River Murray woes compared to bank failure

Posted Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:18pm AEST

The South Australian Opposition has compared the decline of the River Murray to the collapse of the State Bank.

The latest report on the Murray-Darling Basin predicts water levels below Blanchetown, north-east of Adelaide, will drop by almost a metre by April.

It also predicts salinity in Lake Alexandrina will reach more than double the recommended level for drinking water by early next year.

The Opposition's water security spokesman, Mitch Williams, says the State Government needs to do more to protect irrigators with permanent plantings.

"The impact on South Australia I would suggest would be at least as great as the impact of the collapse of the State Bank at the end of the 1980s," he said.

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