Troubled Murray facing uncertain future
2:43 PM February 28
While managing the drought continues to be one of the biggest issues facing the authority responsible for Australia's largest river system, the prospect of flooding rain is also looming as a potential problem for the troubled waterway.
The chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Wendy Craik, says the organisation is currently preparing contingency plans if the drought continues for another year.
She has told the Australian Water Summit in Melbourne there are a number of strategies for saving water in the system under consideration.
In the meantime, Dr Craik says the commission is simply trying to keep its programs for managing the Murray-Darling ticking over.
Despite the drought, Dr Craik says there are positive things happening in the basin, including pumping water back into wetlands and creating fishways.
And she says while it is not a problem at the moment, salinity is looming as a potential challenge when the drought finally breaks.
"If it does rain, and we get a big flood and the flood recedes all the salt will come out of the flood plains and we will have salt to have to worry about," she said.
"Salinity might be low now but if we get a big flood we're really in trouble" Source: ABC
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