The debate over water entitlements in the Murray Darling Basin continues to ebb and flow.
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However, a large number of irrigators are now faced with pumping costs that are unsustainable.
Of course, the most efficient way to deliver water is by gravity.
However, successive state and federal governments have carried out a blitzkrieg on this type of system in the Murray and Goulburn valleys by allowing the water entitlement to be traded elsewhere.
Now, many areas where this water has landed are being forced to deal with energy costs that are just not sustainable.
A South Australian irrigation trust has seen electricity charges rise from $880,000 to $1.8 million.
The national irrigators body has highlighted this problem and the fact that continuity of electricity supply is not guaranteed.
Blackouts, such as we have seen in South Australia in recent times, can only be managed by having standby generation capacity.
That, of course, does not come cheaply, particularly if water has to be lifted several times.
It’s a very real case of a double whammy from the environmentalists.
SUPPLEMENT FOR THOUGHT
The day of reckoning has come for the wide use of vitamin supplements.
We all know that a good diet consists of fresh fruit and vegetables, some carbohydrates with a decent serve of protein.
However, our television scenes are now jammed packed with sporting retirees who could not live a day without pill popping.
Finally, someone has had the guts to say these so called lifesavers are, in the main, excreted into the sewer.
It’s literally money down the drain.
The Catch 22 is that those on a poor diet who could possibly benefit from a supplement may not be able to afford it.
A pessimist, an optimist and a realist were discussing the properties of a glass of water.
An opportunist came along and drank it.