news, local-news, water, mdbp, basinplan, murrayriver, davidlittleproud

When protesters hoisted an effigy of Water Minister David Littleproud into the Murray River at a recent rally the crowd assembled thought it was a symbolic gesture. But there was more to it. The effigy made from a suit stuffed with rags was actually fitted with a GPS tracker in a water-tight container to make the point that irrigators in northern states are being forced to sacrifice water for environmental flows to the lower lakes. "We want to see if it makes it to the Murray mouth," Jan Beer said, one of the organisers from Tocumwal rally. As of yesterday the effigy was tracked at Snake Pit Bend near King's Log Landing around 50 kilometres away from where it was thrown into the river. Mrs Beer said it was still 1790km away from the Murray mouth and would likely take two to three months to get down there. "It might get snagged and we will have to find it," she said. "But Minister Littleproud is so certain the water is going to get there, he tells us that the basin plan will be delivered in full and on time. "We want to see if the effigy gets to the Murray mouth in full and on time." Related reading: Irrigators demand the government 'Fix the Plan' at Tocumwal rally Ms Beer said it would only travel 15km, at most in a day, through the flat gradient of the river system. But once it reached Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, Mrs Beer said the water only moved 25mm per 1.6km in the last 160km. "Most people don't realise that is it a long slow journey, Australia is not only one of the driest inhabited continents but it's also the flattest inhabited continent on earth," she said. "To see a flush to the Murray mouth is so impossible except in major natural floods, which only occurs approximately once every 20 years. "How on earth do they think they can coordinate flows 2500km up stream with a strong outgoing tide to be able to flush the system? Sorry it's not possible. "We want to show how slow the water gets there and how little energy it flows because we are a flat country." Minister Littleproud was approached for comment.

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