Meet the council
THIS was a very well attended meeting at our Triangle this week with our Murray River Council (MRC).
I brought up the subject about our Moulamein lake and the lack of water because of the drought.
Our CO assured us they are well into working out a long-term plan and I thank them for that.
From what we were told, MRC is doing everything in its power to help our lake out.
I will go with that for now and I will go and grease the pump up in anticipation.
I have also been told that I have to be nice at meetings and keep my mouth shut unless I have something good to say.
I tried that Monday and I had to bite my tongue quite a few times.
One thing that did worry me in amongst the spin was that while they are fixing our lake water licence so we can get Moulamein’s excess water to keep our emergency water storage for our town full, one thing hidden between the lines was that they were working on combining all of the licences in our new shire so they can transfer water from any town, to any town to cover future developments.
In my very suspicious mind, there goes all of the excess water from the old Wakool Shire into Moama.
This may be just my way of thinking, but it is pretty obvious what will happen in the long run and our Moulamein town lake could be just a memory.
Let’s hope they prove me wrong. At the next meeting, I may not bite my tongue as much. It just frustrates me.
A few other items were covered like we may get a rate reduction in the old Wakool shire section soon so they can even up the rates charged over the whole shire.
They did say they always get a better turn up for their meet the council get togethers down this end of the shire.
Our raw water is also going to be metered in the very near future.
Council also has $2 million to spend on drought-proofing our district.
They are looking for ideas. Lock zero would be a great start. I bit my tongue on that one as well on Monday.
Pontoon down
WHAT a balls up for our new pontoon at Barham.
The bloody walkway collapsed while it was still under construction.
We do not know yet whether it was vandalism, dodgy steel or a stuff up by the contractors.
This mob has been building these things for over 20 years so they should know what they are doing.
At least it was still under construction so it should not cost our council any extra.
This pontoon would have been a great asset for our district and Barham.
Let’s hope it can be sorted out quickly and get it up again for the festive season.
Moulamein bridge
I SEE that Swan Hill has a new mayor and one of his main priorities is the Moulamein bridge over the Murray at Swan Hill. That is great.
The Member for Mallee also had our Moulamein bridge as one of her priorities.
The honourable member has never mentioned which bridge she would like to build, even after promising money towards the project.
I wait with bated breath to see which bridge Swan Hill’s new mayor would like to build.
Before he announces this great project, I can only suggest that he goes and have a word with the Federal Square mob.
200 Club annual dinner
THIS will be held this Saturday night at our Moulamein Bowling Club.
We have enough booked in to go ahead, but we have plenty of room for more at the moment, so I encourage a few more to put their names down.
For more information, please ring Kathy on 0428 875 137.
Swine fever
I AM having trouble working this out.
We are the only continent in the world without this dreaded disease that has a 100 per cent kill rate on any pig that catches this bloody thing.
Yet, we still import pig products from overseas.
Are we the dumbest country on Earth or do we just want to kill off our pig industry? It’s not rocket science.
Stop importing pig products and it will help us to keep it out.
This thing can live in cooked product, frozen product, processed product, virtually anything that contains pig.
Shut the gate, Australia, before it is too late.
River levels
THE Edward is steady at 2.35 metres and just above 2500 megalitres a day.
The Edward should stay around this level for at least the next week or so.
There have been a few good yellers caught for those that are willing to put the time in, there was also a 30 or so pound cod caught on worms as well as a few smaller cod.
Just over two weeks and we can have a go at getting a feed of cod.
It is good to see some sections of the Darling flowing again.
A lot of the town weirs have been filled up and it is still heading downstream.
There are 447 megalitres a day at Louth and 238ML at Tilpa.
I know this is nowhere near enough, but at least there is a bit of fresh water for the towns, farms, stock and wildlife.
