Ban Floodplain Harvesting to Protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

Image: Martuwarra in flood. Credit: Wendy Mitchell

Big business is lobbying the WA Government to allow a dangerous type of extraction called floodplain harvesting in the national-heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment.

Floodplain harvesting involves building banks, channels and large storage dams on the river’s floodplains to capture water flowing over land before it reaches the river. These wet-season floods are vital to the river, its wetlands, wildlife and groundwater.

The WA Government has promised no new dams and no further surface water extraction from the Martuwarra but floodplain harvesting could allow irrigators to capture enormous amounts of floodwater by stealth.

Image: Floodplain harvesting dam NSW. Credit: Max Phillips

Image: Massive on-farm storage dam wall in NSW

We’ve already seen the consequences of floodplain harvesting in the Murray Darling Basin, where it has diverted enormous volumes of water and contributed to serious environmental damage including mass fish kills in the Darling-Baaka River, NSW.

Image: In 2023 20-30 million fish died in the Murray-Darling Basin caused by a legacy of over-extraction

The Martuwarra Fitzroy River is one of Australia’s last great free-flowing rivers, sustaining First Nations culture, communities, wildlife and the Kimberley’s tourism and fishing industries, and providing critical nursery habitat for the world’s most important population of the Endangered Freshwater Sawfish. 

The WA Government must close the loopholes and ban floodplain harvesting in the Kimberley.

Sign the petition calling on Water Minister Daniel Pastorelli to:

  • Ban floodplain harvesting in the Martuwarra catchment.
  • Make the Government’s commitments to no new dams and no further surface water extraction legally enforceable.
  • Limit groundwater take to 1 gigalitre to protect springs and groundwater dependent ecosystems
  • Partner with Kimberley Traditional Owners to establish a water governance body with majority Traditional Owner representation and shared decision-making power over water allocations and approvals.

Add your name to protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, its floodplains and the life they sustain.

 

Ban Floodplain Harvesting to Protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

    Dear Premier Roger Cook and Minister Pastorelli,

    I welcome the WA Government’s 2023 historic commitments to protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River. But now, they are under threat from floodplain harvesting.

    Image: Floodplain harvesting dam, NSW. Credit: Max Phillips

    Your government has committed to protecting the national-heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, recognising the river catchment as one of Australia’s last great connected and free-flowing rivers. This connected river system includes its groundwater, springs (jila), floodplains, wetlands, river channel and delta. Its 94,000 square kilometre catchment is vital to First Nations culture, wildlife and the Kimberley economy, and must be protected from over-extraction.

    WHY FLOODPLAIN HARVESTING MUST BE BANNED

    Floodplain harvesting involves building banks, channels and large storage dams to capture floodwater before it reaches the river or fills adjacent wetlands.

    Image: Massive on-farm storage dam wall in NSW

    Floodplain harvesting threatens the health of the entire river system:

    • Taking floodwater disrupts fish migrations for feeding and breeding, reduces water reaching important dry-season refuges and threatens the plants and animals that depend on natural floods.
    • Fish deaths have already occurred in areas of the Martuwarra’s floodplains where levee banks trap endangered sawfish. Irrigation structures on the Camballin floodplain trapped and killed 46 critically endangered Freshwater Sawfish in 2018 and another 17 in 2023.
    • Floodplain harvesting in the Murray-Darling Basin diverts an average of 778 billion litres of water each year and has contributed to severe river degradation and even fish deaths. The Kimberley must not repeat these mistakes.
    • In NSW regulators have found that even with regulations in place, floodplain harvesting licences are difficult to monitor and enforce, allowing excessive water extraction and environmental damage to continue. A full and total ban on the practice is the only way to protect the Martuwarra from over-extraction.

    Image: Fish kill in the Murray-Darling Basin, 2023 

    I’M CALLING ON YOU TO KEEP YOUR PROMISES

    Allowing floodplain harvesting would undermine your government’s commitments.

    • Dams by another name: Large storage ponds and banks built to capture floodwater can get around the promise of no new dams.
    • Taking surface water by stealth: Floodwater is surface water. Capturing it for irrigation must not be allowed to bypass the ban on surface water take.
    • Closing the loophole: Current water laws do not adequately stop the capture of overland floodwater in the Martuwarra Fitzroy River. This must change.

    AS PART OF YOUR COMMITMENT TO PROTECT SURFACE WATER AND PROHIBIT DAMS, I CALL ON YOU TO

    1. Include a ban on floodplain harvesting in the existing policy commitment and prohibit all structures built to divert or capture floodwater for irrigation use across the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment, including the entire Fitzroy Derby Plan area.
    2. Protect the river in law by making the Government’s commitments to no new dams and no further surface water allocations legally enforceable.
    3. Limit groundwater take to 1 gigalitre to protect springs and groundwater dependent ecosystems.
    4. Partner with Kimberley Traditional Owners to establish a water governance body with majority Traditional Owner representation and shared decision-making power over water allocations and approvals.

    To protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, its floodplains and the life they sustain, the WA Government must ban floodplain harvesting.

    Yours sincerely,
    [Your name will be added automatically]

    Become a Member
    Make a Donation
    Become a Volunteer