THERE is no guarantee the federal government will actually deliver on its promise to pump an extra 450 billion litres of water into the Murray-Darling Basin ecosystem, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says.
Environment Minister Tony Burke introduced legislation to parliament on Wednesday to secure $1.77 billion in extra funding over 10 years to restore the ailing basin environment to health.
The extra 450 gigalitres (gl) of water a year and the cash earmarked for its delivery were pledged by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in South Australia last week.
The commitment lifted the total amount of water designated for the environment under the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's draft water plan from 2750gl to a potential maximum of 3200gl a year.
But the legislation only calls for the $1.77 billion to enable "up to" 450gl of extra water for the environment, a phrase that's concerned some conservationists.
The ACF's healthy rivers campaigner Jonathan La Nauze says that without specific targets it's pretty unlikely the 450gl promise will be kept.
"At the moment, it's just a giant slush fund for the irrigation industry with no obligation to return any specific volume to the environment," Mr La Nauze said.
"It's a giant blank cheque with some nicely spelt out good intentions but no promise of delivering an outcome."
The actual final figure to be delivered to the environment could be anywhere between 2100gl and 3200gl, he said.
The ACF is calling on the government to make 450gl a mandatory target, or better still enshrine it in the final basin plan.
Under the legislation, most of the $1.77 billion will go towards water-saving projects on farms and to removing constraints in the river system that restrict flows to the environment.
It will also allow for the amount of water set aside for irrigators to be adjusted if infrastructure improvements lead to less water being needed for the environment.
Mr La Nauze said he had little faith that such projects could ever have the same environmental impact as flushing more water throughout the basin system.
"Ultimately it cheats the environment," he said.
"You can't replace real water, no matter how smart you are with concrete and steel."
The government has promised to release a final version of the Murray-Darling Basin plan within weeks.
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