COAGulating the Murray Darling Basin. The announcement of the Council of Australian Governments that an ‘historic’ Murray Darling Basin agreement has been reached seemed to tickle the fancy of most people involved. Now that the fanfare has died down, it’s time to look past the rhetoric and back-patting to ask what is in fact being delivered, how does this differ from Howard’s previous water plan, and when will we see some change for the better in the Basin? — The Greens blog

Murray-Darling water flow and solar energy. It is now 2008, and Australia and the world face significant threats from climate change and the effects of global warming. Australia also faces catastrophic long-term effects of drought on rivers, farms, and communities in the Murray Darling Basin.– Truepolitik

Drought in Aussie food bowl continues to worsen. The Murray-Darling Basin exists as Australia’s largest agricultural area, and drains a total of one-seventh of the Australian land mass. The Basin harbors two of Australia’s largest and most important rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River. And the Murray-Darling is also Australia’s foodbowl, providing food for Australia, as well as exports to Asia and the Middle East. — eco worldly

Murray-Darling Basin: more bad news. The Australian reports that the acid sulphate soils, which threaten the Murray’s lower lakes in South Australia, have spread to the river system’s northern catchments in Queensland where up to 200 sites are under investigation by scientists. Pockets of acidification are also emerging in northern Victoria and along the Murray River in southwestern NSW. Acid sulphate soils can occur when river and lake beds are exposed to the air as water levels fall, triggering a toxic chemical reaction. — Thought Factory

Green scaremongers face revolt on the Murray. Now it’s Murray River tourist operators who are protesting that climate catastrophics are costing them money, this time with their talk that the ”Murray is dying”… the good news is that, despite mischievous/misleading reporting in some quarters, the River Murray is not dry and is open for business. — Andrew Bolt