Southern Riverina irrigators facing zero water allocations for second year in a row

Lobby group Speak Up claimed the $355 million package announced last week should have included an emergency allocation of water for struggling farmers.

"We are running out of people to turn to," Speak Up deputy chairman Lachlan Marshall said.

"Everybody is happy to talk about long-term solutions and there are some things in the pipeline.

"But it is the here and now and if there is no water allocation this spring, we're done."

Speak Up supports the federal government's water trading review and hopes its proposed review into social and economic impacts of the Murray Darling Basin Plan is a genuine attempt to acknowledge the damage it has created.

But the short-term focus is the opening allocation announcements due next month from the NSW government which changed water ministers from Niall Blair to Melinda Pavey since the March election.

At a federal level, member for Farrer Sussan Ley has been promoted to environment minister and has the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder within her portfolio responsibilities.

The environmental water holder manages water recovered under the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

But the Murray Darling Basin Authority falls under the responsibility of federal water minister, David Littleproud.

Ms Ley remains supportive of water held in storage for environmental purposes being "borrowed" for farmers and pushed the idea a year ago.

"It allows water the environment has in storage to be used for farmers to finish winter crops," she said.

"As I always explain, the water has to be paid back and there must be no detriment to the environment."

Mr Marshall said farmers were bracing for the worst.

"If they apply the same water sharing rules next year as they did last year we know it is zero," he said. "Dartmouth was 96 per cent, Hume was 64 per cent, which is a lot of water, but it was still zero.

"They are lower now so basically ... and a very clear message was sent last year that to meet downstream demands they will use any chance of us getting an allocation to keep South Australians happy.

"We are crying out for someone to stand up."