The Wire

Lake Eyre draws in tourists from all over the world and holds a great supply of Australia’s water – but what happens if we are allowed to irrigate from it? This is a proposed change by the Queensland Government that has been heavily discussed at this week’s Lake Eyre Basin Conference. The conference looks at action to sustainably manage the Basin for the future, but the Water Resource Plan was the major talking point. Under the change, the Queensland Government would allow trading of the two main water licences, known as sleepers.

This would mean that over 17 gigalitres of water could be irrigated by locals, however the Queensland Government say the new allocations would not increase this water limit.