear their communities will die if further water is taken out of the system.

November 22 marks four years since the Federal Government enacted its Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which set out to return water to the environment to restore the long-term health of the river system.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds 4 m 59 s Dirranbandi business owners discuss their fears for the community should more water be recovered under basin plan ( Jodie Gunders ) Download 9.1 MB

But the years since have been marred with political stunts, community backlash and doubt about the future of the plan.

ABC Rural spoke with regional communities in the north and south of the basin ahead of the fourth anniversary.

Northern irrigators fear for their community's survival

In the northern basin town of Dirranbandi, population 700, locals fear further water buybacks will be the death of their community.

A Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) report released last month confirmed employment in northern irrigation communities had been heavily impacted by water buybacks under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Now locals in the Queensland–New South Wales border town wait nervously for the MDBA to make recommendations to government on whether or not to continue with the water recovery process, given the evidence of socio-economic impacts.

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Greg Nicol, an agronomist who also runs a business supplying chemicals and fertiliser to local farmers, said a good winter growing season belied the fact the past few years had been tough.

"Dirranbandi, as a community, we can handle the droughts, we can understand those and we can make plans to get through them," he said.

"It's now [about] our capacity to come out of what's been four years of drought.

"We've had one good winter crop but we're now facing, probably a 30 per cent decrease in production in the area through what's already been bought back.

"If the Murray-Darling Basin Authority gets their way, we could be looking at another 30 per cent gone from the area."

Mr Nicol said if the water went, everything would be lost.

"I guess my analogy is, we're probably looking at a new theme park; it'll be a ghost town," he said.

"We're an extremely resilient bunch of people and I love the community, but it just seems that if the water does go, that the fabric of the community will be torn apart."

Sharon Taylor runs the takeaway shop in Dirranbandi ( ABC Rural: Jodie Gunders )

Sharon Taylor owns Dirranbandi's takeaway shop and is also worried about the impact of further water buybacks.

"I think it'll have a big impact if they take the next lot," she said.

"I think the first lot [has] probably had a very big impact. A lot of people have actually moved on, contractors and that sort of thing, and that's really sad.

"You just get everything filled up and then half of the town goes. It'll make our town very much a ghost town."

Fears more jobs will go if water buybacks continue

Next door, Greg Stephens said that after 36 years, his days as the local butcher would be numbered if buybacks continued.

"People are leaving … because there's no employment and [we're] very unsure what's going to happen in the future," he said.

"If it keeps going, I'll be closing my doors."

Karena Wilson takes daughter Sienna to work with her at The Linen Cupboard in Dirranbandi ( ABC Rural: Jodie Gunders )

Karena Wilson opened a clothing and linen store in Dirranbandi five years ago, but said her sales had taken a hit with the loss of local contractors.

"They all buy their workwear locally so even if you just lose a couple of workers, it all impacts over a year," she said.

"Say they buy six pairs of jeans, six shirts, socks, it all adds up very quickly and accumulates over the year."

Mark Anderson moved his young family from Townsville when he and his wife bought the local motel three years ago.

"We thought it'd be good being a small town, a good community. Everyone knows your kids and you know everyone else's kids, so it's a really good place to be part of," he said.

But he said things were getting harder.

"We've started a little side business as well, selling produce, just locally and mainly online to the locals here," he said.

Mark Anderson bought the Dirranbandi Inn three years ago ( ABC Rural: Jodie Gunders )

"That's really just to give us a little bit more of an income stream each week to help pay our bills, [because] everything from the motel just goes towards paying debts."

Mr Anderson said the loss of 60 students — half the student body — from the local school in the past two years had been a particularly hard blow for the town.

"Once kids leave the town it's hard to get them back, it's hard to get families back," he said.

Wendy and Peter McDonald at their southern NSW property. ( Emma Brown )

Southern community says loss of water has hit region hard

While the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on the north of the system has been examined, in the south the social and economic impacts have not been closely explored.

The southern NSW farming communities of Wakool and Barham have reported a drop in irrigation water in the region, along with a loss of production.

Artist Wendy McDonald and her rice farmer husband Peter McDonald have concerns about the future of the region and agricultural production since the introduction of the basin plan.

Enrolments at the local school have dwindled to the point where the bus runs were cancelled, forcing the couple to drive their two children more than 500 kilometres a week to and from school.

"We have days where we have basin fatigue and we think 'We can't talk about this again, we can't deal with it again'," Ms McDonald said.

"But we've chosen to stay here. We are in the process of restructuring our business.

"There just needs to be an honest assessment of the impact, how it's worked, and we can move on and plan for our business.

"For the water that's gone from our area, the figures are roughly 30 per cent of the permanent Murray irrigation water was gone, it went in the buybacks.

"You can't take 30 per cent of an input out and not expect there to be some impact on the result at the end of the day."

Mr McDonald said the changes to water availability, allocations and the fluctuations in price on the temporary market meant he no longer produced a crop every year.

He said the community as a whole had felt the loss of income, not just the farming sector.

"In the Wakool Shire, 87 per cent of the region's income is from irrigated agriculture," he said

"So when you take a third of that away, that's a significant amount.

"Nearly every farm that's been sold out here has been sold without water, or the water has been separated and they've become a lot less productive."

Pig producer Lauren Mathers. ( Emma Brown )

Young farmers adapting to plan

For some younger farmers, their entire career in agriculture has been under the basin plan.

Pig farmer Lauren Mathers said her contemporaries rarely discussed the plan and instead focused on living with it.

"I agree that the environment needs some looking after," she said.

"The Murray River system has been changed. A lot of water has been taken out of it and the environment needs to be watered.

"It is there now and really you can kick and scream all you want about it, but it is there now.

"It's one of those that it's going to be there so you do need to work with it, but it probably needs to be touched up a bit."