Water everyones worry !

Updated: 18/10/2008

Source: National Marketplace News – September 2008

Luis GazzolaWATER quality and availability are the biggest issues ahead for Victorian Vegetable Growers..

Water has always been a Growers main concern says Luis Gazzola, President of the Victorian Vegetable Growers’ Association (VGA).

“Victoria needs to invest in recycled water and
where salt levels are too high …
we need desalination.”

“The Government
probably isn’t budgeting
for desalination and goes for the quick fix.
It is well known that there
are some very high levels of salinity
in irrigation water at Werribee, making food production unreliable.”, says Luis.

Werribee South
“At present, Growers have problems irrigating vegetable crops at
Werribee. The recycled water is just too salty and any blending of recycled water
with river water is not possible because of low river flows in the drought.”

“The use of open channel
irrigation causes further problems
with leakage and evaporation and
according to Luis, the Government
really needs to fix this
up with pipes instead of open
channels.”

“There are many
growers and environmentalists
who agree with the VGA about this issue.
The decision makers are not
listening and eventually this will
impact on the soil and
reduce food production at Werribee”, says Luis.

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